In this day and age, when it is harder than ever to get attention, let’s look at the concepts from the book, Made to Stick.
According to the research done by Chip and Dan Heath, great content exhibits these characteristics:
- Simple — it’s quick and easy. Take a proverb like “A Bird in the Hand.” What does your Brand stand for? (Also, check out Brand-Telling for more info on how to craft your message.)
- Unexpected — a great way to get attention is to do something unexpected. The loud bang of bb’s being dropped into a metal bucket is a great unexpected result.
- Concrete — it’s got to be specific, clear and easy to understand.
- Credible — is it believable?
- Emotional — do I really care?
- Stories — people relate to stories. Does it tell one?
In order to ensure that your marketing messages resonate with your audience, keep in mind that you want your audience to:
- Pay attention
- Understand and remember
- Agree/believe
- Care
- Act on it
One key to watch out for is the Curse of Knowledge. When an informed person asks “Will they understand my idea?” they answer “Of course, they will.” But only because the expert understands. Often the expert is shocked when the audience fails to exhibit the passion they do.
Take each of your marketing messages and measure them up against these. You’ll find them much more effective.
What do you think? We love comments and people who share.
Jeff Ogden is President of Find New Customers “Lead Generation Made Simple” Check out the online show every Friday at 11am ET, “Laugh and Learn with the Fearless Competitor.” Find New Customers is one of few lead generation companies in New York.
Find New Customers helps companies like yours (with 50 to 5,000 employees and complex products) implement lead generation programs to improve the way you find and acquire high quality sales leads using best practices in online lead generation. Quality leads matter. In fact, a recent study found that sales teams with fewer, high quality sales leads closed more than sales teams with more leads of dubious quality.
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