In their bestselling book, “Made to Stick” (2007), Chip and Dan Heath talk about why some ideas survive and why some ideas die. Their advice is that if you want to make a lasting impression, you have to tell stories that are simple, unexpected, concrete, credible and emotional. Getting such messages across and keeping them alive in a fast-moving, global environment is no simple matter. It involves constant, creative and tenacious hard work.

Those of us who engage and exhibit at coach trade exhibitions such as the RDA-Workshop in Cologne know what challenges we are up against. Our goal is to attract the desired levels of attention, create client interest and display customer value while at the same getting messages across in a manner that sticks and closes new deals.

This is nothing new. What is new is the real-time explosion in available information, the breaking down of traditional procurement, sales and purchasing patterns and processes and the rapid creation and expansion of new channels for marketing, distribution, promotion and consumption. For some, this is a headache, for others this is a godsend!

A “Twitter”-type approach – the “say it in 140” method – is a great discipline when it comes to achieving business goals. It helps keep things simple, short and significant by distilling the very essence of what you want to say.
 
“Tweet”-type messages are compasses in an ad infinitum plethora of combinations, permutations and possibilities. Especially when backed up with web content that is always relevant, useful and immediately applicable for your customer group. A good example of how this approach may be applied is by providing “Tweet”-type answers to three core questions:

Why your country? (e.g. Germany, Great Britain or Ireland)
Why your destination? (e.g. Berlin, Canterbury or Dublin)
Why your company? (e.g. people, services and delivery)

This, of course, is easier said than done but you will find that it is an effective and a fun way to focus the mind and to achieve results.