This is the second of four posts discussing “The Impact Equation” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. The subtitle of the book asks a great question, “Are you making things happen or just making noise? So which is it? Are you making a difference? Brogan and Smith describe multiple ways to do just that.
Part 1 addressed goals and working with the Impact Equation. Posts 2,3 and 4 will discuss the acronym CREATE. Contrast and Articulation in Part 2. Reach and Exposure in Part 3 and Trust and Echo in Part 4.
Brogan and Smith recognize that people are building platforms all across the electronic highway but most are just making noise. If you really want people to care about what you have to say, you need more than just a good idea, trust among your audience and plenty of followers.
Understanding the impact equation will allow us to maximize the impact of what we have to say. So lets take a look at the Impact Equation.
In this post we will look at Contrast and Articulation. Brogan and Smith describe how an idea at it’s inception is not nearly enough to succeed. Not only do we need to edit, edit and re-edit these ideas to create a lasting impression but we need to be constantly coming up with new ideas to keep the magic going and be able to share them in a way that can be understood.
CONTRAST
Any idea is only useful if it is unique and useful to the person it serves. In other words, it needs to be something different than what is currently available and serve a purpose. It needs contrast to everything else out there. Brogan and Smith describe three ways good ideas have contrast.
- Good ideas make you feel … something, anything! Basically, they need to result in an emotional response from the public if they are to have any longevity in the world we live in.
- Good ideas attach themselves to other concepts in the brain. They need to make at least some sense or there will be no interest. Too much contrast doesn’t always work.
- Good ideas fill a need. They need to serve a unique purpose or they simply will be another idea that never went anywhere.
ARTICULATION
Simply stated, form your words or your content so that it is easy to understand. Our culture today does not want to take the time to figure it out so don’t make them.
Brogan and Smith put it this way – “the truth is this: Your choice of words and your choice of description aren’t the secret sauce of the idea. They are the wind that carries the paper airplane to it’s destination. Your words must serve the idea. That’s all.”
The bottom line is that it is not only the words you use, but how you use them. Whatever impact you are trying to create, make the words relevant to what is being said and don’t waste space with stuff that nobody cares about.
Contrast and Articulation – Make it unique and make it useful but most of all make it understandable. If people don’t know what your puttin’ down, don’t expect them to pick it up!
In the next post, we will look at the “R” and “E” – Reach and Exposure.
- Related Posts:
- Click here for Part 1 on the The Impact Equation
- Find out more about Chris Brogan at www.chrisbrogan.com
- Find out more about Julien Smith at www.inoveryourhead.net
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Barry Smith www.buildingwhatmatters.com 3/27/13 photo courtesy of Amazon
