Have you ever wondered about how some people are able to get their ideas across to others so easily? What makes someone’s ideas stick while another simply breeze through the thoughts of others, forgotten at the end of the discussion? Today, we’ll be taking a look at six highly important principles in order to get ideas to stick to your intended audiences. Not only is this great for leaders, but almost everyone will benefit from this knowledge. Students, writers and even a sales person would benefit greatly from this knowledge! So without further ado, here are the six principles to get your ideas to stick.
Simplicity
The message that you intend to deliver has to be at its very core --simple. This means that whatever people do, they have to remember the one core message that you’re trying to bring across. Your subsequent decisions made, all have to be prioritised to follow that one simple message that you want your idea to embody. Anything and everything else will have to go in order to make the idea as simple as possible.
Unexpectedness
Something that is unexpected and surprising is bound to get people to stop and listen. And that is exactly what you want to do with your idea. Something so radical and absurd will automatically command the attention of the people around you, and let them stay to listen to your idea. Now, this could be something revolutionary, or even something that may sound so crazy, it becomes laughable. But at the end of the day, once you shape your idea to be unexpected and surprising, people will listen to you and remember.
Concreteness
An idea that is concrete will have to be something that can be visualised and painted out with words. Although not a very easy task to accomplish, it will nonetheless serve its purpose and get people to see your idea for what it is, ultimately allowing it to stick to their memory. When you want to propose the idea of building a revolutionary building, don’t just talk about its functions, talk about how it's going to look like once it's completed!
Credibility
Credibility is simple, it’s basically evidence about how great your idea is or how trustworthy you are. You have to be credible yourself in order for your idea to be taken by the audiences. Likewise, your ideas have to be built around credible sources in order for them to be believable.
Emotions
Emotions are equally as important in getting ideas to stick because humans after all are ruled by emotions. Find something that connects the idea to the audiences, be it something that they believe in or if it’s something which they are connected to.
Stories
Finally, convey your message across like it’s a story. If your message has a story behind it, people will latch on to the outcome of the story and be driven to believe in it. Think of AirBnB. The site itself doesn’t sell any products, but rather tell the story of travellers finding a home in another person’s house, making it that much more convincing as a site to use for finding lodging overseas.