If you want something to stick then get your audience to:
1. Pay Attention - Make it Unexpected
2. Understand & Remember - Make it Concrete
3. Agree/Believe - Make it Credible
4. Care - Make it Emotional
5. Be able to act on it - Make it a Story
Above all... keep it Simple!!
That's it... that's all... and the most challenging one is apparently keeping it simple. You need to find the core truth of what you are trying to communicate and keep it there...
The edge of Ideas. The edge of Connections. The edge of the Unknown. And... in 2020... reading my way (again) through a hefty list of World-Changing books.
Showing posts with label Made to Stick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Made to Stick. Show all posts
Friday, February 4, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Made to Stick - Stories
If you want something to stick then tell it in the form of a story. There are three types of stories... Challenge Plot, Connection Plot, Creativity Plot. If you're not a story-teller, then cultivate the ability to spot stories that fit for whatever it is you are trying to communicate. Chicken Soup for the Soul is full of inspirational stories... and stories stick.
Stories stick more than an argument. So if you want something to stick, don't get stuck in an argument... shift out into a story... It will make your point better than you can.
Stories stick more than an argument. So if you want something to stick, don't get stuck in an argument... shift out into a story... It will make your point better than you can.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Made to Stick - Emotional
Make people care. That's it... just make people care. About whatever it is you are trying to communicate. You don't have to make it a tear-jerker... but get people out of the analytical and into the emotional. That will make it stick. It's not always about triggering people's self-interest (what's in it for me)... but about allowing people to imagine themselves in it. It could even be self-interest for "my group"... Make an appeal to the identity of people...
And make people care... that will help the message to stick...
And make people care... that will help the message to stick...
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Made to Stick - Concrete
This is pretty basic and commonsense... but we all struggle with it. Concrete images will always win out over abstract ideas and explanations! If you want something to stick... make it concrete... make it sensory... give them an image, a sound, a sight, a smell... and it will stick.
Make it specific, not general... Something specific that people can connect with. Remember, abstraction comes after the concrete. Abstraction comes with knowledge. If someone doesn't have the knowledge... and you are trying to communicate it... using abstract language is worse than useless... They need the concrete experience first...
There is a powerful example in the book... one that will "stick" with me... Have you ever heard of a teacher named Jane Elliott??? In 1968, after the assassination of Martin Luther King, she was trying to teach her Grade 3 class about prejudice. Now, prejudice is an abstract concept... how do you communicate that to Grade 3'ers?? She made it experiential... She divided the class into blue-eyed children and brown-eyed children. Elliott divided her class by eye color -- those with blue eyes and those with brown.
On the first day, the blue-eyed children were told they were smarter, nicer, neater, and better than those with brown eyes. Throughout the day, Elliott praised them and allowed them privileges such as a taking a longer recess and being first in the lunch line. In contrast, the brown-eyed children had to wear collars around their necks and their behavior and performance were criticized and ridiculed by Elliott. On the second day, the roles were reversed and the blue-eyed children were made to feel inferior while the brown eyes were designated the dominant group.
What happened over the course of the unique two-day exercise astonished both students and teacher. On both days, children who were designated as inferior took on the look and behavior of genuinely inferior students, performing poorly on tests and other work. In contrast, the "superior" students -- students who had been sweet and tolerant before the exercise -- became mean-spirited and seemed to like discriminating against the "inferior" group.
"I watched what had been marvelous, cooperative, wonderful, thoughtful children turn into nasty, vicious, discriminating little third-graders in a space of fifteen minutes," says Elliott. She says she realized then that she had "created a microcosm of society in a third-grade classroom."
Those children remembered that experience... Years later, they are less-prejudiced than their peers... They experienced prejudice... you don't forget something like that... You might forget an explanation... but you don't forget an experience...
