Contrarian personal branding: How to stand out the wrong way

You might think a successful personal branding strategy means agreeing with your audience. But you’d be wrong.  

True, aligning your message with their interests is important. But sometimes, getting someone to sit up and pay attention involves taking a slightly alternative stance…  

Welcome to the contrarian way of thinking.

Being the contrarian involves finding an opinion that’s unexpected or contrary to what is widely believed and running with it. It doesn’t have to be a high-risk strategy; we don’t advise saying anything that will upset or anger. But contrarians all over the world are reaping rewards for the mischief they create, receiving the highest of all rewards - engagement on everyone’s favourite social media platform, LinkedIn. When done right, the contrarian can make your voice stand head and shoulders above the rest.  

Common examples of contrarian positioning include:  

• The 5-day working week is dead  

• Email marketing no longer works  

• Paid ads are a scam  

• The customer isn’t always right  

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Why contrarian positioning works?  

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In a heavily saturated media cycle, people who reject popular opinion are the most likely to be listened to.  This makes the contrarian strategy a good way to stand out from the crowd and most useful to people in highly competitive markets.  

This technique works because it grabs attention and creates an emotional trigger response, causing your audience to want to engage in the conversation.

Nowadays, people are dulled to a lot of messaging. The same regurgitated narratives are everywhere and overplayed. Not to mention the complications brought about by AI-generated content, where underdeveloped and impersonal cliches have become the norm.  

Standing out, especially on social media, means getting your audience to stop scrolling and say, “Wait, what?”  

Contrarian opinions are also more likely to reach new audiences because they have a higher share and comment rate, making them an effective way to expand your reach.  

Finally, the B2B institute puts the success of contrarian positioning down to the fact that when you go along with the consensus, the value in what you’re saying gets diluted and competed away. They suggest doing what no one else is doing as long as you go about it in the right way.  

Potential challenges to overcome

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Not everyone will understand what you’re doing initially, and it’s very tricky to find the balance between being contrarian and being too negative.  

The goal is not to annoy, offend, or upset your audience—which can be difficult when trying to find a viewpoint that isn’t commonly challenged.  

Idea generation for contrarian marketing can also be hard if you have limited time to spare. Not only do you have to research content ideas, but you have to find the right opposing view that will resonate with your audience.  

Tips for a successful contrarian content strategy  

Understand the argument  

Write out the traditional view point first. Before you try to find a contrarian side, it’s important you understand the argument being made in the traditional stance.  

Ask yourself: Is this topic relevant to my audience? Is the story one-sided? Can I find a unique perspective that suggests there’s more to the story?    

If the answer is no, look for another view point or find another stance to challenge.  

Be natural

With contrarian content, it’s important to find ways to inject a strong opinion naturally. Your audience will notice if you start inventing contrary opinions that don’t land.  

You should always watch your tone and disagree respectfully. As mentioned earlier, the goal is not to annoy but to challenge view points in a way that doesn’t offend people.    

Be sparing

Constant contradiction of opinion can get a little old. When using this technique in personal branding, it’s important to use it sparingly. Make sure it’s mixed in with other techniques and you’re also finding viewpoints you agree with, so you don’t come across a complete contrarian conspiracy theorist.  

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Want your voice to stand out?

AXD Agency is a leading sales & content marketing agency specialising in sales enablement and personal branding services. We help business leaders capture attention with impactful and high-quality content that positions you as a thought leader and the go-to expert in your industry.    

Your voice, our expertise  

To find out more, visit www.axd.agency or book a discovery call with our team.  

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