The Slander Campaign Strategy

Slander is usually a dangerous play for marketers and a profitable play for lawyers. If successful however, it can pay off huge dividends, but tread softly–you wouldn’t like it if it were played on you…  Although political smear campaigns made this strategy a household name, the Slander Play is a viable strategy if it’s executed carefully.

In order for this strategy to succeed in more than making the lawyers rich, there are a few things you must keep in mind.

Mention your Competition, don’t Promote Them.

They say there is no such thing as bad publicity. There is a tendency to communicate entirely too much about your competition. This amounts to a promoting your competition. Instead, promote the fact that there exists a competition in marketplace. Mention the players, if you must, and move on.

Compare don’t Contrast

The heart of a good slander play is to compare yourself to the competition whom you’ve publicly named. Shy away from contrast, or showing your differences. If you are really so different, why are you competing at all. For example, Dyson and other vacuum manufacturers share many of the same focuses, but with one key difference–“Dyson doesn’t loose suction”. The one clear difference is your company’s core value and should be the aim of your marketing message.

Contextualize Your Strengths

Slander plays can often focus on the negative. But the value really lies in this strategy’s ability to showcase your strengths in the context of your competition. The key is context.

Don’t Lie – Identify

Identify, specifically, the weaknesses in your competition. The more specific you are and the more evidence you have to support it, the less room your competition has to retaliate. For example, “company X’s products are returned for service an astonishingly 56% of the time according to a recent Consumer Reports study”.

The Slander Play as a Campaign Strategy is the only campaign strategy that can illicit a retaliation. Follow the guidelines above to limit your risk and maximize your opportunity, but consider your recourse if the strategy was focused on you.