Erika Napoletano, blogger, two-time author and native Texan knows a thing or two about being popular. Online, @RedHeadWriting has collected 20,000 Twitter followers and has been bouncing around SXSW for the past few days with a posse of Colorado (where she now calls home) entrepreneurs.
But at the reading for her new book she advised brand-builders to throw popularity to the wind. “You never thought you’d want to build an unpopular brand,” she says, “but the rules of marketing have changed.” In The Power of Unpopular: A Guide to Building You Brand For The Audience Who Loves You (and why no one else matters), Napoletano, a brand strategist and freelance writer (look for her in Entrepreneur) aims to remind brands and marketers that it isn’t always about being nice—the new powerful marketing ploy, especially online, is embracing the people who love you and giving the silent treatment to all those who don't.
“Listen, every brand is both popular and unpopular with a specific demographic,” she said, and challenged attendees to consider their own companies. Identifying who will never like you is as important, if not mores o, than identifying your target customer.
Why? So you can eliminate them from both your business strategy and your worry-zone. Spend zero time trying to win them over, she says, as is just a total waste of headspace. Napoletano’s clients in Colorado, where she advises businesses on their marketing efforts, include a quirky purveyor of artisanal urns for cremation. Why would they spend their time trying to win clients who think the idea of an Elvis-inspired afterlife is an abomination? Their time is 1000% better spent building the presence and the community, Napoletano says, however small or close-knit, that thinks the idea is absolutely awesome.
While she was never the prom queen (thank heavens), she's figured out how to leverage one word with seemingly negative implications into powerful fodder to build brands with staying power in the marketplace. You won't find case studies from corporate behemoths here - you'll find stories and advice from people just like you who want to wake up every day, do what they love, and do it for the people who will love them. Because that's who truly matters.
The Power of Unpopular is about finding your business’ secret weapon that a group of people absolutely loves and not worrying about the rest; it’s about keeping blinders on to the haters, the ones that will never consume your products or services or buy into your idealogy.
I like Napoletano’s thinking—and writing—because she’s refreshingly candid and un-buzzy when talking about marketing. She’s a spin-less spin doctor. I like her in person because she’s got a kick-ass sleeve and the mouth of a truck driver. We caught up Sunday morning just as the sun was coming out over Austin—the first sun we’ve seen since SXSW began on Friday. As the (read: my new) authority on marketing without the douchebaggery, I decided to get her take on the “look at me!” media blitz of the festival. When thousands of entrepreneurs running around in branded t-shirts doing anything and everything to get noticed in Austin, how much was too much? Is it possible to lose at an event that seems anything goes?
Turns out, there is. Check out the video to find out what works, what doesn’t, and who you should be to make the right impression at SXSW.
Readers: I think we're all guilty of the fear of unpopularity. In fact, I think it's one of the elements that goes into our weirdness with how we present ourselves online. What about you? Can we all make a conscious effort, in both our personal brands and our businesses to put blinders on to the haters and focus on who loves us? Napoletano's sold me--I think it would be time much better-spent.
