← Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson
Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson
Ep. 315- Ask Us ANYTHING❓Go VIRAL With Smart Controversy (and Why Idol > The Voice)🎤
00:11:32
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Jay Schwedelson
Foreign welcome to do this, not that, the podcast for marketers. You'll walk away from each episode with actionable tips you can test immediately. You'll hear from the best minds in marketing who will share tactics, quick wins, and pitfalls to avoid. We'll also dig into life, pop culture, and the chaos that is our everyday. I'm Jay Schwedelson. Let's do this, not that. We are back for what's up this week from the do this not that podcast presented by Marigold. There's our super short episode where all week long we get in questions, we get in work questions, we get in ridiculous questions, we try to tackle one of each. And if you want to submit a question, you would be the coolest person I know. All you got to do is go to jschwettleson.com there's a button that says podcast and then another one that says ask us anything. We love getting your questions. We love ridiculous ones. We love work ones. Let's jump into it though. Let's do the work question first. We got a question from Rob from Livingston, New Jersey. What do you got, Rob? J. My marketing team wanted to test social posts and email content around an industry myth that is super annoying, that still circulates, and we wanted to have a hot take on it. Is that an actual marketing tactic or just us being annoyed with a common misconception in our industry? This is a great question because something called stealth controversy is one of the most underutilized marketing tactics that works especially well right now. You know, with AI, we're all regurgitating all this generic content that's out there. So being slightly controversial, especially busting myths, is a great idea. And I'm gonna give you exactly how to do that and why it works so well. The reason it works so well right now is AI is perpetuating a lot of these myths because it's a lot of this old content that's circulating out there. So this idea of leveraging stealth controversy is amazing. Whether you're a business to business brand, you could be a super boring business, a business brand, or a consumer brand. And it works on social media, it works on YouTube, it works in your email. So what are we talking about? So stealth controversy, let's first define it. Okay? That is when you are posing a bold or divisive opinion, but without naming names or without being a total jerk, basically. So think of it as saying something like, is this the worst take in retail industry history? You know, when you're and then you quote a general belief Right. Not a person. That is a horrible take. That makes no sense. So an example of that would be, you know, cold email should be in every company's playbook. Is that the worst take of 2025? And the answer is, of course it is. Cold email's garbage now. And so you are busting this myth. You're putting out this kind of stealth controversy or something. Like people say email is dead cool, I'll just keep driving ROI while you post on threads. So you're busting this kind of myth instantaneously and it gets people excited because they feel like they're on board that. So here's some of the stats and I'm going to give you some very specific examples for business and then consumer marketers on how you could leverage this in all sorts of different areas. So first off, stealth controversy, what we're talking about here used in social posts actually leads to a 35% higher average engagement rate when that is the primary thing in your social posts. And stealth controversy in email subject lines leads to an average of a 22% increase in email open rates for both business and consumer marketers, according to World Data Research. So let's first talk about business to business and using stealth controversy. So let's say first on LinkedIn, if you had your LinkedIn post be things like this, you know, there's still a belief that webinars are dead. Are we still doing this in 2025? And then you follow that with here's how our last webinar drove 3x pipeline or whatever, or email subject lines, the worst marketing advice we ever heard. And then you get into the open it up. Well, I want to know what that is. And then you open it up and you find out what that is. Right? Or short form video content would be. Things like this is still being taught in sales teams. Let's fix it. So you are bringing up this kind of little bit of controversy and then you're going to address it. Now, on the consumer side, it's the exact same thing, right? You could say things like, you know, this skincare tip is actually ruining your skin. And then you get into what that is that everybody's doing wrong. Or you believe this beauty outdated myth for so long. Or we try the 5 minute meal prep lie. Here's the truth. Why does this work so well? It works so well because it creates kind of this stop the scroll moment without shaming somebody or shaming another brand or embarrassing somebody. And it also taps into this idea of kind of like tribalism where people want to be on the smarter side of a debate, right? They want to be like, oh, you know what? I know that that thing is outdated. I know that's not the truth. And I'm on the team that does know the truth. And you're helping them get there. And it's polarizing enough to drive engagement, but it's also safe enough to keep your brand classy. And, you know, along those lines, a lot of the listeners out there like, well, I market