Whether you’re presenting to a potential customer or launching an ad campaign, the message must resonate with the audience. In other words, it has to “stick.”
An essential read for anyone in marketing or business, the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, proposes six principles that make an idea or message sticky, or memorable.
One of those six principles is storytelling. The authors assert that stories provide “simulation (knowledge about how to act) and inspiration (motivation to act),” which work together to generate action.
Subway’s “7 Under 6” (seven sandwiches under six grams of fat) campaign just didn’t stick, whereas its campaign with Jared on the “Subway diet” helped sales jump 18 percent one year and 16 percent the next.
Put the power of storytelling to work for your organization. Find your customer heroes and tell their stories to reinforce your value proposition and make your message stick.
