Say what you won’t do.

Most marketing is a list of yeses. Yes, we do that too. Yes, we can match that price. Yes, we have that feature. Every yes makes you a little easier to compare, because it puts you on the same checklist as everyone else in your category.

A “no” works the other way. It tells people what you care about more than the sale. And it’s hard to copy, because a competitor would have to give something up to say it too.

Two brands that led with no

On Black Friday in 2011, Patagonia ran a full-page ad in The New York Times with a photo of its own jacket and the headline “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” The copy explained what it cost the planet to make one, and asked people to buy less and repair what they had. A clothing company told people not to buy clothes on the biggest shopping day of the year. People still talk about it.

In-N-Out has spent decades refusing to grow its menu. Burgers, fries, shakes, drinks. Other chains add a new item every season. In-N-Out’s short list is the story: it says they’d rather do a few things properly. Customers even pass around the not-so-secret ways to order off it, which does the marketing for them.

Why it works

Claims are cheap. “Quality first” costs nothing to write, so nobody believes it. A refusal has a price you can see: the customer you sent away, the product you didn’t launch, the discount you didn’t run. People trust what costs you something.

It also sorts your audience. The people who like your no are the ones who’ll stay, pay full price and tell their friends. The ones who don’t were going to leave for the cheaper row anyway.

Find your no

–A kind of customer you turn away, and the reason why.

–A shortcut everyone in your field takes that you don’t.

–A thing customers ask for that you’ve decided never to offer.

You probably already have one. It just lives in your head or in a reply to a single email. This week, pick one, film a minute explaining it in plain words, and post it. Then say it again next month. A no only becomes a story when people hear it more than once.

These are other brands’ campaigns, not our work.

Be the obvious choice, not another copy.