2 builders who never spoke to each other
Set the register segment by segment
The tone that lands with founder peers, memes and in-jokes included, reads as unserious to a buyer who is formal with their own clients. Match the register to who is reading, and let what you know about the audience decide how far you are willing to push a divisive line.
The method
- 01
Change register per segment. Memes and community in jokes work with founder peers, while PR agencies who are themselves formal with their clients need a professional tone.
- 02
Let what you learn about an audience's politics set how inclusive or how divisive your copy, messaging and positioning are willing to be.
What it returned
Patagonia's audience leans slightly further right than average despite the brand's environmentalist reputation, and Coinbase's audience was balanced across the spectrum at the time it took a public stance.
Sources
- Analyze Your Audience's Political & Media Behavior in SparkToroRand Fishkin · sparktoro.com · What Are Some Applications for This Information? · 2020-10-30
- Balancing Multiple ICPs: Strategies for Solo FoundersArvid Kahl · thebootstrappedfounder.com · Speaking Different Languages · 2025-09-19
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in copy
- Keep the personality that drives some people off7 unconnected
- Interview buyers and write the page in their sentences6 unconnected
- Re-aim one durable claim at today's worry5 unconnected
- Answer the predictable objection with a specific4 unconnected
- Say the thing only you could have said4 unconnected
- Tighten the headline until only your segment fits4 unconnected