What do you do if your assertiveness in advertising is alienating potential customers?

All of the topics here need consideration. Are you gaining many more customers than you are irritating? Are complaints legitimate? Are you considering customer’s point of view? I’d suggest openly addressing complaints with justification and tweaking plan to attempt to be less aggressive.

If assertiveness in advertising begins to alienate potential customers, it's crucial to reassess the messaging and approach. Firstly, consider gathering feedback from customers to understand their perspectives and preferences better. This feedback can provide valuable insights into why the assertive approach may be off-putting. Next, adjust the tone and style of the advertising to be more empathetic and customer-centric. Focus on building relationships and trust rather than solely promoting products or services aggressively. Tailor the messaging to address customer needs and pain points in a more subtle and respectful manner.

Assess your customer/audience feedback and identify the recurring themes that people have to say. Sometimes strong language, being assertive, and even being polarizing can strengthen your connection to your core target audience because that's what makes it relatable. Your marketing content should feel relatable or aspirational. Have a genuine reflection on the feedback to determine whether your marketing is accomplishing this.

Think about how your customers speak. - How are they describing their challenges? - What things are they concerned about? - What dreams do they have that your company can help them achieve? Are they concerned, annoyed, lacking confidence, hopeless, confused, seeking a challenge, affirmation? Understanding the tone of your customers as they talk about these issues can help you determine an effective tone for speaking to them in a way that resonates.

The best ads make the viewer feel like the ad is speaking directly to them. The best way to do that is to use the same language your customers use to talk about their problems or aspirations. How do they describe it? Using the words of your customers is highly effective for this reason.

One thing I've learned is that "one message doesn't fit all" and people may use the same product for different reasons. Creating your customer avatars can be a helpful way to create and test messaging that will resonate with different types of customers.

Respectful Engagement - If being too assertive in your ads is turning off potential customers, it’s time to soften your approach. Try focusing more on engaging and understanding customer needs rather than hard selling. Incorporate feedback to make your messaging more relatable and welcoming. A gentler, more customer-centric approach can rebuild trust and appeal to a wider audience. Sometimes, a conversational tone works wonders!

If you're alienating your customers, doing things differently doesn't mean you're not staying true to your brand. You're allowing the opportunity for more people to connect with you. Take note of the situations where assertiveness is well received and where a gentler approach may be better suited.