The Often Misused Inflammatory Slant

What the ad slants do is protect you from your brain. (Sounds silly, I know.) But with the slants, you choose the right approach from the beginning and in a more objective way. Accordingly, rather than being swayed by what you can call to mind, you can get it right. That being said, let me go over the inflammatory slant. 

The Inflammatory Slant

So how do we know when to use this particular slant? You would want to use this slant in the following situations:

• When things are perceived to be the same, emotions not high
• To incense or make mad, to stir the pot
• When you need to break down or change the concept of a known entity, fact, thought, idea, cultural, religious, or moral norm
• Direct opposition to normal way of doing things
• Direct attack on values
• When you have an outdated idea or belief, provides a turn on an idea
• When you need to move them to buy from you instead of others
• When you want them to stop buying
• You can suck people in or get people mad

?You really don’t have to be super inspired to choose the right slant. Just fit the situation to the bill, so to speak. As long as you have some of those situations, you can and should choose this slant.

For example, let’s look at a pool cleaning and servicing company. At first, everything appears equal. But let’s describe the typical prospect’s situation first:

• The typical prospect has a pool, and uses the pool twice a week, on average. The frequency of use increases in good weather.
• They will probably have kids; if not their own, then grandkids, that use the pool.
• The service frequency is generally once a week.
• The typical prospect will check their own pool water, regardless of service, on an average of only once a month.
• If you have a pool, you accept maintenance. Whether you do it or not, accepting maintenance is just part of the deal.
• The typical prospect rarely sees the maintenance guy and the service is generally accepted as a normal routine event.

Does that sound like a reasonable situation? Perhaps those of you out on the West Coast would be more familiar, but overall the situation stands. If so, the inflammatory slant would be suitable.

Now that 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.

As always, one caution: you will still need a modicum 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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