It’s true, big ideas catch you, but it’s not enough. The best ones are sticky, memorable, and repeatable – This makes them get shared without asking.
And that’s precisely where I see many business software companies struggle. It showed again during the CEO Mastermind I ran last week for my tribe. The challenge: ‘Making your big idea sticky, memorable and sharable.’
50% of the ‘big ideas’ shared during our session were about ‘democratizing’: Democratizing research, democratizing ERP, Democratizing Agrifood, and so on.
And although that might seem big, and simple, and even the essence of the idea behind your company – it’s not the formula to make it memorable and sharable.
The issue here is that we are formulating the big idea from the ‘inside out.’ It represents what you do, not why your customers should care.
So the first critical ingredient to your big idea about ‘them’ – your ideal customer.
An excellent question to ask here is,” What’s the essence of the change that happens? i.e., What will your ideal customer achieve or become as a consequence of your solution?
Make sure you leave the technology/your solution out – just focus on the transformative effect.
Once you’ve summarized this, simplify it and package it, so nothing gets lost in translation. Take out all the jargon and buzzwords so that even a 6-year old will understand.
Last – think about how you can make the essence of your transformative idea intriguing rather than just factual. Intrigue arouses curiosity and interest. That’s critical to communicate your big idea.
You’ll now be much closer to something that’s not only simple to communicate but also sticky, memorable, and shareable.
You now have something that’s the conversation starter for everyone in your company
You’ll see people will start to ask, ‘tell me more!’
And you’ll become instantly referable.
So what’s your big idea?