Our Guide To Outrage Marketing

Outrage marketing

If you’re like us and get sick of constantly having to be what society thinks we should be, we thought we’d give you a little break and introduce you to the wonderful world of outrage marketing.

WARNING – IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED, DO NOT TRY THIS MARKETING TECHNIQUE AT HOME (or in the office).

What is outrage marketing

Outrage marketing is probably not something you’ve heard much about, which is why we’ll start with explaining what it really is. It’s the act of gaining attention in the most offensive way possible with the aim of drawing like-minded people to your business, and in the process, freeing yourself from moaners. Now, we’re not saying you can go and target specific people – outrage marketing works by pushing the boundaries on what’s acceptable and what’s not.

If you’re not quite sure what we mean, we’ll give you an example. It’s not OK to go and pledge allegiance to ISIS, but you are more than welcome to have a good old honest moan on social media about that awkward customer that gave you a 10-minute lecture about why you should only serve the finest organic milk their little darling Roisin. Afterall, people don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.

Where does outrage marketing work?

We wouldn’t recommend outrage marketing for B2B as corporations still haven’t quite learnt what the word funny means yet. But if you’re B2C, and have a sense of humour and plenty of awkward customers, why not give it a go? Facebook is the perfect place to start as it’s really not the place for selling. It is, however, the perfect place for pissing people off while getting your brand noticed at the same time (it’s a win-win!). You could also try Snapchat, Instagram too. Don’t try LinkedIn though, you know just how passionate people are about the fact that “LinkedIn is not Facebook”.

How does outrage marketing work?

The key to outrage marketing is humour. Outrage marketing is not something that can be planned – you just have to go with the flow and be spontaneous. If something happens that angers you – why not turn it into a positive and make sure it doesn’t happen again? You can use these situations to train your customers by making sure that every humourous post has a serious underlying message. Have fun, be a baby, and make sure you always go with whatever rolls off your tongue first. If you overthink things it’ll lose its effect.

Positives of outrage marketing

Although it sounds crazy, there are a number of benefits to outrage marketing. If this is the first time you’re hearing about it, you’re probably thinking “Oh god, but what if I offend someone? What if it ruins my businesses image?”. True, you will make some enemies along the way, but in the long run, you’ll see that these people simply stop caring. You’ll also find you get less complaints and people will know what to expect from your business. This’ll not only help keep you happy – it’ll keep your workforce happy too as they won’t be having to deal with gobshites all the time. You’ll also find that you attract more like-minded people who will be so much more supportive of your company’s mission, and you’ll increase your client satisfaction rates.

Examples of outrage marketing

Here in Dublin all we have to do is skip over the Liffey like a leprechaun on speed (we mean the Luas [which means speed in Irish]…drugs are bad…) to find the real pioneers of outrage marketing – the White Moose Cafe (who also happen to be keynoting at next year’s Retro Live….just saying…). By banning vegans from their cafe, asking everyone wanting gluten free food to bring a Dr’s note, and refusing to let bloggers stay in their hotel for free, they went viral and got famous in 33 countries and saved themselves a whopping 4.2 million euros on advertising costs by getting an organic reach of 880 million people just from their bloggergate scandal alone. So if you’re not a fan of corporate bullshit, outrage marketing might just be the way to go!

Hopefully, we’ve inspired you to think outside the box! And if you want to have a bit of fun and push boundaries, get in touch! We’d love to help you get your brand noticed for all the wrong reasons!