The power of chunking

Aaron has posted a really powerful mindmap of what he knows about internet marketing (which is a lot). I found several sites I didn't know about and you will too.

But the mindmap part just gave me a headache. There really is a rule of seven when it comes to putting ideas into your head (which is why phone numbers have 7 digits...). When you launch a new idea on the world, odds are you've thought it through and realized many permutations of it. When you want to teach Social Studies to 12 year olds, there's lots to teach. When you want to sell something to a business, the richness of your offering demands a great deal of detail.

Obviously, Aaron isn't trying to get us to remember or even grok all the roots and leaves of his tree. My guess is that you will soon be writing down a few things to take action on, as opposed to figuring out how all the pieces fit together. It's a checklist, in practice, at least it was for me.

Even though Aaron wasn't trying to sell a single idea with overkill, sometimes, marketers are doing just that. They're going overboard with all the benefits and features and wonders of the product or service they're launching. Politicians make this mistake every single day.

Resist.

Seven is probably too many bullets. Three is more like it.

Three we can handle. Three is manageable and memorable and actionable. Give me three things and I can find a place for them in my brain. Each of those three things can probably have three subthings if you like. And then, at least for now, that's it.