Most marketers know an effective message needs to “stand out” — but how do you bust through the marketing noise, exactly?
Plenty of opinions on social media about this:
“Be distinct!”
“Zig when they zag!”
And differentiate! For the love of God, you MUST DIFFERENTIATE!”
But what does that all actually mean?
How do you live up to lofty ideals Seth Godin preached about in Purple Cow without resorting to click-baity tactics that get attention…but piss off your best-fit customer?
Stick with me and I’ll teach you a simplified process for creating all sorts of juicy ads and content that stand out like a spitball at a school board meeting — but in a less-gross-more-lucrative way.
But first, my SEO guy said I needed to include a bunch of background-y stuff to get a snippet or build authority or something.
Just use the table of contents (or links below) if you wanna skip to the most practical content.
>> Jump to an overview of The Spitball Method
>> Jump to 3 mini case studies about this method
What is marketing noise?
Marketing noise is the constant flow of unoriginal ads, emails and other marketing content that’s competing for the attention of a single audience. This noise causes people to be overwhelmed and desensitized to most advertising messages. So it’s all pretty much ignored.
The word ‘unoriginal’ is key here. A lot of marketers — especially in B2B — don’t prioritize figuring out how to say anything fresh that might resonate with their best-fit customer. So they end up saying pretty much the exact same thing as competitors. Take this example of two homepage hero sections in the cash flow forecasting software category:
If you’ve taken a little too much inspiration from the competition, as per the example above, don’t beat yourself up over it. I’ve been in your shoes.
Why sameness is so pervasive (especially in B2B)
Early in my marketing career, I used to be a slave to best practices and copycat tactics.
Worn-out headline templates? I’d use ‘em all!
Competitor just changed their homepage? Time to redesign in their image!
New ad being talked about on Linkedin? Oh, I’d replicate the crap outta that!
Because it’s so much easier — it feels so much safer — to stick to so-called best practices or copy the same messages as everyone else. But ultimately, I was just adding to all the white-noise marketing out there.
Eventually, I realized that the stuff I was creating was mediocre at best. Then I started taking (informed) risks with my copy and ad creative. And gradually, I started getting wins. Big wins.
People tend to avoid taking risks because “logical” ideas that follow best practices are less likely to get you in trouble with a client or boss — even if those ideas fail. Rory Sutherland, marketing legend and VP of Ogilvy UK, goes deep on this topic in his book Alchemy: The Surprising Power Of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense.
“The fatal issue is that logic always gets you to exactly the same place as your competitors,” wrote Sutherland, who founded Ogilvy’s first behavioral science division. “Our mantra is ‘Test counterintuitive things, because no one else ever does.’”
But what kind of “counterintuitive things” do you test?
Just, like, random weird stuff?
Nope. It’s not enough to just “stand out” — you need to stand out for a reason. And in a way that connects with your audience.
But don’t just be weird — stand out with purpose
It's easy to get fleeting attention.
You just need to employ certain psychological tactics, like pattern interrupts and the Von Restorff effect, to attract curiosity clicks. But what’s the point if your visitors don’t stick around?
“The goal isn’t merely to create something ‘different.’ Anybody can be weird for no apparent reason,” writes Jay Acunzo in his book Break the Wheel. “ The key is doing something different and purposeful at the very same time. As a result, I believe aiming for “different” is missing the point.”
Break the Wheel is about questioning best practices and using your intuition instead. Acunzo suggests creating work that is “refreshing” to the customer, instead of blindly trying to stand out from the competition.
“As we’ve seen time and time again, when we pay more attention to the customer than to the competition, the customer pays more attention to us,” he writes.
I’ve seen that as well. And ultimately, it all comes down to taking the time to really understand your audience.
What kinds of messages are they exposed to on a daily basis? What are they thinking or feeling when they see those messages? What might be considered ‘refreshing’ — not just weird — to the folks most likely to become your dream customer?
I created a process for answering these questions. I call it The Spitball Method. And it’s simply a template for helping you put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes at the moment you want your message to stand out.
What’s up with the name? Well, I often suggest clients create messages that stand out like a spitball at a school board meeting — impossible to ignore, yet still relevant in an unexpected way.
This method works best when you’re working on messaging for an important asset, such as paid social campaigns or a high-traffic landing page. Times when you absolutely need that content to stand out and resonate.
The Spitball Method: A Process For
Standing Out In A Meaningful Way
This process is based on my 10+ years of experience writing copy, building messaging hierarchy docs, and A/B testing content for dozens of brands. Mostly B2B and SaaS.
STEP ONE: Understand your audience at that moment
First, you need to have some kind of ICP/persona in place. Then consider these three questions within the context of the specific channel or medium you’re creating for (ie. email campaigns, meta ads, ol’ school direct mail flyers etc).
a) What are they doing?
What action is your audience taking at the exact moment they encounter your message?
For example, they might be researching the best cash flow forecasting tool on Google. Or browsing the feature pages of your website. Or checking their email.
b) What is your audience’s mindset?
Imagine what your audience might be thinking and feeling at the exact moment they encounter your content.
