What does it take to be memorable?
That’s really the crux of any good communications or marketing function: sticking in people’s memory; being top of mind when they need a service or product like the one you sell. It’s the whole philosophy behind branding, awareness, advertising, demand – whatever you want to call it.
But HOW does something actually become memorable?
In truth, our brains and environments have too many variables to reliably predict what will stay in someone’s mind, but luckily neuroscience and psychology have done a lot of work and research to try to figure some of this out – or at least give us some workable theories as we continue to map and understand the deep complexities of the human mind.
What we know today is that memory is tied to repetition, novelty and emotional resonance. In other words, make people feel something with something slightly out of the norm and do it over and over again.
Repetition: It’s generally accepted that we need to see things multiple times for them to stick. Now, how many times / how often / how nuanced varies widely and is highly individual. (And don’t believe that rule of 7 thing – it’s not real). What’s important here is consistency and staying on a theme or platform that you reinforce over time and across different channels. A good rule of thumb in comms is that “once you’re tired of saying it, your audience is just starting to listen.”
Novelty: While our brains like things that are familiar, those little moments of delight that keep something in our brains, and make stories interesting, are novel. Different enough to stand out but not so different that it confuses or scares. Think accent walls in homes, a whimsical slogan, the CD player in your brand new car (yes, I have one of these and it makes me smile every time I think about it). Find or create novelty in your product, positioning, messaging or delivery.
Emotional Resonance: Trigging an emotion to be memorable is also a well known strategy and it’s again why storytelling is so valuable- because stories are designed to elicit an emotional response. Joy, anger, surprise, fear – there is a vast array of options on the human emotional spectrum, so build experiences and stories that inspire your audience to feel something.
I give more depth and info on being memorable in my ebook “A Brand Worth Curating” which you can download here.
