B2B marketers have a very high standard of communication that they have to impart, but as they become experts on their company’s products and services, it becomes harder for them to imagine not knowing what they know. As a result, their messages frequently end up striking non-experts as abstract, complex, and convoluted. This “curse of knowledge” makes it difficult for B2B marketers to get their messages across.

As a professor at Stanford University, Chip Heath has listened to his students pass on the same ridiculous urban legends that he heard as a student —that we only use 10% of our brains, or that the Great Wall of China is visible from space, for example. He became curious to discover the attributes of urban legends that make them “sticky,” or durable over time, so that he could apply those lessons to more useful ideas. The results of his research are outlined in a book he co-wrote with his brother Dan, called Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

In this ITSMA Viewpoint, Chip provides readers with examples of sticky ideas and tips for creating memorable stories about your products and services.

Key Takeaways

• B2B marketers have a “curse of knowledge” that prevents them from explaining their products and services in terms that customers can understand and remember.
• Sticky ideas only need to be heard once to be remembered.
• Marketing messages do not need to be “dumbed-down” to be simple and effective.
• Sticky ideas have six common attributes: Simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, stories.