This is a tricky one. And it can vary depending on if you’re creating messaging for a push or pull channel. Things like website polls or other forms of qualitative research can help you figure it out. Consider:
- what attracted them to your content?
- what problem or situation might they be struggling with at that moment?
- what emotions might they be feeling?
- what stage of awareness they are at?
c) What outcome do they want?
Think big AND small when considering this one. Here’s what I mean:
For example: If your audience is viewing your SaaS pricing page, they likely want to figure out how much your solution costs, whether there’s a free trial and if they’ll get much value from the solution. But of course, the benefits of your SaaS tool — the big outcome — is still at the back of their mind.
STEP TWO: Examine what everyone else says
Look at what your competitors are saying in their ads and on their websites (use this content assessment worksheet to document it all). Try to focus primarily on the channel you’re optimizing for, whether it’s paid social, organic search or something else.
What type of claims do they make? What themes or patterns do you notice? What tone of voice do they use? You’re looking for elements of sameness, so you can stand out in a meaningful way.
Don’t stop at just your competitors, either. Examine the websites your ideal customers frequent or social media accounts they might follow. What type of messages are they encountering there as well?
Once you’re done investigating, summarize what you think are the repeated themes or messages that your audience has encountered. In other words, the pervasive “white noise.”
STEP THREE: Message Creation (what you say instead)
Okay, now that you’ve got some context, you can think about what type of message will:
a) Bust the expectations of your audience at that exact moment (but in a good way).
b) Resonates with your audience by reflecting the way they want to feel or the outcome they want to get
Hey, no pressure!
Your first pass at the Message Creation stage is really just a hypothesis based on what you know at the time. Think of it as an experiment — not as a permanent decision on how to message.
Okay, example time.
Here are three mini case studies that illustrate how The Spitball Method works. No best practices here!
3 Mini Case Studies On How To
Break Through The Marketing Noise
These case studies are based on ACTUAL client projects that either myself or my team delivered. Results were monitored closely and, in two situations, A/B tested with statistically valid results.
1) Poke fun at industry ‘tropes’
In movies and novels, a trope is simply a character or plot element that’s heavily used. For example: the damsel in distress.
They’re not necessarily bad — but they can be overdone and become annoying AF. That’s why subverting tropes is a great way to captivate audiences: So that ‘damsel in distress’ is now slaying the dragon instead of running from it.
Marketing also has its own tropes that are unique to certain industries or niches. In B2B SaaS, you’ve got:
Audiences have seen or read these things over and over again.
But by subverting or poking fun at these tropes, you can defy expectations and give audiences something remarkably different. That’s exactly what I did for this ethics-first legal marketing company.
Case Study Summary
The client: Legal Growth Marketing
The category: legal lead generation niche
The challenge: Facebook ads were not generating the number of clients they had hoped for.
The results: The legal lead generation industry is FULL of hyped-up ads that make unrealistic promises. By creating Facebook ads that were more honest and poked fun at competitors’ hyped messaging, we were able to generate more qualified leads and clients than any other creative tested with the same offer.
OBJECTIVE
Increase leads generated from paid social ads.
THE AUDIENCE
Lawyers who want to grow their firms but are wary of purchasing low quality or poor-quality leads.
WHAT THEY'RE DOING
These attorneys are simply scrolling through Facebook, possibly looking at updates from their friends and family.
MINDSET AT THAT MOMENT
They’re not in “buying” mode, necessarily. However, attorneys are easily targeted with paid social advertising. As a result, constantly seeing “hard sell” ads in their Facebook feed gets annoying for a segment of this audience.
DESIRED OUTCOME
They want to feel confident that they are getting quality leads that help them grow their firm. They don’t want to waste time on poor-quality leads or get “burned” by a over-promising marketing firm.
WHAT EVERYONE ELSE SAYS
Much of the advertising in this space is very aggressive. It makes inflated promises and guarantees in order to get lawyers to sign contracts.
WHAT WE SAY INSTEAD (HYPOTHESIS)
Using paid social ads that paradoried the hype-heavy messages would align with the mindset of this user and would increase conversions. The ideal customer for Legal Growth Marketing is highly skeptical of hyped sales language and unbelievable guarantees. They either don’t believe these claims or have discovered that the leads they purchased didn’t live up to the promises made by the ads.
The bigger brand value
The “anti-hype” approach to lead generation became Legal Growth Marketing’s core differentiator, with the company offering try-before-you-buy leads and being fully transparent on how they are generated. I updated their website messaging to reflect this and sales told me that it resonated with many of their best clients.
2) Hit ‘em hard with unexpected language
It’s always a good idea to speak your customer’s language. But some companies shy away from certain words and phrases out of fear of offending someone. Big mistake.
If you try to please everyone, your messaging comes across as vanilla and ignorable. It’s often better to focus on just your “tribe” in your messaging, even if that means some folks won’t like it.
“The distance between love and hate is a lot shorter than the gulf between apathy and passion,” writes Ben Guttmann in his book Simply Put: Why Clear Messages Win—and How to Design Them. “If they hate your stuff, if your message rubs them the wrong way, at least they care about you and your idea. Breaking through from indifference to attention is more than half the battle.”
