4 Steps to Get Your Ideas Heard–and Executed
You had a great idea. A bolt of lightning struck your brain when it came to you. It felt serendipitous, like God blessed you with inspiration for such a time as this.
So you called up your creative partner to pitch them the idea. They weren’t excited. They didn’t get it. They heard what you said, but they didn’t feel what you felt. You return to the gray drudgery of normal work, trying to forget the whole experience. No use letting it bum you out.
What happened there? Was your lightning bolt idea not so electric in the first place? Does your creative partner hate you? Are you completely out of touch?
No. Take heart. None of these things are true. You just didn’t pitch your idea well enough.
In the past five years, I’ve worked with dozens of clients, pitching hundreds of ideas for creative campaigns. I’ve experienced the scenario I just described again and again. Through a lot of swings and misses, I’ve found a few key strategies to get my ideas heard and executed.
Step 1 - Quiet The Noise
Life is noisy. As I write this, there are two construction sites within 100 yards of my apartment, and they’ve been beeping and banging since 7am. Beyond that, I have headphones in my ears, I have coffee in my system, and I have a list of today’s work tasks rattling around in my brain. If you pitched me an idea right now, I would have a lot of trouble hearing it.
The first step toward getting your ideas heard is quieting the noise.
There are a few types of noise. Physical noise, of course, is all the loud things around us. Coffee makers, constructions sites, conversations, and Coldplay songs. Take a moment to quiet this noise around you, or move to a space where it’s quieter.
Psychological noise is all the thoughts in our brains that supersede our ability to hear what’s happening around us. Have you ever tried to get the attention of someone who is totally zoned in on their work? You call their name a few times, but they don’t hear you. They don’t register the physical noise directed at them because of the psychological noise in their heads. When you pitch your ideas, make sure there isn’t anything pressing that your audience is thinking about or working on.
Semantic noise is a bit more complicated, but it basically boils down to a language barrier. This doesn’t mean one person speaks Spanish and the other, French. Rather, it describes times when the speaker uses words, terms, and concepts that the recipient doesn’t understand. I could be completely focused in a quiet location listening to a biology lecture, but the semantic noise would keep me from understanding. Make sure you communicate in a way that your audience can understand–especially when it’s an audience of one.
Step 2 - Put Your Audience In The Right Frame of Mind
Brainstorming and ideation takes imagination. Believing that a nebulous idea can become a concrete reality takes faith. People need to suspend disbelief to be able to conceptualize something that doesn’t exist yet.
If someone is sitting down to hear your ideas, they’re extending a lot of generosity to you. They’re going to an imaginary place with you, which takes a lot of emotional energy. You need to understand this, because if your audience isn’t in the right frame of mind to go there with you, your idea will die.
Legendary copywriter, Ray Edwards, teaches his students to use phrases like “imagine for a moment…” and ”in an ideal world…” Phrases like these help people suspend disbelief for long enough to hear what you’re saying. Putting your audience in an imaginative state of mind is imperative to getting your ideas heard.
In many cases, turning ideas into reality is expensive. Money, time, connections, emotional energy–it’s no wonder your bosses and clients are resistant to your incredible ideas. They’re going to cost a lot! The goal here is to help them grasp onto the end result before they think about what it might cost. Every endeavor costs something, and many endeavors are worth it. Help them see the vision so clearly that they become willing to invest their resources in making it happen.
Step 3 - Package Your Idea Well
Just as noise and mind-frame management are important to getting your point across, so is the packaging. If your idea isn’t packaged and presented well, your audience likely won’t grab hold of it.
Think to yourself: What is the most concise medium to get this idea across? Are reference images helpful? Would a video do the trick? Could creative copywriting help here? Will graphs and charts bring clarity? Is a stand-up meeting enough time or is a sit-down meeting needed?
Beyond the packaging of your communication, what are you packaged in? What are you unintentionally communicating? If a stock broker came to you with an investment that would make you millions, but she had cotton yoga pants on, her hair was all over the place, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in a week, would you make that investment? My guess is not. This is why financial firms have high rise offices and business dress codes. They need people to trust their ideas. On the other side, the unofficial uniform of creative agencies has become nikes and graphic tees. Those clothes communicate creativity and a cultural conscience to brands.
The packaging communicates as much as the idea does. Make sure your idea is packaged well, and you’re packaged to match it.
Step 4 - Don’t Take Anything Personally
A bolt of lightning hit your brain when the idea came to you. But you can’t take it personally if that electricity doesn’t translate to your audience on the first pitch.
Taking a missed pitch personally will tank your ideas for two reasons. First, you’ll bring those negative feelings into your next brainstorm session. You’ll sabotage your own great ideas by preemptively believing people won’t care. Second, you’ll give up on your ideas too soon. Any aversion to big ideas comes because of an untold story. Your clients and bosses have constraints you aren’t aware of. Don’t take their hesitation as an insult, take it as useful information.
If your idea doesn’t hit, it now becomes your job to get to the bottom of why it missed. Ask the necessary questions. Is there a financial constraint? Is brand image a concern? Is there a new strategy? In many cases, there’s a problem on your partner’s end. The people you pitch don’t want to open up because they don’t want to hurt your feelings, or they don’t want to admit that they have a problem. By creating a safe space, free from emotion and offense, you can get the information you need to hone your ideas, and become a trusted team member with even more leverage.
Closing - This is an At Bat, Not A Free Throw
NBA players made free throws an average of 77% of the time 2020. MLB players got a hit about 24% of the time in 2020. Pitching creative ideas is less like a free throw, and more like an at bat.
If you walk away with one thing, let it be this: Keep going! Give yourself space and time to develop better ideas. Be in-tune with when your ideas flow best. Develop a system to capture loose ideas. Touch up on your design, copywriting, and speaking chops. Every little thing helps, and your fantastic ideas are at stake.
Good luck out there.
P.S. If this piece has been helpful to you, please share it with a friend who would also find it helpful. It helps me out a ton!
