Why You Might Want to Be More Negative in Your Marketing

曾经在床的错误一侧醒来吗？

Of course you have. We全部有。

Ever wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and then have to be cheery? Like, interact in social media? Write an engaging blog post? Put together a lovable email marketing campaign?

啊。这些都是你希望你能关闭ut the world, or at least channel a little of your inner snark.好吧，好消息是你bob官网官方网站can做that once in a while, and your marketing results may even thank you for it! Sometimes, it's good to embrace a little bit of the negative. (Trust me -- this will all make sense in a second.)

So, here we go ... if you ever wake up wanting to shut out the world, here's how you can take it out (positively!) in your marketing.

Keep in mind, however, that negative marketing shouldn't be deployed simply because you want to be cranky. Instead, it should be implemented strategically with one (or more) of these goals in mind:

• 对客户挣扎的同情
• Differentiating your brand with that of competitors, especially those who may not be willing to take a stand or acknowledge certain truths in the industry
• 切断可能不会引起共鸣的“中性”消息的噪音

If you're successful, the end result causes you to stick in your audience's mind, which gives you the bandwidth to prove your brand as a superior alternative.

如何在营销中保持负面

那么，您如何成功实施这种策略呢？这里有一些机会在您的营销中“更负面”。

1. Create negative, or exclusionary, personas.

让我们从吞咽容易的东西开始，而不是完全脾气暴躁的裤子：exclusionary personas。Exclusionary personas, sometimes also referred to as negative personas, are kind of like the opposite ofbuyer personas-- they're the personas of the people you不要want to target in your marketing.

这不仅仅是认识到世界上的每个人都是潜在的未来客户 - 这是要认识到您的营销吸引了某些类型的人，这些人完全堵塞了您的渠道，浪费您的销售团队的时间，并且永远不会成为客户。

他们为什么不成为客户？可能是很多事情 - 他们没有预算，或者只是您内容或社交媒体存在的粉丝。也许他们做become customers, but they cost you a ton of money; for instance, they could have a high acquisition cost or a high propensity to churn.

在这种情况下，您应该确定这些人是谁，以确保您要么1）stop creating content that draws in the wrong people, or2）让他们继续阅读并与您的内容互动帮助您传播覆盖范围，但请使用诸如分配低点之类的方法来防止它们旋转到销售代表线索得分。

2. Leverage a little exclusivity.

This is the VIP, red-carpet tactic we all know and love (or love to hate). When you tell someone they can't have something or what they want is scarce, it often makes them want it更多的。You know, the whole "playing hard to get" thing.

这恰好一个常见的销售策略,but marketers can use it, too. Tell prospects they can have an offer ... but only for a limited time. Or only for the first 10 that respond in social media. Heck, you don't even always have to tell them what it is.

这种策略在精明的电子商务商店中也特别受欢迎 - 例如，ModCloth经常向我发送电子邮件，让我知道我喜欢的物品是如此受欢迎，几乎没有库存。“哦，不！其他所有人都在抓！

这个故事的主旨？偶尔把人们留出一段时间。如果每个人都有东西，那就不那么特别。当你去VIP时，那些做get it feel uber-special. (There... we just turned a negative into a positive. See?)

3.制作“负”头条和标题。

我不知道这对人性有何评论，但是页面视图与消极情绪之间存在不可否认的相关性。考虑一下您可能会在CNN等新闻网站上找到的其中一些标题：bob官网官方网站

• 您对烧烤有什么问题
• 我们最喜欢的调味剂会破坏我们的DNA吗？
• 当心父母的份额

这些是关于点击的。毫无疑问。我们都知道，这一消息已经走了多年bob官网官方网站，而且 - 无论好坏，他们都这样做是因为它有效地引起了人们的注意。

Now, you absolutely不应该抛出一些炎症标题只是为了获得点击 - 如果您要对自己的标题产生负面影响，则必须用一些扎实的内容来支持它，实际上值得您标题。以下是一些对我们来说非常出色的示例：

• 人们绝对讨厌您的网站的15件事
• 10个陈词滥调营销标语，我们都应该停止使用
• 13 Hilarious Examples of Truly Awful Stock Photography
• 17 Sales Closing Mistakes That’ll Stop a Deal in Its Tracks

4. Create a bond over a shared negative experience -- but don't dwell.

Alright, now we're getting warmed up! So you're throwing out some negative titles, but have you considered drawing that negativity into your content? When you draw on a negative situation in your content -- particularly right in the beginning -- it can actually help reader retention and engagement. Some marketers are afraid to stir up negative feelings in their reader, but it can actually create a shared experience and tap into a level of emotion that some may not expect to get while reading marketing content, particularly if you're a B2B marketer.

I mean, that's why I started this post the way I did -- getting up on the wrong side of the bed is an experience everyone I know can relate to. And sometimes, it's easier to form a bond with someone over a sharednegativeexperience than something warm and fuzzy.

But be forewarned --一旦您基于共同的负面体验与读者建立联系，将情绪转变为更积极和面向解决方案的事物至关重要。人们喜欢知道他们并不孤单（苦难爱公司），但大多数人不喜欢沉迷于消极情绪。bob全站app

5.投下一些恶棍。

就像我们都可以在共同的消极经历上结合在一起，我们也可以与一个共同的敌人联系在一起。多年来，施放小人一直是一种普遍的营销策略，我不仅在谈论汉堡。恶棍可以采取更多微妙的形式，以普通的比喻演奏 - 混蛋老板，懒惰的室友，官僚无人机。

These take common experiences and personify them in order to elicit a feeling in the consumer, and help tell the story you're trying to tell. A great example of this is Genesis's "Going Away Party" commercial where they use the "stuffy" party trope and the "villains" within it to demonstrate that luxury doesn't have to be stuffy.