I was pretty confident about the language this audience used, however, when creating this copy test.
Case Study Summary
The client: Slick & Twisted Trails
The category: Wilderness backpacking website that sells online courses
The challenge: A low conversion rate (0.5%) for top-of-funnel leads (checklist downloads)
Results summary: Revising the pop-up form copy earned us a 108% increase in email subscribers when A/B tested against the control. (99% statistical significance based on a two-sided test. Results verified using CXL’s A/B test calculator.)
OBJECTIVE
Generate more top-of-funnel leads (gear checklist downloads) by optimizing the pop-up form.
AUDIENCE
Wilderness backpackers who are just starting to learn about ultralight backpacking gear and techniques.
WHAT THEY'RE DOING AND WHY
They want to reduce the weight of their backpacks in order to hike farther, faster and with less wear and tear on their bodies. So they’re researching what type of gear to buy and other tips.
MINDSET AT THAT MOMENT
Feeling overwhelmed. There’s so much information out there on what gear to buy and how much stuff to bring while wilderness backpacking.
DESIRED OUTCOME
They want to get information so they can purchase the right lightweight gear with confidence. They need clarity on what to buy and what to avoid.
WHAT EVERYONE ELSE SAYS
Hiking and backpacking blogs go overboard by offering free gear checklists — they’re easy to create and people love them. But no one in this space gets creative with their messaging: they just say ‘get a free checklist’, which becomes white noise after a while.
WHAT WE SAY INSTEAD (HYPOTHESIS)
Using unexpected language (mild swearing) that matches how the audience describes their problem will stand out to this audience and result in a higher conversion rate.
Analysis of the 108% increase in subscribers
The word "crap" grabs your attention, right? Well, research shows that even a little swearing can make your words more convincing.
One study found that people believed stories with some swear words more easily. Psychologists also discovered that using swear words to make a point can make your argument stronger.
But most importantly, the headline "Hauling too much crap in your backpack?" perfectly captured how people felt about their problem. Surveys revealed that many people knew they were carrying useless "crap" in their backpack, but they didn't know what to keep and what to ditch for their hikes.
>> Read the full case study here.
3) Show empathy when it’s least expected
Standing out isn’t always about big, bold messaging. Sometimes, busting a best practice in a more subtle way can pay off big time.
For example, tone of voice is often viewed as something that supports your brand. However, research shows that tone and emotion can have a significant impact on performance marketing as well. And yet, many marketers don’t consider this on their most important conversion-focused pages: like pricing.
Most SaaS companies play it safe on their pricing pages with utilitarian-style headlines that focus on providing information or reducing risk. That’s not necessarily a bad move. But sometimes showing empathy through tone and voice — rather than simply conveying facts — can connect with your audience on a deeper level.
Case Study Summary
The client: LivePlan
The category: Business planning software
The challenge: Updating pricing page copy to improve conversions
Results summary: Copy that used a heavier ‘voice’ and showed empathy increased paid conversions by 16-18% (depending on the variation) in a multivariate test.
OBJECTIVE
Increase sign ups by changing just the copy.
THE AUDIENCE
Small business owners who are creating a business plan.
WHAT THEY'RE DOING AND WHY
This audience is in the final stage of considering if LivePlan is right for them (ie. product aware). They’re considering the price, which plan to choose and whether LivePlan can help.
MINDSET AT THAT MOMENT
Research showed that many aspiring business owners may feel intimidated by the planning process. They don’t know where to start and wonder whether they can do it themselves — even with the help of software.
DESIRED OUTCOME
To feel confident of two things: 1) that LivePlan is worth the investment and 2) that they can actually create a professional business plan on their own.
WHAT EVERYONE ELSE SAYS
The vast majority of SaaS websites use typical pricing page headlines that state things like ‘Choose the package that’s right for your business’ etc. Pricing page copy is typically predictable and instructional.
WHAT WE SAY INSTEAD
Visitors will resonate with positive, reassuring language when arriving on the pricing page. They wanted to feel as if LivePlan had their back just at the moment they were deciding to purchase the software.
Ultimately, It’s all about context
Does this test mean that every SaaS company should use a pricing page headline that says “You’ve got this”? Of course not.
But because we worked to understand the mindset of the visitor — using website polls and interviews — I was able to come up with a hypothesis that broke an industry best practice in an informed way.
I felt confident that the majority of visitors were feeling unsure about their ability to write a business plan. So that allowed me to create messaging that joined the conversation in the person’s mind when they hit that page.
This method fuels a broader strategy
Small wins can inform big decisions.
Sure, it’s nice to boost paid conversions with a (relatively) quick A/B test — but the real value of testing ways to stand out is that you gain insight into what resonates with your best-fit customers. And that helps you make more strategic decisions about positioning and your brand’s strategic narrative. For example:
>> After testing an “anti-hype” approach to messaging, Legal Growth Marketing updated how it positioned its brand
>> After testing an empathy-heavy pricing page headline, LivePlan implemented a revised tone of voice across its website.
But it all begins with one bold idea. One test that defies best practices and helps you stand out in a world that loves marketing conformity.
Give the Spitball Method a shot and see what happens.