Made to Stick - Credible

We can give out a message but oftentimes our message doesn't stick because... we lack credibility... "Who they heck are you? How do you know? Where did you get that information? Why should I listen to you?" might be some of the responses we get.

So one of the keys to getting our message to sick is credibility. That can come in a vareity of forms. It can come because we have a certain authority about an area. You are more likely to listen to a doctor speak about the dangers of cholesterol than somebody off the street. You are also more likely to listen to a celebrity extol the virtues of something, because you want to be like them. Finally, there are the anti-authorities... the smoker with lung cancer... the person dying of AIDS... the drunk driver who killed a family... They have the credibility of experience.

If you want to make a message credible, then use details, specific concrete details... vivid details. These all tend to boost credibility. If you're going to use statistics, then remember that people will rarely remember the numbers... what they will remember is the relationship. So make sure that you bring it down to a human scale and have a context that makes sense.

Another credibility booster is the "if you can do it there, you can do it anywhere"... If you have catered the White House, you can cater anywhere. If you've done "this" (which is very impressive).... then you can do "it" anywhere...

But the most powerful form of credibility is getting the audience to verify it on their own. Give them a message that is testable... something that they can verify on their own. Wendy's did an ad, which you probably remember... "where's the beef"... Anyone could verify on their own that, yes, Wendy's burgers did have more beef than McDonald's. It was a message that was verifiable and that stuck.