A few years back my wife suggested that I stop marketing to "small business" and marketing instead to business in general. My wife’s a powerfully smart woman, but that time she was just dead wrong. (She loves it when I say that.)

I’m now thinking that I didn’t go far enough. In this month’s Fast Company [by subscription only], brothers Dan and Chip Heath write on the benefits of being polarizing and getting people to hate you. (They also wrote the great Made to Stick which I reviewed recently.)

I’ve realized for a while now that flyte does our best work with people who "get it." People, whether they run a business or an organization, who are entrepreneurial. People who want more than a Web site, they want to grow their business. Invariably, these are the people I enjoy working with the most.

In a perfect world, I would market flyte in such a way that would inspire entrepreneurs to work with us, while turning off everyone else. It would certainly increase my closing percentage.

Think about your own business and the type of customers you enjoy working with best. Now imagine your perfect prospect. What message does she want to hear? What themes will resonate with him? Don’t worry if that message turns off other prospects; those people will never be your best customers and never help you grow your own business.

Rich Brooks
Polarize This