How to sell controversy, the right way

Welcome to another edition of PROse, the B2B marketer's no BS guide to growing an engaged audience.

It's been a heck of a week - for mostly good reasons!

Let me warn you now though, what you're about to read is a little spicy.

If you don't like the idea of upsetting people, this may not be something you want to try.

Consider yourself warned 🤣

You ready? Let's go.

Can I be honest?

I love a good polarizing marketing campaign.

Let me explain:

I mean a campaign that clearly stands for something and—more importantly—against something else.

There’s a clear hero or right answer, and a clear enemy or wrong answer.

Why do I like them so much?

Honestly, I don’t know what it is. It could be because I can be polarizing at times or that I just respect the boldness (and genius) that it takes to do it correctly

When done well, it simultaneously builds affinity and has a built-in amplifying mechanism.

Your target audience loves you even more, because they feel you just get it. While people on the other side of the fence help generate more attention by voicing their opinions.

Developing that deep emotional resonance with customers is exactly how legendary brands are born.

Equinox: The Fitness Provocateur

Equinox is a brand that has mastered controversial campaigns to grow their business.

In 2017, they launched a sequel to their 2016 campaign, “Commit To Something”.

And, people definitely had things to say about it.

To be fair, their discomfort is understandable. I think that’s what makes this a great ad.

Equinox was speaking to a specific person. The person that struggles with discovering their values and committing to be the person they truly are.

That resonated with people…a lot.

The campaign results?

• 735m impressions (equal to $70m in ad spend)

• 81% increase in sales leads

Now, before you go try something really edgy, know that there is definitely a way to do this incorrectly.

I’ll talk about that in a bit.

First, let’s talk about how to do it the right way.

1 - Speak solely to your target audience

If you’re going to say something polarizing, you need to have an audience of one.

One specific (type of) person who will read/watch what you say and feel like you’re externalizing their inner thoughts.

Lots of brands do the exact opposite of this by trying to speak to any and everybody.

That doesn’t land with this tactic.

Dig deep to understand what your audience cares about and how they feel about it.

Then externalize that.

Speaking to an audience of one will also help you feel less “off-base” when you’re reading lots of inflamed comments.

2 - Focus on a bigger message than your product

Related to the last point: your customer should feel like the hero when they see your content.

They won’t feel that way if you try too hard to pitch your product.

It will just look like a cringey promo.

Remember, we want to connect with our customers on an emotional level.

Look at your company’s broader values and connect them to the campaign.

For example, Equinox says they’re in the business of changing people’s lives. So the campaign is really about encouraging people to go all-in on changing their lives by being who they really are.

As you can see, even when you don’t pitch your product or services you can still affect the business’ bottom line.

3 - Use data to sell the idea to leadership

Understandably, most leadership teams are scared of doing something controversial or declaring an ‘enemy’.

They don’t want to lose potential customers or risk becoming Twitter’s main character for the day.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pitch the idea.

The key though is to root the pitch in data.

Look for trends in data (cultural or business) that support the idea that your customers will love you more—and become more valuable—than your detractors will hate you.

In the Equinox case, they relied on the 2016 prequel campaign’s success but also cultural issues they knew their audience was already discussing outside of the gym.

Those sorts of insights can greatly reduce the risk that things go horribly wrong.

So dig deep to connect your idea to something your data proves.

...

Now, back to an earlier point. There is a wrong way to do this.

That way is being controversial for the sole purpose of engagement. You can’t seem to tie it back to the brand’s missions & values, or something the audience cares about.  

It’s a cheap way to gurner clicks and likes but it doesn't help the business.

It’s very cringey. Don’t be that brand.

That's a wrap, folks! But before you go...

I'm building a small community of B2B marketing leaders who are committed to building a world-class social function. Want in?

Reply to this email and I'll send over some info so you can be part!

(If you did this responded last week, no need to respond again. Just want to give newcomers a chance to join too 🙂)

Peace ✌🏾

DP