HOW TO USE OPPOSITIONING AND FUD TO BOLSTER CUSTOMER PREFERENCE

On election day, I posted an article about an approach to political campaigning that is also employed in our world of commerce—the employment of oppositioning and FUD. Read more here:?https://bdn-intl.com/political-campaigning-oppositioning-and-fud-2

While positioning addresses what our political party, candidate, or brand stands for, oppositioning is identifying the weaknesses of your competitor(s) to create negative perceptions of their brands.

In other words, oppositioning is about positioning your competitors. If we don’t reflect our brand positioning strategy in everything we do, we leave the door open for our competitors to position our brand for us and vice versa.

The acronym FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. It goes hand in hand with oppositioning.?

Politicians thrive on oppositioning their competitors and creating FUD. In the case of an incumbent (or a brand attempting to maintain its market share lead), it could be about the fear of the unknown. Years ago, my grandmother and I disagreed on an incumbent up for re-election. She was for the incumbent, and I was against him. Her reasoning? Better the devil you know than the one you don't.

On the other hand, those pushing for a switch will point out real, perceived and, in the case of politics, even fabricated negatives, stoking fear, uncertainty, and doubt regarding the incumbent’s impact on voters’ (or customers’) lives and experiences.

Oppositioning and FUD, while successful practices have their shortcomings. Whereas they galvanize the oppositioner’s constituents, they could turn off the competitor's base or users. If they demean the competitors' base in any way (real or perceived), they could lose them. This is where the “tip-of-the-hat” approach makes sense.

The tip-of-the-hat approach to oppositioning and FUD?acknowledges?something positive of the competitor that both bases may already realize. However, the oppositioner identifies a weakness relative to that brand that can significantly reduce its attractiveness and improve its own.

It goes something like this: “Oh yes, I use Tylenol for minor aches and pains, BUT when it comes to headaches, I use Excedrin. I’ve found that Excedrin works better for headaches than Tylenol.”

First comes the acknowledgment, then comes the BIG but(t) to block choosing the competitor.

(Acknowledgement) BUT (Real or Perceived?Negatives of the Competitor)

The tip-of-the-hat approach is non-threatening to those who have chosen or considered the competitor. It gets those prospective customers to lower their guard so oppositioning and FUD can win them over for the oppositioner’s brand.

Tonality is crucial to winning votes and customers—your and your competitor’s customers. It is better to lower the pitch to avoid coming off as strident; otherwise, it could result in a rebound for the competitor. It's courtship, not heavy selling.

One last note, regardless of whether you choose to use oppositioning and FUD, it's essential to think through the fundamental logic and basis for doing it. I always ask clients: who is your primary competitor, and how might you opposition them? Why? It helps them identify their competitive advantage versus their competitor for positioning and messaging.

Think about it: How might/do your competitors opposition your brand? How might you opposition them?

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Thanks for your interest.

Peace and best wishes,

Richard Czerniawski??????[email protected]????????847-312-8822?