2 builders who never spoke to each other

Say your worst part out loud before a rival does

Name the weakness in your own product or story first, in public, and the attack loses its force because there is nothing left to reveal. The same instinct extends to refusing to treat the brand as too solemn to joke about, which reads as confidence rather than as spin.

The method

1. 01

   Say the worst thing about yourself out loud before a competitor or critic can say it, which leaves them nothing to hit.

2. 02

   Two habits make attacks harmless: admit your flaws openly, and refuse to treat your own brand as too serious to joke about.

3. 03

   Define your brand on four axes: the standout strength, the visible weakness, the position you refuse to give up, and the flaw that makes you human.

4. 04

   Let the brand be unmistakably itself, including the daft parts, and keep the serious mission running alongside; the clash is what holds attention.

What it returned

• Compared to Eminem's tactic in a rap battle of listing his own flaws first

• Deiss calls this the character diamond and argues customers withhold trust until they can see the flaws as well as the strengths.

• Tesla ships a fart noise feature and a meme-posting CEO while its engineers work on replacing fossil fuels

Sources

• #HYPERGROWTH18: The Cheat Sheet | Corey HainesRyan Deiss · corey.co · Ryan Deiss · 2018-09-07
• Becoming an antifragile brandHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Becoming Antifragile · undated
• The genius of Tesla's marketing strategyHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Authenticity · undated