A foreword about the following article: All of the concepts discussed below are from the brilliant book, “Made to Stick”, by Chip and Dan Heath. An essential read for all entrepreneurs and marketers.
Great ideas are like proverbs. They encapsulate an entire lifetime’s worth of wisdom in less than a sentence, and have the power to influence the decisions we make when faced with new or difficult situations. For example, “a bird in hand, is worth two in the bush”. This bit of wisdom can be applied to a wide variety of life’s conundrums, and idiosyncratic colloquialisms. Not only do proverbs like this allow me to use big words, but they provide a basis for understanding the ways in which we can make our ideas stickier. Consider SW Airlines; their goal is to be the “low fair airline”. When you have a mission statement this clear, employees are empowered to make decisions on behalf of the company, simply by asking themselves: “does this help us be the low fair airline?” If the answer is no, then they don’t do it.
A small amount of ideas just work, but for the majority, there are proven methods for developing them into profound statements that speak to the masses. The acronym, S.U.C.C.E.S., provides a foundation for understanding the key attributes found in all great ideas. *Note: I’m typically skeptical of acronyms that “happen” to spell out words… but this one actually makes sense.
1) Simplicity – Ideas stated in the simplest of terms, have the biggest impact. Some parts may have to be left out, to make room for the “core” of the message. Former advisor to President Clinton, James Carville, famously said: “if you say three things, you say nothing”. If a remote control has 50 buttons, you can’t change the channel. The goal is to take a complex idea, and compact it. Consider the iPhone, and its complex simplicity; it can perform almost any task, yet has a user-interface that even a child can navigate.
2) Unexpectedness – Counter intuitive ideas engage the audience and arouse curiosity. Fifteen years ago, the concept of a smartphone was unnecessary and implausible. People were content using cell phones the size of their forearm. They didn’t know they needed an iPhone until someone gave it to them. This created a need that was unexpected.
3) Concreteness – Make your idea clear, and avoid the abstract. Example: An abstract description of an engine would be “high performance”; a concrete description would be “V8”. Experts communicate with each other through abstract concepts, they communicate to the rest of us through concreteness.
4) Credibility – This is the trustworthiness of an idea. Ideas that attach to preexisting schemas naturally feel more credible to us. However, If you’re a really lame company, you may use your BBB accreditation (which is laughable) as a source of credibility. This is forced, and it’s obvious. The meaning of “credibility” here, refers more to the contextual plausibility of an idea, and the authenticity of its creator.
5) Emotions – This one should be obvious. Emotional connections are always the strongest. People act on emotion, not facts and figures. People know smoking is bad for them, yet they still do it. Lung cancer survivors, on the other hand, are emotionally connected to the dangers of smoking and are less likely to continue doing it. Correctly harnessing the emotions of your audience can make or break a good idea.
6) Stories – Telling a story about a specific individual, overcoming the odds, can have a profound impact on the audience. Consider the Subway campaign featuring Jared Fogle; a normal guy that overcame the odds and lost hundreds of pounds, by eating sandwiches. Stories like Jared’s are everywhere, the key is finding them. Don’t try to fabricate a story to fit your campaign, people will see through it. Great stories inspire an ever-changing and ongoing narrative that the audience can relate to.
Signs of Awesomeness 