Are you and your business memorable?

I often notice a recurring theme in my (business) life. Something that seems to follow me around wherever I go. Right now, that theme is: being memorable.

What makes you fascinating?

The closing speaker at the HOW Design Conference in Chicago last week was Sally Hogshead, author of the new book Fascinate. Sally gave an engaging and inspiring talk featuring the 7 triggers of fascination and how they can be applied to people, products and brands to make them more fascinating or memorable. For example, my primary trigger is PASSION. According to Sally, that means I draw people closer to myself and my ideas with a warm and open style of interaction (which is true). PASSION could also be used by a brand who communicates passion for their product to their customers—thus making it more memorable. And aren’t you more likely to buy something from a passionate shop owner, rather than one who doesn’t greet you when you walk in the door?

What makes your ideas “sticky”?

Earlier this week, I was reading a blog post from Megan Auman of Crafting an MBA about “making your business stick.” Megan references the book Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath—which outlines 6 basic concepts that make ideas stick—and offers her ideas on how to apply these concepts to make your business more “sticky” or memorable. (incidentally, happened upon this book at the HOW Conference and was intrigued by it) One of her suggestions is based on the concept of stories: are you telling stories about you and your business? People buy from you because they are interested in the story. This was a concept discussed in a session at the HOW Design Conference (there’s that theme thing again…) and it goes along nicely with the idea of making your business more memorable. If you tell a story about your business (on your website, for example) a potential client will not only feel more comfortable (it’s like they know you already), but they will also remember you.

Find your Fascination Factor: take Sally Hogshead’s ‘F Score’ quiz here.

How do you make your business memorable?