And it got me thinking about marketing.
What makes a marketing message memorable?
As I see it, you can create a memorable message in dozens of different ways:
1: First of all you could tell a memorable story.
Look at one that Dave Garofalo shared with me recently. (Dave Garofalo owns Two Guys Smoke Shop which is the highest volume independently owned and operated cigar retailer in the world.)
Dave was explaining one of the most important pieces of business advice he had ever received. And he did this in the form of a story.
Over to Dave...
"I have a very successful, rich friend who owns a big, beautiful and very expensive yacht. He loves his yacht; it's the biggest and best at the marina. One day a new, bigger yacht pulled into the open slip at the marina. It was now the biggest and best. My rich friend, now very curious went over to the new yacht and greeted the owner who was sitting on its deck smoking a cigar. "Ahoy...Welcome to our marina" my rich friend shouts. "Come aboard if you like" yells the new guy. "What a beautiful yacht - this is now the best in the marina and certainly the most expensive" my rich friend notes. "If you don't mind me asking...what do you do for a living" asked my rich friend. The new guy smiles and says "I'm a Plumber!"
My rich friend, with a look of shock and surprise responds "A Plumber? You must be one hell of a plumber!" The new guy, with the biggest and best yacht answers "Yes - but I have a trick of the trade that none of my competitors do, so I get most of the business and this wonderful yacht." "What's that?" my rich friend asks with extreme interest. The new guy turns his head left...and then right as to make sure that no one else was hearing this conversation and replies..."I Answer the Damn Phone!" "When the phone rings, it is a customer who wants to hire me and give me money, so I answer the damn phone". This, although so simple is the best piece of business advice I ever received. Smile when the phone rings!"
(Helpful marketing advice and made memorable with an interesting story.)
2: Sometimes the way you create a memorable message is 'how' you explain what you do to someone else.
I was chatting recently to Steve Ballantyne the owner of an excellent B2B Advertising Agency called Ballantyne Taylor.
Steve was talking about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation.) He told me that they could show a client how their website ranked with SEO compared to their top two competitors. Plus how it compared to best practice in their entire industry.
That explanation was memorable to me because I liked the idea of knowing how you compare in a certain area with your two biggest competitors. And it was the first time I had heard SEO explained in this way.
What is your memorable message?
'For me, being memorable is more important than winning.'
Ricki Lake
Action Step:
Think about your own business this week. What could you do to make your messages memorable in some way?
Graham McGregor is a marketing consultant and the creator of the 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage Report.' www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com (This is free and has now been read by business owners from 27 countries.) You can email him at the link above. 
