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The Familiar Four - Introducing New & Old Ideas

byJoel Kelly

As the saying goes: you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Yet, they always seem to discover a new spot where their treats are hidden.

We’re all a bunch of old dogs. Me, you, your audience, everyone you encounter. We’re all set in our ways, we love the predictability of our routine, and when faced with something new we will try to dismiss it as a passing novelty.

Because change is hard, “new” is hard. 

Businesses grow because they develop new concepts, ideas, and products. Yet, there are no new ideas under the sun. Yet, your audience is excited about the idea of something new even though they might be apprehensive about changing up their entire way of thinking to adopt it.

This is the crux of all new businesses - you need to stand out with something original and exciting, but your audience needs something familiar to grasp onto. Your ideas need to set you apart yet be inclusive. Show us a “better way” of doing things without forcing us to abandon what we’ve grown comfortable with. 

When businesses can’t find this middle ground, their failure isn’t so much in the product but in their communication around the product. The business fully understands the genius behind their actions, but all its audience hears is Greek.

The question stands: how do you bring forward an original idea without alienating audiences with your genius?

We’ll cover this in three parts: 

  • A breakdown of the Modified Originality Scale

  • How Businesses Fail To Present Originality

  • How to Create An Original Brand

The Modified Originality Scale

Original. Authentic. Unique. The idea is simple: you don’t want to be the copy, you want to be the origin point of the concept. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, you deserve to be flattered. 

Marty Neumeier laid out the Originality Scale years ago. 

Knowledge X Imagination = Originality

That is: 

Knowledge -  the totality of what is known, the body of acquired facts, information and principles.

Imagination - creative ability, a creation of the active mind.

Originality - the state of being original, relating to the origin, the beginning, the first instance of which things are copied from.

Neumeier goes deep into this concept with a collection of diagrams that better describe what he is doing. His formula is 100% accurate and you can see it unfold just about anywhere. But I think it needs to go deeper in order for us to take it further.

We need to take the base of the equation from knowledge to wisdom.

If knowledge is facts, wisdom is the insight gained from experiencing the facts in the real world. Insight is the ability to define the reasons behind specific situations, to understand the inner nature of things. Insight breeds from intuition and intuition develops from experience. All in, they grant us wisdom.

Wisdom is your body of knowledge, tried and tested. 

Wisdom X Imagination = Originality

Knowledge is acquired in the classroom, wisdom comes from spending years on the job and knowing what does and doesn’t work regardless of what the textbook says. Taking imaginative approaches to the wisdom you’ve gained is what brings true originality to your business, your brand, your life.

However…

Being TOO Original May Confuse Your Audience

I have sat across the table from thousands of people with visionary ideas for businesses and products. Some of them made perfect sense and would go on to earn them loads of cash. For the others, I would ask them to explain it again, and again, to see if there was something I was missing. 

They made zero sense. Yet, I knew that in their head, it all made perfect sense. There may only be a few inches between your brain and the tip of your tongue, but a lot of stuff can get mixed up and lost in that distance. 

Your “new way” of doing things may revolutionize the world, but only if you can communicate your original idea in the right way. When the idea is drastically different than what is already out there, it is hard for people to understand much less accept. Then again, geniuses are always ahead of their time and early adopters love taking risks - but these people are on the fringes, they make up a miniscule percent of the population who needs your idea. 

In-home electricity was once a fringe idea. Lightbulbs, switches, and wires scared the hell out of people. To that point, “electricity” was the thing that flashed from the sky during a thunderstorm, it was an intense force that could kill you (and it still is). The idea that it could be harnessed for everyday use in a home was outrageous.

The internet - the very thing so many of us use every single day of our life - was once a fringe idea. Sending instant messages, banking, watching TV, getting weather reports all on your computer was a lot to think about back in 1995. Then again, the “home computer” was just coming around and the home phone line was meant for talking to people during non-peak hours…an original idea that most people had nothing to hold on to.

How electricity and internet go from fringe ideas to public utilities? They started addressing the internal pain points their non-users were experiencing. Without electricity, you were illuminating your house with candles that sometimes resulted in five-alarm fires. As the internet made the publishing and distribution of media faster and cheaper, users adopted devices and applications so they could stay involved with the conversation. 

When you replace confusion with necessity, the resistance to your new idea falls away. 

This starts with understanding what your customer needs - the internal pain they need resolved, and working backwards to shape your messaging around their anxiety. 

Staying Original Without Losing Your Audience

Wisdom X Imagination = Originality

What You’ve Learned From Your Experience X Connecting With New Concepts = A New Idea Your Audience Can Engage With.

Little Wisdom X Little Imagination: Nothing New. You’re a copycat. The audience will accept the idea because they’ve heard it all before. 

Lots of Wisdom X Little Imagination: Your experience is applied to other verticals, industries, or ideas. Or you try to adopt other ideas into your expertise. 

Little Wisdom X Loads of Imagination: You’re coming up with concepts that are new to you. Lots of “What ifs” and How abouts,” but when you tell people about your new ideas they usually respond with “oh, sorta like…”  New to you, not to them.

Lots of Wisdom X Lots of Imagination: Brand new to everyone. You fully understand the idea because it is rooted in your experience, but it requires a lot of imagination on your audience’s part to be fully accepted. There’s no reason these ideas couldn’t work, but like electricity or the internet, you need to find the messaging that makes the ideas work for everyone else.

And this might be where true wisdom comes into play: it’s not just that you know a lot or have the experience, but that you’re able to convey this experience into something that is useful to someone else. Having a true mastery of an idea or concept means knowing how to share it expertly. 

This messaging is what The Big BAM Process builds towards. It’s not just about putting your ideas into better words or writing better copy, but taking the time to understand how your ideas are seen from your audience’s perspective. When you take the time to understand what they need, then you’re spending less time guessing how to get them to adopt your ideas.

When you know what they need, you can give them what they want in the way they want it.

Sound like something you’re stuck on? Give us a shout. Our self-guided courses are now available for business owners who have hit a plateau and need to get their new ideas through the noise.