Okay, so after working through 3 versions, furious notes on the 13 pages of your diary, and a few whiteboard sessions later, you finally commit to “A Big Idea.” You believe this Big Idea will resonate with the audience, raise their eyebrows, and get them to participate in your world.

But there’s a problem. The non-existent replies to your emails, the lukewarm comments on social media, and the polite but unenthusiastic nods during sales conversations point to an uncomfortable truth – The Big Idea is not resonating.

How do we fix this? 

Coming up with a Big Idea is scary
You’re challenging a commonly held belief in the industry, and the mind doesn’t like that. When the Big Idea doesn’t resonate, your inner critic throws a party and says, “I told you this was stupid.”

It’s healthy to acknowledge that voice, maybe even say, “Thank you.” But no—your Big Idea is not stupid. It’s almost unlikely to resonate with buyers in the first iteration. It’s unreasonable to expect that simply changing your website copy or updating your LinkedIn cover photo with the new Big Idea will instantly pull the right audience toward your brand.

Just like software, your message needs tweaking and upgrading.

The bad news is that your Big Idea is not resonating. The good news is that, directionally, you’re right. We’re not scrapping everything and going back to the drawing board. We just need to fiddle with a few knobs.

  1. The audience is wrong
    The first probable reason behind the lack of resonance could be that you’re speaking to the wrong person. Convincing a non-believer is a fool’s errand.

For example, let’s say you’re a business coach whose Big Idea is “Grow your business slowly.” This won’t resonate with an ambitious tech founder aiming to take the venture capital route and sell their company.

  1. You need to build a bridge

The second possibility, and perhaps the more likely one, is that you’ve reached the right audience, but the articulation of your idea needs work. The idea might be right, but you haven’t presented it in a way the audience is willing to accept.

Here’s a framework to consider

(To know more about this framework, click here.)

One of the pillars of this bridge may be out of place, which could explain why the audience isn’t resonating with the idea.

Instead of pushing his Big Idea of Slow Growth right away, the Business Coach might start with the goals of the founders and the problems they’re facing:

“We all want to build businesses we are proud of, and that give us financial freedom. But how do we usually go about it? We try to scale fast—which only brings us more anxiety and stress…”

From there, the Business Coach can gradually introduce the Big Idea.

This gives the Business Coach a much better chance to resonate.

Summary

If your Big Idea isn’t resonating, it’s likely because you’re either speaking to the wrong audience or presenting it the wrong way to the right audience. The key is to start with empathy. Meet your audience where they are, and then build a bridge to your Big Idea.

Next step

If you have stuck with me this far, this is a good next read.