The Turnfire Internet Marketing Blog - Learn More, Grow and Compete Online. SEO | Domain Names | Affiliates | Niches
2
Why is it that some of the worst ideas in history are the central focus of the public eye while some of the best ideas go unnoticed?
The saying “A lie is halfway around the world before the truth even gets his boots on” relates to ideas as well. Just because you have a great idea doesn’t mean it’s going to succeed regardless of your efforts. You need to find a way to make your idea stand out from the crowd and in a sense make it “sticky” so that people will remember it. Well, in a recent book I read, “Made to Stick” written by brothers Chip and Dan Heath - they do just that.
The New York Times bestseller “Made to Stick” has made a dominant impact on the business world. It was ranked #1 on the Top 10 Business books by Globe and Mail and has been renowned by critics everywhere.
Chip and Dan Heath have done rigorous amounts of research on the marketing community and on business ideas and concepts. Within every successful idea, the Heath brothers found many similarities and characteristics that were profound in all cases. Using this information, they compiled a set of principles that they believe everyone should follow while developing an idea. These principles were transferred into the acronym “SUCCES” which the Heath brothers stand by religiously. The categories are as follows:
SUCCES
1. Simplicity
Find the core of the idea. If you’re a lawyer and you argue 10 points in a case, when they get back to the jury room chances are, they won’t remember any of them. You must learn to exclude things that aren’t the most important.
To make something simple doesn’t mean you need to dumb it down. The best example for simplicity is “For something to be simple doesn’t mean there is nothing left to add, but that there is nothing left to take away”.
2. Unexpectedness
How do we get readers attention and maintain it? - By violating their expectations. Something unexpected will throw a readers mindset off and keep them thinking about it in shock. But after you get their attention you need to be able to keep it.
You can do this by creating interest and curiosity. The best way to do that is by opening gaps in the subjects’ knowledge and filling those gaps.
Example: After you have finished explaining a topic, lead into another topic with a question. This will cause the subject to keep interest and have them wondering of the answer to the question.
3. Concreteness
How do you make your ideas clear? This is where many businesses have problems. When a business may release its Mission Statement, company vision or strategies there is usually so much “noisy” information that the meaning is almost pointless or impossible to understand.
To support a sticky idea, one must use concrete words and images such as “a bright red balloon” or “a steaming cup of coffee”. Avoid the use of sayings such as “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. All of the audience might not understand the saying and it may be unclear.
Stick to concrete words and images that everyone understands.
4. Credibility
What is the key to making people believe your ideas? Having credible information is a big part of an idea. If you were to state “ This song is great” or to say “This song was rated #1 on the America Top 100 charts for 2 weeks in a row” people would be more apt to listen to the second song because it is credible with a third party testimony. People trust information that has credentials and they can test for themselves, kind of like a “test before you buy” concept.
Most people think using numbers and statistics is the best way to gain audience approval when in reality, name dropping and simple statements usually work the best.
An example of this was in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was running for president. He could have used a pile of statistics to show the poor economic state of the economy, instead he said “Before you vote, ask yourself if you are better off today than you were four years ago”. That had credibility.
5. Emotions
How do you get people to care about your ideas? Tying a persons’ emotions into an idea is a great way to keep their attention.
An example used in the book was with health enthusiasts trying to stress to the public how unhealthy movie popcorn is for you. Saying “Movie popcorn has 37 grams of fat in it” doesn’t mean much to people. But if you show a picture of medium game of movie popcorn and show one bag has as much artery clogging fat as a bacon and eggs breakfast, a big mac and fries lunch and a steak dinner with all the trimmings it really gives an image to the idea.
People then can relate their emotions to all of that bad food rather than a statistic of 37 grams. The same case is for the world aid ads. The commercials don’t show a nation in need but instead show individual who have a name and a face. A person is more inclined to give a donation to a single person instead of a country.
As you can see, tying peoples’ emotions into an idea can drastically improve its chances for success.
6. Stories
How do you get people to act on your ideas? You tell stories. Another example used in “Made to Stick” is the stories of firefighters. After a fire, firefighters naturally swap stories. By doing this, firefighters build a database of different situations that they may encounter as a firefighter. They can then use their database of situations to be better equipped for their next fire. Research has shown that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when encountered with the situation in real life.
