Are you fearful of saying the wrong thing in marketing these days? It seems that the slightest turn of words can be misconstrued and set off a firestorm of hate towards your brand. The words you use in your marketing communications make a big difference to your customers, that is for sure. The language of marketing can be used to make a case for your brand or against it, and oftentimes you may be thinking that your audience will deduce one thing from your marketing and they end up inferring something totally different. That has to do with the times we are living in presently.

This is a testy time to try to figure out what direction the market is moving. Part of it is the political climate we are living in currently. It is a presidential election year and everything seems to have a political leaning attached to it. The other is the uncertainty we are living out in terms of business and economics. Being bold right now could be seen as being reckless by some who are influential in the marketplace. On the other hand, being sensitive in your marketing communication could be seen as being caring or it could be viewed as being weak, naïve, and pandering to the new social wokeness. As marketers, we are living in between what I would call navy blue and black. Let me tell you a short story to illustrate what I mean.

I have navy blue dress pants. I also have black dress pants. It is hard to tell the difference between them unless you put them side by side. My wife is a stickler for never mixing navy and black items together. That means when I wear navy pants, I cannot wear black socks, they must be dark blue. The same goes for the black pants – black pants, black socks. I own a shirt that has a pattern with either navy or black. I admit that it always looks to be navy when I put it on with the black pants, but it looks black when I wear it with the navy pants. What am I to do with the shirt? It seems to be some sort of cross between the two. So I wear it with khaki pants because nothing clashes with khaki. I cannot possibly offend anyone if I wear the shirt with a color that is neutral and bland.

Here is the problem we face as marketers: the businesses we work for do not want to offend anyone. Can anyone blame them? We live in an explosive world. One wrong word in your marketing and someone will try to shut you down by shouting down your brand. So khaki might be what your business leaders are asking for from marketing, but what they expect are big bold results. But timidity has never sold a thing since the wheel was invented. No one gets noticed by blending into the background. If you are going to market your brand, you have to make powerful statements.

So what should you do? Do you go ahead and boldly wear navy and black together knowing that someone will judge you for being out of step? In other words, do you move forward with a strong marketing message and try to ignore the haters? Or do you clothe your brand in khaki and try to avoid any kind of controversy at the risk of going unnoticed in the marketplace? The answer lies with your customers. What do they think about what is happening around them? Test this with a segment of them. Do they embrace your bold marketing message or do they find it insensitive? Find out who is influencing their opinions. You can find this out by asking a key question of them: are they fearful of what is happening in our times or have they tired of being told they cannot live as they choose? If they are fearful, it may be time to hold off on a bold marketing move. However, if they are convinced it is time to break free of the new definition of what is offensive and what is intolerable (because it all is offensive to one degree or another to someone), move ahead with your marketing.

The bottom line is your customers drive the bottom line. When marketing is working, it is recognizing the desires of your customers and giving them what they want. Don’t lose sight of this when you are trying to make a subtle distinction in marketing. The difference between navy and black may not matter to your customer base. If not, wear them together.