The Art of Repelling Customers

June 22, 2022

13 min 17 sec

Most businesses spend all their energy trying to attract customers. Martin Sully thinks you've got it backwards.

Before you can consistently bring in the right clients, you need to get comfortable actively repelling the wrong ones. Not accidentally, not apologetically – deliberately. Your brand should be doing that work for you every single day.

In this episode, Martin walks through a three-step strategy for finding your ideal customers by first getting ruthlessly clear about who they aren't.

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Common branding misconceptions

What's Covered in This Episode

Why trying to appeal to everyone is one of the biggest brand mistakes you can make
Step 1: Stand for something – because like attracts like, and a brand with no position attracts clients with no alignment
Step 2: Get to know your ideal customer properly – beyond surface-level demographics into the quirks, beliefs, and behaviours that actually matter
Why old-school archetypes from a hundred years ago aren't doing enough heavy lifting for modern brands
Step 3: Set expectations clearly upfront – what you do, what you don't do, and why being transparent saves everyones time
Why saying no to the wrong projects is one of the most strategic things you can do

Our Podcast evolved

This episode was originally recorded for an earlier version of the podcast. The audio intro references a previous name – the content is all still the good stuff.

Want to go deeper on finding your ideal customer?

The Snapper Studio blog covers the full repel-to-attract method in writing: How to Find Your Target Audience: The Repel toAttract Method

Or, if you're ready to work through your own brand positioning right now, Mini Martin can help.

Meet Mini Martin