How to create contents that are easy to remember
Copywriting is a demanding and time-consuming job. It’s no wonder that writers want their content to be remembered, not ignored. But the question is, how can you do that? Is it possible to write articles that are easy to remember? Yes, and that’s what I’ll be discussing in this article!
How to create catchy information?
Are there ready-made methods for creating contents that are easy to remember? In fact, they do exist and are often used, especially in media messages. Since a copywriter works with information, they should especially know what mechanisms are responsible for memory processes and how to use them.
This issue was broken down into prime factors by Chip & Dan Heath in their book ‘Sticky Stories’. Below, let us quote the key postulates:
“The effective process of creating a message that reaches the readers is:
- define the most important idea you have to convey – get to the heart;
- consider what in your message is counterintuitive, i.e.: What are the unexpected consequences of the essence of your message? Why isn’t this happening by itself yet?
- present your message in a way that breaks the cognitive patterns of the readers, deregulates their prediction machines in a way that will be counterintuitive. And then, when their prediction machines fail, help them reset them.”
Common sense is the enemy of catchy messaging. When something sounds common sense, it goes in one ear and out the other. And why shouldn’t it be that way? If I intuitively ‘understand’ what you’re trying to tell me, why should I care to remember it?
What influences interest?
It seems that surprise and counterintuitiveness are the basic features that allow us to “stand out from the crowd”. This answer did not satisfy scientists, so they decided to investigate the subject in more detail:
“In 1994, George Loewenstein, a professor of behavioral economics at Carnegie-Mellon University, most fully described what situational interest is. It’s surprisingly simple. In his opinion, curiosity arises when we feel that our knowledge is incomplete. Loewenstein claims that the awareness of a lack of specific knowledge causes discomfort.
The situation when we want to know something but don’t know can be compared to itching. To feel better, we have to fill the information gap. We patiently watch bad movies to the end, even though watching them can be painful because it hurts more not knowing the ending.”
How to use information gap
The information gap theory seems to explain why some issues arouse almost obsessive curiosity: information gaps are a natural feature of them.
An important aspect of the information gap theory is that you have to open a thread before you can close it.
We tend to present facts. First, however, the audience needs to be aware of the need for those facts.
According to Loewenstein, the trick to convincing your audience that they want to learn something from you is to first address a specific gap in their knowledge. You can ask a question or a riddle that will make them aware of it. You can point to information that someone else has that they don’t. You can present them with situations where the solution is unknown, such as elections, sports events, or crime puzzles. You can ask them to predict the outcome (which creates two information gaps—What will happen? and Was I right?).
An example of this is most local news stations that play news trailers before the main release. They’re a snippet of the biggest story of the day, and the facts are usually presented in an absurdly exaggerated form: “A new drug is killing teenagers—and you can have it in your own medicine cabinet!” “Which popular restaurant in town found slime in its ice cream maker?” “An invisible chemical in your home could be deadly to you!”
These are sensational examples of the information gap. They work because they address something you don’t know—in fact, you didn’t care until you realized you didn’t. “Is my daughter taking any of my old meds?” “I wonder if I ate at a restaurant that found slime?” A little bit of this approach can make the content you create much more interesting.”
Application in copywriting
The question is how to use this knowledge in copywriting. It turns out that:
The news approach is suitable for all types of content and in all contexts.
To communicate more effectively, you need to shift your thinking from “What information do I need to convey?” to “What questions do you want your audience to ask me?”
This seems crucial to creating information that your audience will remember. But what if they have enough information to… not ask questions?
‘If knowledge gaps stimulate curiosity, you might think that as we learn more, our curiosity decreases because the knowledge gaps become smaller. But Loewenstein believes that the opposite is true. He argues that as we gain information, we are more likely to focus on what we don’t know. Someone who knows the capitals of 17 of the 36 states in Nigeria might feel proud of their knowledge. But someone who knows the 30 capitals is more likely to focus on the fact that they don’t know 6.’
Summary
Arousing curiosity, breaking patterns, revealing ignorance – these are the key aspects that need to be considered when creating catchy information.
We hope that the above article is an accurate answer to the title question. We were helped in this by fragments (pages 94-113) of the book ‘Przyczepne historie‘ (Sticky Stories) published by MT Biznes. People who would like to explore the topic in more detail are encouraged to read the cited work in full.
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