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Rise and shine, contrarians! Let's turn this Monday into a masterpiece. (Or at least make it slightly less Monday-ish.)

Missed last week's article? Catch up here. Marketing as Medicine: How the Placebo Effect Can Make or Break Your Brand

Today, we're talking about contrarian positioning in marketing, why challenging industry norms creates competitive advantage, how brands like Basecamp and Liquid Death have turned "less is more" into market success, and five strategies to position your brand against competitors' strengths rather than their weaknesses.

Recently, I needed a simple website built for a promising side project - The Kentucky Dude.

Nothing fancy – just something clean that worked well and wouldn't break the bank. What should have been straightforward turned into quite the adventure.

The first agency I talked to sent over a 17-page proposal with a complex project management timeline, multiple rounds of stakeholder reviews, and enough technical jargon to make my eyes glaze over. Oh, and a price tag that nearly gave me heart palpitations.

"This is just how professional web development works," they explained with the confidence of someone selling oceanfront property in Kentucky. 

Then I met with a second agency. Their entire proposal was three pages and explained in under 1 minute. "We're deliberately simple," they explained. "Most websites don't need complex solutions or processes.

We'll build you something clean that works, without the fluff."

Same project. Dramatically different approaches. Guess which one got the business?

That experience was a lightbulb moment for me about the power of contrarian positioning.

The second agency wasn't positioning against their competitors' weaknesses – they were positioning against their competitors' strengths.

What the big agencies touted as features (comprehensive processes, extensive documentation, multiple review cycles, and complex web architecture), this small shop framed as unnecessary complications.

Beyond the Boring Positioning Matrix

Most companies position themselves in painfully predictable ways.

They analyze competitors, find small gaps in the market, and then wedge themselves into those tiny spaces with minor differentiations. "We're like them, but with slightly better X."

Yawn.

Contrarian positioning takes a different approach. Instead of playing the same game slightly better, it changes the rules entirely.

Here are five strategies to position your brand against competitors' strengths rather than their weaknesses.

1 - Finding the white space by questioning "normal"

The most powerful positioning often starts with a simple question: "What if the way everyone does things is actually wrong?"

Take Liquid Death, the canned water company now valued at over $700 million. They looked at a boring category dominated by plastic bottles with zen imagery and "pure mountain spring" messaging.

Their response? Metal cans, death metal aesthetics, and the tagline "Murder Your Thirst."

It works because they identified an unspoken consumer frustration – that "healthy" products always look and feel the same – and deliberately positioned themselves against it.

Finding your white space means asking:

• What industry norms do customers secretly hate?

• What "best practices" are actually just collective habits?

• What would happen if we deliberately did the opposite?

2 - The anti-positioning strategy

Sometimes the most powerful position is the anti-position. When everyone zigs, you zag.

When every marketing software was touting "more features! more data! more integrations!" Basecamp proudly advertised having fewer features. Their messaging basically said, "We're deliberately missing things our competitors have, and that's why we're better."

The beauty of anti-positioning is that you let your competitors do the heavy lifting. They create customer expectations, then you deliberately subvert them.

Some powerful anti-positioning angles:

• Simplicity in a complex category

• Transparency in an opaque industry

• Humanity in a technical space

• Premium in a discount market (or vice versa)

The key question: What popular industry direction could you credibly position against?

3 - Strategic subtraction as your advantage

We're all hardwired to add rather than subtract.

When solving problems, businesses instinctively add new features, services, or options. But sometimes the most powerful positioning comes from strategic subtraction.

My website designer understood this intuitively. By removing process complexity, they created a clearer, more compelling offer.

Some of the most successful brands have positioned through subtraction:

• In-N-Out Burger: Limited menu in a world of endless fast food options

• Google (originally): Just a search box when competitors had portal homepages

• Calm app: Minimalist design in a category of feature-rich competitors

Ask yourself, what could you remove that everyone else includes? What "essential" component of your industry might actually be unnecessary baggage?

4 - Speaking different to be different

Words matter in positioning. A lot.

When everyone in your industry sounds the same, speaking differently automatically positions you apart.

This isn't just about being clever – it's about using language that signals your difference.

MailChimp doesn't have "users" or "customers" – they have "members." Starbucks doesn't sell small, medium, and large drinks like everyone else – they sell tall, grande, and venti. This isn't random – it's deliberate language that sets them apart.

Does your industry have jargon everyone uses?

Consider creating alternative terms. Are there assumptions built into the language of your category? Challenge them through your word choices.

5 - Making your contrarian positioning real

Having a contrarian position on paper is meaningless if it doesn't translate to every customer touchpoint.

Your website, sales conversations, customer service, product design – everything needs to reflect your positioning.

This is where most positioning falls apart. Companies claim a position but don't actually embody it.

Again, my website designer didn't just claim simplicity – their entire process delivered on that promise. From proposal to delivery, they lived their positioning.

When to Reposition: Read the Room

Nothing lasts forever – especially positioning. What's contrarian today becomes conventional tomorrow. Once everyone starts copying your approach, it's time to evolve.

Pay attention to how your market changes.

When Dollar Shave Club launched with their direct-to-consumer model and irreverent tone, they were contrarians. Today, that approach is table stakes for new consumer brands.

The best companies don't wait for their positioning to become stale, they're already working on their next evolution.

Your Contrarian Challenge

Look at your business through this lens:

1. What industry "best practices" might actually be hurting customers?

2. What would happen if you did the exact opposite of what your competitors are doing?

3. What could you subtract rather than add to create value?

Sometimes the most powerful marketing move isn't doing what everyone else is doing slightly better, it's questioning whether everyone else is even playing the right game.

Remember my website project? The simple approach didn't just save me money but actually delivered a better result with less headache. That's the power of contrarian positioning.

What industry norms are you ready to challenge?

Until next time, keep swimming against the current!