Some people aren’t going to love this. Some would even say this is flat-out wrong.

Your marketing should be polarizing. 

It should not resonate with everyone. It should sometimes even create a negative reaction from some people.

Why?

Because being polarizing is extremely effective at getting attention and interest to influence people.

And in marketing, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. Capture attention and convert it into dollars. That’s the name of the game.

But most companies don’t do this. Instead, they play it safe and create boring content that doesn’t resonate with their target audience.

This is for many reasons, like brand guidelines and fear of blowback if they say or do something wrong. And this only becomes much more prominent the larger the company is.

… “If you try to please everybody, you’ll please nobody.”

So unless you sell a product that appeals to a massive percentage of the population, you should focus only on the people that it does appeal to. Not just a little bit, but a lot. So much that it may repel others.

Black Rifle Coffee Co does this extremely well and it’s one of the reasons for their success. Their branding, positioning, and marketing appeals specifically to veterans, gun lovers, conservatives, and others who have similar beliefs and lifestyles.

Sure, some people probably despise their brand because of this. But the people who support them are raving fans. This is exactly where you want to be.

They realize that to influence people, you need to stand for something, even if that means having a lot of people disagree with or dislike you.

Be polarizing. Go against the grain. Your true customers will love you, and for everyone else…who cares?

The result: Attention, interest, raving fans, and a whole lot of influence over your potential customers.