How to Effectively Use Troll Marketing to Build Your Brand

Rising above the competition is the basic need of every business to make their brand stand out in the crowd. Marketing plays an influential role in making this possible with the help of innovative techniques that draw consumers' attention. However, with every business trying to woo its target audience through the same channels, it has become challenging to get noticed.

Traditional and digital marketing has opened several new channels for promotion that bombard buyers with continuous messages throughout the day. The moment they look at their screens or step out of their houses, these messages stare into their faces to capture their attention. Thus, business owners are developing new ways of creating awareness and visibility.

One such technique is troll marketing which has become common for brand building. Several big and small organisations are using the strategy to look down on competitors in jest without sounding offensive. It allows brands to criticise each other playfully while portraying their businesses as the better choice for the audience. However, troll marketing can go wrong if not implemented ethically. So, here is how brands can use it to stay ahead of the competition.

What is Troll Marketing?

Trolling is a common activity on social media among users where they engage in insulting others on public platforms. Several celebrities, politicians and brands get trolled every day across the globe and the trend has been growing. Since it is easy to hide your identity on the Internet and post inflammatory comments, trolling has become a social evil.

However, trolling is not always ill-intentioned. Sometimes, it is used as satire and to bring out the negative aspects in certain situations to increase awareness. Also, it can be used as comic relief to reduce stress and anxiety over some burning issues.

Marketers have understood that memes and trolling get shared widely and spread like wildfire over the Internet. Thus, they have recently started using troll marketing to engage the target audience and increase brand awareness. These messages can be funny, innovative, entertaining, informative and represent the features of the brand. Thus, if you have recently acquired a business for sale Sydney, you may wish to utilise troll marketing for instant recognition.

These campaigns are provocative and want to evoke a reaction from the audience. Thus, marketers have started using them to generate excitement about their brands. It has even been used by large corporations like Audi and BMW to outshine each other and Microsoft and Google Chrome in a series of advertisements. The idea is to create a buzz and draw attention through controversial remarks about competitors. However, it should not be done with malice or an intention to cause harm.

How to Effectively Use Troll Marketing?

It is easy to get influenced by the negative aspect of trolling and giving in to the pleasure of tarnishing the image of a competitor. However, this can backfire and turn the tide against your brand. At times, the messaging can also hurt sentiments of consumers and evoke backlash, which can be catastrophic for the business.

Thus, before going ahead with troll marketing, the entrepreneurs must weigh the risk factors involved with the process. If the rewards from troll marketing are higher than the risks, they can pursue it. Also, the focus should be on humour without hitting below the belt to draw the attention of the audience.

However, many brands have made the mistake of miffing a section of the audience and had to bear the brunt of their barrage of negative comments, reviews, and low sales. Apologising and taking down the promotional tweet or social media post does not help much in such situations because it goes viral in hours, and it is hard to wipe it out from the memory of the audience.

Conversely, if it clicks with the audience, it can work wonders in making the brand a recognised name in no time. It can boost sales and improve visibility without spending millions on advertising. Some brands have managed to leverage the opportunity by trolling their competitors, such as Wendy’s leaves no stone unturned in coming back with savage replies to Moonpie on Twitter and their banter is often loved and shared by millions of followers in the United States of America.

Where to Draw the Line While Troll Marketing?

The ideal way to leverage troll marketing is to create an online image for the brand that follows a pattern of funny comebacks and offers a humorous take on trending topics. It allows the target audience to understand that you are only trolling in a light-hearted manner and showcasing cheeky behaviour. It should not sound nasty or cruel in any way.

Marketers should think about troll marketing as making fun of a friend, which is not meant to hurt. It is downright funny without casting aspersions on the competitor. It should be done in good spirit to maintain healthy competition. Some brands do it the smart way and make it work. Thus, if you are looking for a business for sale in Sydney, you must ensure that it has not been indulging in unfair trolling that may turn the customers away.

Besides poking fun at competitors, troll marketing can also be used to get back at the customers in a mischievous way. For example, Spotify and Netflix US have used customer data related to the consumption of their content to create funny campaigns that ask viewers about their viewing choices. These garnered a positive response from the customers and went viral quickly without upsetting or insulting anyone.

Another thing to consider is that the social media marketing team or the marketing manager must get the campaigns approved by the senior management because one wrong move can tarnish the image of the brand forever. Thus, it must be tested with a focus group and approved by everyone in the organisation before it is published.

Conclusion

Troll marketing is not something new. Stiff competitors have been doing it for a long time. It has become more pronounced through social media, where trolling is commonplace. The key is to stay within your limits and avoid hurting the feelings of your buyers or rubbing up your competitor’s the wrong way.