Want to know another reason so much advertising, marketing, and fundraising is bad? Dan Heath and Chip Heath (authors of Made to Stick -- reviewed here) have a theory in Fast Company: Made to Stick: The Anti-Slogan Argument.
They've noticed that attempts to motivate people devolve into sloganeering -- catchy little phrases that no mentally healthy human would use in conversation. You know: taglines. They're meant to capture the essence of whatever you're talking about in a clever, memorable way.
Trouble is, it just doesn't sound real. As the Heaths say:
People don't speak slogan-language today unless they're trying to put one over on you. So when you hear one, you immediately become cynical. (Just imagine your prickly reaction if your kids started minting slogans: "If you love somebody, get them Wii.")
The solution: Just start telling stories. The way you do with your friends.
Slogans, taglines, advertising, brand guidelines -- that stuff is over. If you want to motivate people, act like a person.
Thanks to Brains on Fire for the tip.
Since many, if not all of us are human, you would think that would be the easiest thing in the world to do, right?
Posted by: Susan/Together We Flourish | 01 February 2009 at 16:33
Real language can be a slogan/tagline too. If you find consistent and effective wording in your story or elevator speech, use it as a slogan too. For example, in my case, we are a commercial printer and we also have a marketing division. For our print side of the business, at some point in the conversation when ask "Can you print this? or Can you do that?" it is appropriate to say, "If it's printed, we can do it." So that kind of became one of our slogans and we use on some printed materials. But it's natural and not forced. It's everyday language.
Best case scenario. Say, "If it's printed, we can do it." And THEN tell a story of something remarkable we have printed.
Posted by: David Moore | 01 February 2009 at 13:41