The absolute bible for making sticky content is one of my favorite books called Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. (If you don’t have this book, buy it immediately. It’s that good.) Chip and Dan, in a remarkably concise and useful book, explain why some ideas stick and others are doomed to be forgotten. And most importantly, they show you how to create your own sticky content.
Just to make sure you know what I mean by sticky, here are a few examples that you’ll recognize immediately:
- urban legends – the same stories make the rounds for years and years, without promotion;
- Proverbs – Remember “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”? This has been around for thousands of years;
- Jared from the Subway ads – Everyone remembers how Jared went from 425 lbs. to 180 lbs just by walking to Subway and eating the same sandwich every day.
The key to stickiness is that all of these ideas are remembered and passed on without the help of huge advertising budgets. But what makes an idea not sticky? No body sets out to create boring ideas that no one remembers, so what causes ideas to fail? Chip and Dan call it the “The Curse of Knowledge.” When you know too much, it can make it really difficult to present your ideas in a simple and sticky way.
The following table tries to capture their concept:
| Content Attribute | Definition | Examples |
| Simple | A core idea expressed in a highly compact way.
If you key of what people already know, you can express an idea in a more compact way. |
A Galia Melon – A large cantaloupe that tastes a little like honeydew. rather than… A Galia Melon – From the Plantae Kingdom, the division of magnoliophyta, class magnoliopsida, of the order cucurbitales in the cucurbitaceae family. This genetically engineered melon was fabricated from Cucumis melo cantalupensis andCucumis meloin Israel. |
| Unexpected | Surprise people to get their attention, and then create a mystery to hold it. | When John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to put a man on the moon, he created a highly compact idea that was quite unexpected. The idea stuck, and he motivated an entire nation with a few words. The real question that held everyone’s attention was, “How could we make it happen?” |
| Concrete | By explaining abstract ideas in concrete ways, people will better understand what you’re trying to convey. And most importantly, they’ll have a framework to work from. People need to be able to experience your ideas with their senses. | For example, let’s take the concept of customer loyalty. Here’s a concrete example that explains why it’s important to keep loyal customers. Imagine you have a bucket filled with water. Every time you add a new customer, it’s like adding another cup of water to your bucket. However, if you lose your customers, it’s like having a hole in your bucket. The bigger the hole, the more new customers you have to add. Keep your customers, and your business grows. |
| Credible | Is your message believable? You can establish authority because of your credentials or you can be an anti-authority – someone without credentials who experienced something firsthand. You can draw on statistics, add details, and even use the Sinatra test. “If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere.” Sometimes the best way to establish credibility is to let your customers test it for themselves. | Remember the Pepsi Challenge? It was a brilliant campaign that truly created credibility. Sure, Pepsi could have told you their soft drink tastes better. They could have hired a celebrity to tell you it tastes better. But what could possibly be more credible than you tasting it for yourself? |
| Emotional | When people care, they take action. You can associate your idea with things your readers already feel strongly about. By having them take off their analytical hats, they’re ready to feel. Appeal to their self interest, to their identities – and who they want to be. | I raised money for a family whose home was devastated by hurricane Katrina. After telling their story, I helped the audience imagine what it would be like if the hurricane happened in their home town. I asked them who would help them? Would it be people like themselves? |
| Stories | Stories allow us to interact with an idea in a completely different way. A powerful story allows us to actually live the situation in our minds, and truly understand the idea. | Building on the example above, the family’s story was incredibly powerful. I described how they left their home with only a few items thinking that they’d be returning shortly, only to discover that they wouldn’t be going back anytime soon. I described the family’s questions, their fears and helped the audience appreciate how those long days enfolded. |
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