The statement I teach

Most small businesses don’t lose because they’re bad.

They lose because they’re forgettable.

Memory assets solve the quiet death of opportunity:

• Someone likes you

• They mean to follow up

• The week happens

• You disappear

I treat recall as a strategic function, not a branding aesthetic.

What a Memory Asset is

A Memory Asset is a designed recall trigger:

• A business card people keep (not stack)

• A signature phrase that sticks

• A URL people can repeat

• A packaging detail people describe

• A consistent visual format people recognize

This is identity in action: “Your identity is literally your ‘repeated beingness.’” (Atomic Habits)

Repeated cues become recognition.

And it’s also story mechanics: “We are the sum of our experiences, the culmination of everything that has come before.” (Storyworthy)

Your audience’s “experience of you” is made of tiny repeated exposures—so you design them.

The three levers that make things memorable

Every memory asset hits at least one:

• Novelty: unexpected enough to tag

• Emotion: satisfying, relieving, surprising

• Personal relevance: mirrors their problem or aspiration

And when those levers activate, people talk about you without trying.

That’s why this line from Your Brain on Art matters: “And out came the true emotions and even tears,” he says.

Memory follows emotion.

If your artifact triggers nothing, it gets filed as “generic.”

And this line frames the business era: “I believe we’re at the very end of the efficiency movement in business.”

When everything speeds up, the winners are the ones who create meaning that sticks—not just output that floods.

How I build a Memory Asset without being gimmicky

I design something someone can repeat:

• One signature line (example: your own tagline)

• One consistent format (the same carousel structure, the same CTA placement)

• One “back pocket” question that makes people reflect

Because repetition compounds: “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.” (Atomic Habits)

Every repeated cue is a vote for being remembered.

The “Jacket Pocket Test” (my standard)

I ask:

• If someone finds this card / link / phrase 6 months later… do they remember who I am and what I do?

If not, it’s not an asset yet.

It’s a disposable artifact.

And I use Storyworthy’s discipline: “Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.”

Memory assets require protected time for crafting—because the default is forgettable.

5 key insights you can use to create assets today

• Pick one signature phrase and repeat it everywhere for 30 days (bio, footer, posts).

• Add one novelty lever to your business card or thank-you note (a question + QR to one asset).

• Make emotion explicit: describe the before-state pain and after-state relief in your messaging.

• Standardize one recognizable format (same post structure, same headline style) so repetition creates recall.

• Run the Jacket Pocket Test on your current materials and redesign one item for memorability.

Step Into Clarity