to people in the government. I'm in a very boring, you know, regulated industry in the business to business world. I can't do this. And that's so not true. You're still marketing human beings. So let's say, for example, you are marketing HR software, right? You're trying to reach HR directors and CFOs and all this different type of stuff. Why can't you go on LinkedIn and say things like annual performance reviews in this economy still, right where that's not off brand? You're talking about something that's ridiculous right now. It's slightly controversial. And then you get into whatever's relevant for your business. So after you say, you know, are we really still doing performance reviews right now? You say companies using real time feedback tools saw a 24, 27% higher retention. Annual reviews don't cut it anymore. You get into it. Or you say things like, you know, HR isn't a cost center unless you're stuck in 2005, right? You're, you're talking about things that really speak to your core product offering and you're not being off brand by doing that. So this idea of stealth controversy, if you haven't tested it in this world of AI garbage, it is really something that allows people to feel part of something when they're interacting with your content. It gets people to sign up for your webinars, to download your content, to take advantage of your consumer offers because you're busting myths and then you're solving problems. All right, let's get into the ridiculous portion of this podcast. So we got a question from Jenny from Wichita, Kansas. Jenny, what do you got? Jay, I know you watch a lot of reality TV and you talk about it all the time, but you never talk about singing competition shows. Do you watch any of these shows and which ones do you think are the best? Oh, okay. Well, of course I watch a lot of garbage tv. I really do. And when we talk about singing competition shows, I do. I've watched them all. And my opinion is meaningless. But I'm going to tell you what? There's something about some of the singing competition shows that really bothers me, and this is such a weird take. So my favorite singing competition show is, oddly, American Idol. Okay. It's still on now. Okay. And I love American Idol. Why do I like American Idol? And I. For example, I don't like the Voice. And I know people get angry about that, and I have very specific reason why. And by the way, I'm 100% right that American Idol is better than the Voice. And here's why. So American Idol has produced legit stars. People that have gone on to have massive careers. They win American Idol or they were on American Idol, and they go on to become famous and they crush it. Right? Kelly Clarkson, amazing, huge star. Carrie Underwood. Are you kidding me? You can't get bigger. Jennifer Hudson. I mean, she won the Oscar. Whatever. Even Adam Lambert took over singing for Queen. They have produced legit stars. This is actually a fact. The Voice. Okay? And I realized this actually a few months ago, which is why I'm so turned off to the Voice. Do you. The voice of the show where they. The people in the four chairs, you know Adam Levine from room five and, you know, they had, like, Blake Shelton and. And they have John Legend, and they sit in the chair and if they like the person, they hit the button, they turn around, right? Here's the problem with the Voice. You cannot name me one person that has won the Voice ever, ever, that has gone on to have a huge career, because that person does not exist. They make it out. They're going to coach these people. These people are so amazing, and they're great. They're super talented. But not a single person has ever left the Voice after they've won and had a big career. I actually looked it up. I did. So, okay, only one winner on the Voice. Javier colon in season one reached the top 20 on the Billboard 100. That's it. That's it. Nobody else. So they're not producing people that are doing so. I mean, the other shows are America's Got Talent, not a singing competition. But do you remember Terry Fittor? Remember that guy? Maybe you don't. He was a ventriloquist that was on. On America's Got Talent. The guy was incredible. Do you know he signed a $100 million deal at the Mirage in Las Vegas? I mean, that's a legit star. I'll watch that show or even X Factor uk. Again, I don't watch X Factor uk, but that's a legit show. And you know why? I say that. You know who came from that show? One Direction. The band One Direction. Are you kidding me? So the Voice is a joke. It's an absolute joke. American Idol all day long. Wow. I don't. I get very worked up over the most random things. But yeah, that's my hot take. Listen, I appreciate you being here. I would really appreciate if you leave this thing a review that helps it to circulate. If you listen to the show, that means a lot to me. Follow the show and also register for Guru Conference, our giant free email marketing event. Registration is open. We only have limited number of free seats. It's world's largest email event. Guru conference.com I hope you're there and don't watch the Voice later. You did it. You made it to the end. Nice. But the party's not over. Subscribe to make sure you get the latest episode each week for more actionable tips and a little chaos from today's top marketers. And hook us up with a five star review if this wasn't the worst podcast of all time. Lastly, if you want access to the best virtual marketing events that are also 100% free, visit guruevents.com so you can hear from the world's top marketers like Daymond, John, Martha Stewart, and me. GuruEvents.com check it out.