Suze Bragg

Hitting that tipping point: why isn't it happening for you?
August 27, 2008

I created a Facebook profile a year ago.  Today, I get 3 to 5 friend requests per week, as well as postings, emails, etc. from my childhood peers.  I love how this tool has reacquainted me with so many people from my past, and that there's a mass exodus from MySpace to Facebook over the last few months in my age category [35 to 45].  The tipping point for my little demographic has taken place.  Why is this important?  I'll tell you.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote the National Bestseller, The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference, in 2000 and discussed this social behavior in detail.  Brothers Chip Heath and Dan Heath wrote the book Made To Stick: Why some ideas survive and others die seven years later, mainly inspired from Gladwell's research.  The Heath brothers refer to 6 key ingredients: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions and stories.  Reviewer Brad Shorr wrote, Although these six elements seem like common sense, they are woefully under applied in business communication. Business managers seem to believe that, once they've clicked through a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their conclusions, they've successfully communicated their ideas. What they've done is share data."   I say Amen to that.

Reviewer Robert D. Steele wrote the how-to for the 6 elements so well that I'm going to quote him:

* Simplicity: the idea must be stripped to its core, and the most important concepts should jump out. 

* Unexpectedness: the idea must destroy preconceived notions about something. This forces people to stop, think, and remember. 

* Concreteness: avoid statistics, use real-world analogies to help people understand complex ideas. 

* Credibility: if people don't trust you, they'll ignore you. In some cases, they will be openly hostile, which means they'll actively try to dispute your message! 

* Emotional: information makes people think, but emotion makes them act. Appeal to emotional needs, sometimes even way up on Maslow's hierarchy. 

* Stores: telling a story [gets] people into paying closer attention, and feeling more connected. Remember the Jared Subway commercials?

Seems easy, doesn't it?  Then why are businesses failing at this left and right?  
First: look at your leadership and ask yourself if it inspires evangelical status.  If not, that's your first problem.  

Second: chances are that how you're marketing speaks to you, instead of to your target audience.  Many people have firm ideas of what they like and how something works for them (ads, layouts, colors, graphics, images, messaging, etc.) and forget that they're not the target audience. Think of it this way:  If I worked for Babies R Us, I could create ads that I like and am invested in.  Problem is, I don't have a kid.   So does it matter what I like?  Nope.  It's that simple. 

Third: look at your business message closely.  Are you selling something that matters to people?  Hits an emotional need?  A plumbing business matters a lot when the toilet overflows and visitors are on their way over.  Or when the water bill arrives and it's through the roof.  Early childhood education is a hot topic right now, because parents all over the country are hoping their kids are the smartest in the class--and want to give them a leg up--while teachers are struggling to stay afloat and are often paying for classroom supplies out of their own pockets.  Few business are tackling this topic appropriately, but one has succeeded:  Baby Einstein.  If you don't have that message, it won't matter how many brochures you mail out:  you won't stay in people's minds.  

Fourth:  be fluid. What works today might not work tomorrow because trends, and people's mindsets, change.  If you created a beautiful catalog or web site and it's not working, study why it didn't and rework it.  Mailing it out to more people won't make it catch on all of a sudden.  It didn't work for a reason.  Understand why. 

Fifth:  Understand your connections. Gladwell called people who do this well as "Connectors" in his book; people with a special gift for bringing the world together.  Gladwell stated that sprinkled among every walk of life are a handful of people with a truly extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances.  I think Gladwell was right about the sprinkling of people, but today there are places like Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace that take the old acquaintance relationship to a whole new level.  There's a lot more to this concept of understanding your connections, but for ease of example, it's two-fold:   First, people who know you want to know what you do, and will associate a business with a person, which will help your marketing efforts AND second, if you can add your acquaintances to your database because they fit your target audience, you already have a way in.  Don't sell them.  Engage them emotionally.  That's understanding your connections.

Posted by Suze Bragg on August 27, 2008 | Comments (1)