Find an Enemy to Turbo Charge Your Marketing!

People often disagree about politics, religion or social issues. Not only do they not agree, they often vilify the other side, and the debates can be heated — one side is going to hell, the other is not. In every great story, movie or book, there has to be an enemy as a main character. You need to create your story that attracts others. You offer people benefits. You also have to have an enemy (an antagonist). It could be time, poverty or the dark forces of evil. If there was no antagonist, no struggle for the truth, no beating the odds, then it wouldn’t be much of a story, would it? This is closely related to passion which attracts others to your cause and fame. You need to be a passionate protagonist.

Winston Churchill had the perfect cause and opponent when he rallied support for England to both survive and defeat the evil side in World War Two. He rose to the challenge, of course. But when the war was over he lost support and was basically kicked out as Prime Minister. Without the war cause, he had no ying to his yang and he was gone.

Many people find the concept of having an enemy hard to accept. When you take a strong stand for something — whether customer service or building a company — you will offend some people. They may be jealous or not want to look weak in comparison to you. Many people just want to blend in, be nice to people…