30 years later, Frontline on PBC reunited the children/adults involved... http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/
Make it specific, not general... Something specific that people can connect with. Remember, abstraction comes after the concrete. Abstraction comes with knowledge. If someone doesn't have the knowledge... and you are trying to communicate it... using abstract language is worse than useless... They need the concrete experience first...
There is a powerful example in the book... one that will "stick" with me... Have you ever heard of a teacher named Jane Elliott??? In 1968, after the assassination of Martin Luther King, she was trying to teach her Grade 3 class about prejudice. Now, prejudice is an abstract concept... how do you communicate that to Grade 3'ers?? She made it experiential... She divided the class into blue-eyed children and brown-eyed children. Elliott divided her class by eye color -- those with blue eyes and those with brown.
On the first day, the blue-eyed children were told they were smarter, nicer, neater, and better than those with brown eyes. Throughout the day, Elliott praised them and allowed them privileges such as a taking a longer recess and being first in the lunch line. In contrast, the brown-eyed children had to wear collars around their necks and their behavior and performance were criticized and ridiculed by Elliott. On the second day, the roles were reversed and the blue-eyed children were made to feel inferior while the brown eyes were designated the dominant group.
What happened over the course of the unique two-day exercise astonished both students and teacher. On both days, children who were designated as inferior took on the look and behavior of genuinely inferior students, performing poorly on tests and other work. In contrast, the "superior" students -- students who had been sweet and tolerant before the exercise -- became mean-spirited and seemed to like discriminating against the "inferior" group.
"I watched what had been marvelous, cooperative, wonderful, thoughtful children turn into nasty, vicious, discriminating little third-graders in a space of fifteen minutes," says Elliott. She says she realized then that she had "created a microcosm of society in a third-grade classroom."
Those children remembered that experience... Years later, they are less-prejudiced than their peers... They experienced prejudice... you don't forget something like that... You might forget an explanation... but you don't forget an experience...
30 years later, Frontline on PBC reunited the children/adults involved... http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Made to Stick - Unexpectedness
In a nutshell... surprise people! Turn over their apple cart. Wake them up. Shock them. Disrupt their view of the world, of themselves, of the universe. Challenge their assumptions... Nordstrom (store in the US) prides itself on customer service. New employees though, come with a variety of ideas of what "good" customer services is... Nordstrom disrupts their ideas by telling them what some Nordie employees have done...
But then, once you've surprised them, how do you hold their attention? Well, appeal to their curiosity. Create a knowledge gap... and then fill it. Create a mystery. Point out something that they don't know and then fill that gap... People hate having knowledge gaps... they want to know... their curiosity will impel them to follow it through to the end. Think of a mystery story... Create a mystery and then solve it. Create an unexpected mystery... and then solve it.
- iron the new shirt of a customer so they can wear it to a presentation that afternoon
- gift wrap a purchase for a customer... bought at Macy's
- refund a customer for tire chains... Nordstrom does not sell tire chains
- warm a customer's car while they shop
But then, once you've surprised them, how do you hold their attention? Well, appeal to their curiosity. Create a knowledge gap... and then fill it. Create a mystery. Point out something that they don't know and then fill that gap... People hate having knowledge gaps... they want to know... their curiosity will impel them to follow it through to the end. Think of a mystery story... Create a mystery and then solve it. Create an unexpected mystery... and then solve it.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Made to Stick - Simplicity
So, still reading this book, Made to Stick... The first point is simplicity, which I suppose we could also phrase as k.i.s.s.... keep it simple, stupid. They don't go quite that far but they do say, you need to find the core of your message, the one thing you want to communicate or embody. Not three things... not five things... One thing. They make the analogy to the military and the commander's intent. The commander can give all sorts of instructions and plans to some troops... but they won't work when they come in contact with the enemy, because the unexpected happens. So, there's something called "commander's intent"... something like "capture that hill to protect the flank". That's it... how the troops accomplish that is their business... but that's the core of the orders.
