Sticky ideas are the key to building empires. Marie Kondo is an example of someone who used the principles of S.U.C.C.E.S. in her sticky idea to create her brand. She is a Japanese woman who teaches people to de-clutter their homes and has millions of followers. The surprising part about this to me is that she doesn’t even speak English, yet she has a show on American television. That says something about what she is doing.
The S.U.C.C.E.S. acronym is taken from the book Made to Stick. When I create an ad campaign, I look at this acronym and I try to figure out if my idea fits with all these principles:
· Simple. Marie Kondo picks up clutter and asks her clients if it sparks joy. This is a very simple idea, and it operates on emotion. If it does, the client keeps it. If it doesn’t, they throw it out. I use the same idea in an ad campaign.
· Unexpected. We see so many ads every day that we just tune them out. In order to get people’s attention, you need to give them something out of the ordinary.
· Concrete. Instead of describing sparking joy as a chemical release in the brain, Marie compares it to holding a puppy. Every one of us can understand what this feels like.
· Credible. If you can get a referral from one extremely reliable source, then your company becomes very credible.
· Emotional. As much as we like to think we are rational beings, humans operate on primal emotion. Marie appeals to emotion because she knows that logic is not enough for us to take action. You can do this in your company instead of just talking about features.
· Stories. They’re one of the best ways to appeal to emotions. You have to express previous pain in your life to customers who are experiencing that pain right now.
If you can apply all six of these principles, your business will stick in peoples minds and you’re going to get a lot more customers because of it.
To learn more about creating and implementing a sticky idea, visit https://www.christianmartin.org/podcast
Made to Stick: https://www.amazon.ca/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/1400064287