Consumers today are spending more time than ever with the media. In fact, authors Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg say consumers are addicted to media, but they?re ignoring most marketing.

A Ball State University study reported the average person spends 11.7 hours a day with media. Even the least media-active person spent 5.25 hours with media.

In their book ?Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing,? they note that today?s business owners are challenged to keep marketing messages relevant to reach oversaturated consumers.

?Cat?s don?t bark and consumers don?t respond the way they used to,? they said. ?Twenty years ago, getting through to customers was like filling a thimble with a fire hose. Today it?s a real challenge to reach the multi-tasking, instant-messaging, e-mailing, cell phoning, emoticoning ;-), always on, Web-searching, blogging, TiVo-watching, eBaying customers we now need to reach.?

That annoying ringing bell

Since the early 1900s when Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov got dogs to drool when they heard a bell ringing, marketers have been focused on stimulus and response. Marketers became bell ringers and consumers the drooling dogs.

?Today bells ring everywhere. There are even ads over urinals. But fewer customers are panting and whining for a bite. In fact, many simply find the bell ringing annoying,? they explained.

The authors suspect that Pavlov would have had an entirely different experience if he tried to get a conditioned response from a cat. That?s because a cat is not out to please anyone, she?s in it for herself. And that?s the hard fact facing anyone trying to reach consumers today ? to show them what?s in it for them.