So, find the core of what you are trying to communicate... and then communicate it in a compact message, something along the lines of a proverb. A newspaper in a town in the States has 115% readership... and their motto is "names, names, names". They promote local news and the more news the better. Southwest Airlines is "the LOW cost airline"... whatever it takes to make them the cheapest...
I suppose it's like a mission statement but something more concrete, more impactful... It's a mission statement cut down to the bare bones. Too many words, too many big words, too many "concepts", and the message gets lost. How many of us can share the mission statement of our company or church or organization? Probably not many... It should be something short and pithy, something people remember, that they can turn to as they turn to the north star. Something that gets them re-aligned with the mission... Without having to find a one paragraph mission statement in a manual...
I suppose each of us have a mission statement as well... what are we about in this life? What is our philosophy? Eat Drink and be Merry? Peace Order and Good Government? Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? See, those are all things we remember... So what is ours? What is it that is our north star? So... find the core... and express it in a compact form...
So, find the core of what you are trying to communicate... and then communicate it in a compact message, something along the lines of a proverb. A newspaper in a town in the States has 115% readership... and their motto is "names, names, names". They promote local news and the more news the better. Southwest Airlines is "the LOW cost airline"... whatever it takes to make them the cheapest...
I suppose it's like a mission statement but something more concrete, more impactful... It's a mission statement cut down to the bare bones. Too many words, too many big words, too many "concepts", and the message gets lost. How many of us can share the mission statement of our company or church or organization? Probably not many... It should be something short and pithy, something people remember, that they can turn to as they turn to the north star. Something that gets them re-aligned with the mission... Without having to find a one paragraph mission statement in a manual...
I suppose each of us have a mission statement as well... what are we about in this life? What is our philosophy? Eat Drink and be Merry? Peace Order and Good Government? Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? See, those are all things we remember... So what is ours? What is it that is our north star? So... find the core... and express it in a compact form...
Friday, January 28, 2011
Ideas that Stick
I'm reading a book right now called Made to Stick. It's all about why some ideas survive and others die. I'm only in the first chaper, but it's already grabbed me (stuck to me!). Why do we remember some things better than others? What is it that makes an idea stick with us... and not others...
They're suggesting that there are six principles that contribute to sticky ideas... ideas that stick with us... that we remember over time:
1. Simplicity - make it simple and profound
2. Unexpectedness - violate people's expectations... surprise them, appeal to their interest & curiosity - open gaps in their knowledge and then fill those gaps
3. Concreteness - use concrete, sensory images, not the abstract
4. Credibility - don't give them stats... give them something they can test themselves
5. Emotions - connect to their emotions
6. Stories - tell it as a story
Or... A Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story... But if it's so simple, why aren't there more sticky ideas out there? Because there's something called the Curse of Knowledge... when we know something, we find it hard to imagine not knowing it... and so it becomes harder for us to share that knowledge with others. We know "it"... but we know "it" so well, that we have trouble sharing "it" with those who don't know "it"... It is so obvious to us, that we can't imagine it being not obvious, ergo we find it hard to put ourselves in the shoes of those for whom it's not obvious.
More later!
They're suggesting that there are six principles that contribute to sticky ideas... ideas that stick with us... that we remember over time:
1. Simplicity - make it simple and profound
2. Unexpectedness - violate people's expectations... surprise them, appeal to their interest & curiosity - open gaps in their knowledge and then fill those gaps
3. Concreteness - use concrete, sensory images, not the abstract
4. Credibility - don't give them stats... give them something they can test themselves
5. Emotions - connect to their emotions
6. Stories - tell it as a story
Or... A Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story... But if it's so simple, why aren't there more sticky ideas out there? Because there's something called the Curse of Knowledge... when we know something, we find it hard to imagine not knowing it... and so it becomes harder for us to share that knowledge with others. We know "it"... but we know "it" so well, that we have trouble sharing "it" with those who don't know "it"... It is so obvious to us, that we can't imagine it being not obvious, ergo we find it hard to put ourselves in the shoes of those for whom it's not obvious.
More later!
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