BAM! That’s the sound of you making an impact

You want to break through the clutter. You want people to sit up and take notice.

Here’s the thing. It takes something more than cleverness.

I developed the idea of the Big Audacious Meaning (BAM!) to help companies connect with that incredibly meaningful impact that their brands can have on an individual life, a community, or even the world.

One of the great outcomes of finding your brand’s Big Audacious Meaning is it clears the way for compelling and impactful messaging.

You have to get them to care first.

I had a client that was struggling with finding a compelling way to connect with their audience. They tried to talk about this feature or that feature. It was all met with a resounding 'meh'.

When we began working with them, one of the first things we emphasized was the importance of giving the audience a reason to care before we tried to convince and convert them. This is especially important at the beginning of the customer journey. But it plays a role through all five stages.

There will be a point where you'll want to lead with your differentiating features (when your prospect is getting close to a buying decision). But even in these cases, the foundational reason to care gives your offering the emotional jolt that can make the difference between your prospect becoming a customer or not.

Finding the Big Audacious Meaning is one of the most powerful ways to create that reason to care.

A Big Audacious Meaning leads to big audacious ideas.

Really great and captivating ideas are a rare commodity. Too often they are portrayed as the bounty of a ‘creative genius’. Or the lucky strike of an a-ha moment.

There is a secret to increasing the potential for creating these kind of impactful ideas. It’s BAM! A Big Audacious Meaning creates fertile ground for cultivating endless compelling ways to connect with your prospects and customers. Because BAM is bold, emotional, and irresistible. That is the ideal place to start if you’re looking to create ideas that move people and move business.

Most importantly, ideas generated from your Big Audacious Meaning are magnetic in their authenticity – because they are uniquely yours.

Build your BAM! Build your impact.

If you want people to pay attention. If you want people to care. You need to start with something meaningful. That seems monumentally obvious. But many people simply don’t stop to lay this undeniably important foundation. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day details and to focus the functional workings of our offerings.

Make the commitment to pull yourself up out of the functional and think about your Big Audacious Meaning. Here is what you’ll discover. This stuff is incredibly enticing to think about. After all, we’re talking about having a profound impact on a life, a community, or even the world. Who doesn’t want to think about something with that kind of impact?

But don't stop there. Take that meaning you discover and let it guide the way your organization talks and acts. You’ll be awed by the impact you create.

Dan Salva is a co-founder of Will & Grail, with more than three decades of experience in brand marketing and developing and implementing go-to-market strategies. He can be reached at dsalva@willgrail.com.