David Ogilvy famously said that “unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night”.

I've become increasingly convinced that big ideas are at the heart of all great marketing, not just advertising.

We all try to make our marketing speak to our potential clients. To capture some kind of benefits they'll get from our products or services.

But a big idea goes further than that. It captures the imagination. It gets people salivating. It's memorable.

I think I've had a couple of big marketing ideas in my time. The first was “pain free marketing” which focused on teaching professionals how to market in ways that didn't make them feel pushy or uncomfortable but instead added value to their potential clients.

Those ideas are still at the heart of all the marketing I do.

More recently I released my “21 word email that can get you more clients”. Quite a bold claim that by sending out a simple email to a very specific audience it could get you sales meetings within days.

It works, by the way, but that's not my point here.

What's important is that it's a concept that's simple to understand, has huge appeal, and is easy to remember.

Often our marketing is far too complex. I sometimes read website home pages or hear how people introduce themselves and I still have no clue what they actually do or how it might help me.

The essence of a big idea is that simplicity. It should be immediately obvious what the big benefit is, why it works, and who it's for.

Do you have a big idea that captures the imagination of your ideal clients? Often we kind of have the germ of one, but we need to put much more thought into making it really resonate. Stripping away all the fluff so the idea really shines.

It's hard work to shape big ideas. But well worth it.