6.即使是有争议的，也要为您所相信的东西立场。

If you feel confident about your brand, your PR team, and your position on an issue, you can take a controversial stance on a popular topic.有争议的营销这是一个冒险的游戏，因为在许多情况下，您的品牌可以被视为利用只是为了兜售产品的问题。但是，如果做得好，您的品牌可以看作是对社会负责的。

有争议的营销can also do a few other things for your marketing:

• 将您定位为思想领袖（只有当您的想法是一个好人时 - 因此，请尝试确保它是）
• 帮助您在消费者眼中定义品牌及其代表的目的
• Drive natural publicity
• 引起观众的强烈情绪，无论是积极的还是负面的

That last one is what I want you to pay the most attention to.When you take a staunch position on a polarizing issue, youwill让您少喜欢您的人。您还将产生一些非常热心的支持者。如果您打算玩争议游戏，请准备好两者，因为尽管有些结果对您的品牌来说真的很令人兴奋，但某些强烈反对将不可避免地会带来。

7.使用数据来构建案例研究，围绕为什么发臭。

Let's start off with an example:[新研究]这是官方的 - 许多销售人员讨厌他们的CRM。It gets props off the bat for its grabby negative headline, but it's also full of interesting statistics like this one:

50％的销售负责人说他们的CRM难以使用，18％的人表示这导致他们失去了机会或收入。

You build a case around why one thing stinks (traditional CRMs) so you can show why something else is惊人的(the newHubSpot销售枢纽企业）。

如果您有两个数据点证明了鲜明的对比度，则可以使这更具吸引力。正面和负面的并置在读者的思想中绘制了相当戏剧性的画面，而简洁的数据点使得很容易快速证明不良与好。

8. Poke some fun at your competitors.

这也许是大多数人在讨论负面营销时的想法，但是由于情况的微妙程度，很少执行它。一方面，一点健康的竞争可能是一件好事，尤其是如果您想将自己定位为更好的选择。但是，如果做得不好，您的听众实际上可能会考虑您的品牌“玩肮脏”或过低眉毛。此外，如果您利用虚假索赔，则可能会要求法律麻烦。

There are two types of negative marketing with regard to your competitors:

1. 攻击：专注于比赛的负面产品。
2. 对比：专注于您产品的积极方面，并确定差距。这是更微妙的，但仍然突出了您的竞争所缺乏的。

Typically, it's easier for larger brands to engage in negative marketing with their competition because they're already well-known, so the reward can be greater than the risk to highlight value propositions.

Pepsi has a famous "attack" ad其中一个孩子从自动售货机上分配两个可口可乐罐，并站在它们上以达到百事可乐按钮。

Bud Light在其“特殊递送玉米糖浆” AD中使用了更微妙的“对比”方法：

该广告之所以起作用，是因为它是一个淡淡的叙述，并且没有进行严重的泥泞（仅突出了一个区别）。

Nonetheless, controversy brewed even in this case asthe company was suedfor potentially misleading consumers by not acknowledging the difference between corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup, which demonstrates exactly why this tactic is risky.

如果您的品牌不是家喻户晓的名字，最好以较小的方式强调价值主张和差异化者。

For example, some brands engage in competitor criticism without mentioningany名称。这样做可以确保您在利用消费者知道的想法时不会免费提供竞争对手的时间。例如，多米诺（Domino）在其“旨在交付”广告中做到这一点，该广告没有提及单个竞争对手（但确实暗示了他们）：

9. Make fun of yourself.

另一个较小的方式是将这种消极情绪转向。一点点的自嘲对他人来说很有趣，使您看起来更人性化，实际上可能会让您对滑倒感觉更好。毕竟，我们都有它们，重要的是要学习如何弄清楚自己的错误。说到多米诺（Domino），最近的自嘲广告的最佳例子之一是，当多米诺（Domino）承认自己的比萨饼的味道像纸板一样，他们对此做了什么：

当消极情绪适中

综上所述，重要的是要始终考虑您的消极情绪是否适得其反。您是一个纯正的混蛋吗？这种消极情绪会在您的听众身上迷失吗？您的买家角色真的讨厌这种东西吗？

For instance, something that almost always comes off as totally petty and unnecessarily negative is bickering with competitors. I mean, think about how annoying political ads are; you certainly don't want to come off like that. I think one piece of advice from my childhood can sum up how you should approach bickering with competitors:

“如果您没有什么好说的话，请不要说什么。”

Yes, even if他们开始。

同样重要的是要记住，您所遇到的任何消极情绪都需要以某种积极性来缓和。

最后，我认为努力鼓舞人心应该永远是营销人员的愿望。毫无疑问，营销人员能够激发人们从努力中看到令人难以置信的成功。实际上，我认为，如果您能够激发营销中的人们，效果持续时间更长，并且比这些负面策略中的任何一个都要强得多。

编者注：该帖子最初于2013年4月发表，并已更新以进行全面性。