I would say this is one of the best marketing books I have read. 🙂 Creating and delivering the right message to prospects is one of the most important tasks of people at all levels in a business. It sounds like a simple task since you just tell your messages to people. However, it isn’t that easy! 😉
Just imagine this: have you ever told someone an important message, or an interesting story, or something as simple as your name, then just a second after, they totally forget what you just told them? :O This is the result of ineffective message, or in other words, you did not make the messages or stories memorable to the listeners.
This is a huge problem for many businesses and organizations nowadays. The reason is because there are so many advertisements that try to catch our attention so we try to ignore them as much as possible.
It is getting much harder for organizations to catch people’s attention through the organization’s messages. It is even harder to make their messages stick in people’s mind. So how do you Make to Stick?
This book says there are six things that you need to consider while making a message; author’s Chip and Dan Heath call this the SUCCESs message model which represent simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and stories.
- Simple: The message needs to be simple to understand; it must be short and easy to remember. An example would be the Southwest Airline slogan We’re the low cost airline. This is a KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) message that shows the value of the company in customers’ minds. The company is targeting price conscious customers. So, when prospects look for inexpensive flights, Southwest Airlines will be at the top of their minds.
- Unexpected:
A great example of an unexpected message would be Evian’s Live Young ad campaign. Even though the ad was published a while ago, those little kids are still stuck in my mind; and that’s how I remember Evian’s image of being forever young. It was one of my favorite ad campaigns of all time. 🙂
- Concrete: Studies have shown that people are better at remembering things when they can imagine a picture of the message. So next time you try to tell something, make it easily visible in the listeners minds!! J The book gives an example of how to show people that there is a significant amount of fat in popcorn. Instead of saying movie popcorn contains twenty grams of fat; one could say that movie popcorn contains more fat than a Big Mac. (I did not know that until I read the book, it made me think twice before buying popcorn at the movies).
- Credible: You do not want to be a jerk, a liar, or anything close to that. That’s what customers will think of you if you aren’t honest with them. Because customers have been burned by untrustworthy companies in the past, many customers are hesitant to believe new messages. So, make yourself believable, especially when it comes to new customers. Provide proof of your statements, as well as credible third parties that will help validate them.
- Emotional:
Do you smoke? If you do, take a look at your tobacco package. It shows graphic, disgusting pictures of lung disease, heart issues and other problems. Don’t you think these pictures are really effective at creating strong emotions to make you feel bad about smoking? And that will stick in your mind whenever you hold a cigarette. Am I right?
- Stories: Little kids aren’t the only ones that love stories; adults do too. Subway did an excellent job of conveying the story to the public about Jared Fogle’s weight-loss process by eating at Subway. People love to hear interesting stories about others. Jared’s story sticks in people’s minds the message that Subway is a healthy fast food alternative that can help them to lose weight. This campaign helped Subway stand out from the fast food crowd.
Overall, this is a great book for business people; especially marketers who try to get their messages stick in people mind. I highly recommend it to all marketers, entrepreneurs, and business people
Remember the SUCCESs model to stick a SUCCESS message! 🙂