So, tired of having your great ideas fail once again? Well look no further. After reading the entire book, these 6 principles (also known as “SUCCES”) have “stuck” in my mind. I found them to be extremely helpful when developing ideas and I use them constantly in day to day work. For anyone who wants to learn more about making their ideas sticky- Check out the book.
-Jarod Henderson
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Online entrepreneurs and business builders alike – there is a suite of free online tools that’s as powerful as any, and perhaps the most relevant. In fact, if you didn’t at least learn about them – you’d be a fool!
I’m referring to the tools that Google offers, a wide variety of resources for anyone looking to succeed online. Where else could you get such a powerful suite of tools? Only from the most diverse and by far the most used search engine, Google.
The Tools You Need for Successful Online Marketing
This is the first service any webmaster should add to their arsenal. Google Analytics provides tracking and monitoring of website traffic, including a wide array of important data – like sources, referring urls, network locations and even geographic maps.
Tracking and understanding the visitors your website is often the key in tweaking your content to perfection. Learn where they come from, why they are there, and find out what they like and dislike through trial and error. Google Analytics is more than just a way to track visitors – its feedback, and everyone can use some feedback.
I love the keyword tool, it makes my life endlessly easier. Let’s pretend you’re building a new webpage or blog that we’re going to base on “Small Business Marketing.” Imagine knowing the exact number of times that “small business marketing” was searched in Google, as a monthly average – in addition to all of the related keywords. That is the power of Google Analytics.
One main reason for conducting any marketing research is to gain confidence in your marketing decisions. When you’re competing online, this can be one of the most powerful marketing research tools you’ll ever come across. Check out my comprehensive post for more information: Your Guide to Google AdWords Keyword Tool – Defining Your Market Online
If you want to take your website to the next level, and effectively research the optimization of your site – this is a must have. The webmaster tools are really effective at giving feedback on your site, from the view of a Google spider.
Using the webmaster tools allows you to optimize your site for indexing, explore your search queries and link backs, and even submit sitemaps. If you plan to ever achieve a top position on Google, you will find this to be a key step in your journey.
Whether you’re looking for a boost to your visitor base or jump start a new blog, you can target your customers though keywords and demographics using Google AdWords ads. This service is not free, but it’s based on a pay-per click model that will deplete your account balance based on results.
There are complete reference guides on optimizing your AdWords ads to be cost-effective, countless articles and blog posts on the net – all of which you need to take advantage of. Mastering a pay-per click method of advertising is a great way to reach new audiences, boost sales, or market your new clients product-based website.
This service is still in development at the Google Labs, however its current state is nothing short of insightful – providing an in-depth look at keyword and demographic trends in Google. I’m not sure – since I don’t keep a tally – but dozens of my niche ideas have been generated from rising trends, breakthrough keywords and demographic search trend data.
It Doesn’t Stop There - There is Probably a Google Product to Meet Your Need.
These are my favourite Google tools, and you owe it to yourself to check them out. In addition Google provides numerous tools, and they are continually developing innovative products in the labs. Other tools in the Google suite that you can check out are:
- Google Adsense: Put AdWords ads on your site, and you can earn a portion of the revenue generated through the PPC (pay-per-click) model.
-Feedburner: Google’s acquisition of feedburner is a welcomed addition to the suite of tools. Track your audience, the number of bookmarks, times your page was shared, and how many people have subscribed to your RSS feeds.
-Google Insights for Search: With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, and time frames. This particular service is still in the beta phase of development, but look for big things from this one.
-Google Mail(Gmail): While I’ve never used the Google Mail server for my websites, I have worked for companies that have. If you’re looking for a great way to launch company email accounts, this is your answer. It’s free, reliable, and you can easily setup the email to synchronize with your Outlook Express or other email software.
The message is pretty clear, Google is a big search engine. They have lots of data, a massive group of cutting-edge developers and programmers, and they have the ability and the budget to offer powerful resources for free.
Why would they offer these for free? Maybe it’s for brand awareness, maybe it’s to keep visitors or maybe it’s simply to stay ahead of the game – but one thing is for sure, I’m not going to miss out.
Back to top