An acquaintance in my network asked me if I would contribute
something to her website about marketing and business. I thought, 'Wow, that's
a big world with seemingly infinite variables. What should I address that
hasn’t been addressed a million times?' If there's any one thing I've learned
when it comes to design, business, marketing and so on, it's that one should
follow the "KISS" principle. This acronym breaks down like this:
Keep
It
Simple
Stupid
How does one “keep it simple?” This has a lot to do with understanding whatever
idea it is you have. If your idea or business plan can't be explained in one
simple, yet logical sentence than another person can easily understand, then it needs
to be thought through some more. Other people aren't psychic and don't live in
your head. Your idea could be the next "biggest thing" and it won't
matter if you can't explain it well. Simplicity comes with thoroughly
understanding your concept. This applies to more than just the
creative/marketing field. It applies everywhere in human communication.
Understanding leads to simplicity leads to ease of communication leads to
understanding for those you're speaking to leads to more open doors for
success.
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well
enough." - Albert Einstein
In the animation world, we have twelve principles that all
animation uses to create the "illusion of life". One of them is “staging” and is
defined as “the presentation of any idea so that it is completely and
unmistakably clear”. When the shot or scene is being set up, the audience must
be directed wherever the story needs it to go. This is primarily accomplished by camera angle and lighting
as well as color. A well staged movie, short film, video game, etc. will grab
the audience’s attention and keep it there as the story or action plays
out. Engagement could be said to
be THE big goal for any production.
Marketing and business are very similar. These fields merely
use different ways of achieving the same goal. Engagement is a word tossed around
on the Internet of what a business needs to succeed. This magic ‘engagement’ could be called the end of the KISS
process. Let’s look at how it’s
all connected:
1 – the Big idea
2 – working out the idea mentally and doing whatever
necessary research to thoroughly understand this Big idea
3 – keen understanding of this idea leads to a simple, easy
way to communicate it to another human being
4 – because the idea is so simple to understand and explain,
the other person can now engage with the Big idea
5 – ease of engagement opens the door to buying or selling
of the Big idea
See how it’s all connected? If there’s anywhere in this
process that usually breaks down, it’s around step 2. Proper research takes
time and dedication, which is often sacrificed in hopes of others suddenly
understanding why the Big idea is THE Big idea and the promise of financial success.
For your next Big idea, realize
that it’s a journey, needs time and it needs nurturing so YOU can understand it,
explain it in a simple sentence and then you can sell it! Only then will it have a chance to sell.
