The Often Misused Inflammatory Slant (Part 2) - Adult B2B Marketing Tip

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THE OFTEN MISUSED INFLAMMATORY SLANT - Part 2


Friday we talked about using the inflammatory slant in your marketing. Here's more:

Once we have identified the right slant, we need to figure out what type of information or evidence would be best. Or better said, the slants indicate what the ad and campaign would be best validated by. In the case of the inflammatory slant, there is one primary source of validation (evidence):

• The story behind the shock


In addition, each slant comes with suggested headlines. Not surprisingly then, here are some suggested headlines to work off our current example:

92.4% Of All Brands Of Roofing Material Lose Their Warranty The Second The First Hailstone Falls

Never Accept A Real Estate Contract That Contains These 5 Words

Last Friday...Was I Scared! My Boss Almost Fired Me!

Here is the headline we wrote for the pool maintenance company:

92.4% Of All Pool Maintenance Visits Result In Stinging Eyes, Damaged Tissue, And Injury To Swimmers For Two Days After Their Visit.

Not a perfect headline, but how many different directions could this take? Where could we go from there? Here are a few ideas:

• A sub-headline that engages like, “Take These Three Steps To Avoid Painful Injuries To Your Family And Friends.”

• There are organizations (3rd parties) for protecting and informing people on pool chemicals. Borrow information from their sites and publications.

• There are approximately 50,000 websites devoted to pool maintenance and chemicals so there’s plenty of information out there.


The point of the matter is just by choosing the slant, you set your foot on the right path – all you have to do is follow it to its logical conclusion. No brilliance, no inspirational flashes, no deep, dark meditation until the light turns on in your head. Just follow the line till it’s played out.

But remember, the slant says you need to tell the story behind the shock. In this case, a good course could be to search online for the worst horror stories you can find. Get as much of that story as you can. So you would have:

• An inflammatory headline.

• An engaging sub-headline.

• A story that verifies and explains the shock.

• The three steps any pool owner must take to protect themselves gathered from the client or from research.

• An appropriate offer.


Huh, isn’t that interesting? The Marketing Equation followed. Interrupt, engage, educate and offer.

As always, one caution: you will still need a little bit of imagination. You will still need to explore the options of the slant. But it boils down to organizing the information you can get with a small amount of effort.

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