Working long, long, hours in Orlando for the past 3 months or so, it wasn’t until very recently, I even spent a moment (not asleep) at the hotel.  When I did, I was studying, or programming, or something similarly productive.

If you’ve been working with me on the marketing front for any length of time, you’ve noticed I constantly mention how the most effective marketing motivator (for adults) is sex.  If you can find a way to squeeze sex into your marketing message, you’ll suddenly find customers.  To summarize, "sex sells".

Here’s why…

To be technical, sex is an "emotional motivator", along with fear, love, greed, and spirituality.  People buy because they are motivated to buy and these emotional motivators are at the core of this motivation.  For example, in the IT industry, the most successful sales reps for hardware, software, consulting, and outsourcing are women — notably, hot women.  Why?  Well, frankly it’s actually kind of sick, but to quote a notorious sicko, "It is what it is."  What I mean is, you don’t have to judge them as right or wrong, just realize that the horny old men in charge of IT dollars are simply looking for a little company.  Some of these sickos go so far as to impose "favors" in exchange for business.  Some male sales reps succeed by outsourcing the association of sex and their product by taking prospects to strip clubs, or providing for other forms of entertainment which fit that bill.  Regardless, it’s there, it’s pervasive, and it’s probably not going to go anywhere, despite my or your distaste for that reality.

Sexy Marketing

A few nights ago, I took a break and watched a little (gasp) television.  The ads I saw while flipping through the 50+ channels astounded me, not because the concept was new, but just how basal and absurd the link between the product and sex was. Regardless, they managed to squeeze a little sex appeal into an Arby’s commercial:

Now, the Arby’s spot is not as over-the-top as the Carl’s Jr commercial for the spicy BBQ burger featuring Paris Hilton from 2005:

Paris Hilton is nearly naked, writhing around in various provocative positions, covered in sudsy water which appears to be fairly cold.  At one point, Paris chomps into a token burger, but then proceeds to writhe around some more, cover herself in suds, completely bend over (I think that’s the “downward facing dog” Yoga position, if I’m not mistaken) and a few other things.  Luckily we didn’t have to actually hear her talk or anything, or have some voice-over ruin the fantasy… but what the hell does that have to do with a hamburger? Oh yeah, "It’s hot."  OMG!  That’s just sad.  However, the news around this ad created gazillions in free promotion for Carl’s Jr.  And here, 3 years after the ad was banned, it’s still virally floating around the internet.   Carl’s Jr. created a web site a few weeks after the ad was banned and the thing got so much traffic that it crashed again and again and again.  If advertising is about impressions and if impressions create customer momentum – there’s so serious momentum being generated here.

Another commercial I saw recently (can’t find it on YouTube) is for TVLand evening programming, or Nick at Night or something like that.  It features a married couple who, through perspective shots ala Austin Powers are engaged in a variety of provocative situations:

• The man opens a refrigerator, spouse in the background with two melons visible over her chest.
• The man, reclined on the sofa, hands folded behind his head, sits with a smug grin as his wife strokes a 2 liter bottle of soda, conveniently placed over his pants.
• He stands up and stretches, she tilts the bottle over a bit creating unmistakable phallic imagery.
• She goes over to the television, and leans over to form a perfect right angle, the man slightly behind (and nearer the camera than) her lifts the remote and pushes it forward toward her posterior.
• The narrator says something like, "we know what YOU want… to grab hold of your remote and watch TV with blah blah’s evening lineup."

THEIR message was actually almost related – get your spouse, go to the sofa, and relax together with our programming… maybe you’ll get lucky.

If you can find a way to harness the power of sex in your marketing, you’ll make a splash.  It doesn’t have to be vulgar, or over the top.  But, it’s amazing how powerful it can be.

Next up, "fear" — or why you need an alarm system, life insurance, baby gates, a fence around your pool, and absolutely MUST get your children’s fingerprints taken and sent to the FBI.

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It’s going to take me a little bit to gather my notes and work up all of my thoughts on the lessons I’ve brought back into a cohesive package, so I’m going to drop another little nugget of wisdom on you.  This is a simple and fundamental concept any business can apply to their marketing, and every business should.

A few days before we took off, I was golfing with an old friend and client, a partner with half-ownership of a prolific landscaping company, here in Tampa. I was talking about market segmentation and customer lifetime value and all that stuff that I get all excited about. He was examining the landscaping and telling me how they could be doing this and that better with their selection of materials or plants and such.

One of the things we worked on was selling benefits versus services. You see, people don’t buy “lawn mowing” – they buy what having someone else mow the lawn for them provides. Or, if they’re forking out the big money to have a full planter bed installed, they’re buying what that new bed of plants and flowers and such provides them – they don’t want the bed, they want what they get from the bed and plants.

Now, how would you do something like this when marketing a lawn mowing and yard trimming service? What could such a basic service as mowing lawns do that would be so appealing to home owners? Is a “freshly mown lawn” enough of a motivator?

Here are some ideas of what lawn maintenance companies provide as an emotional end benefit:

• “Stop slaving away on your lawn”
• “Get your weekends back”
• “More time for golfing”
• “More time for fishing”
• “Get to know your kids”
• “Relax and enjoy your weekends”
• “Enjoy life again”
• “Get that Christmas shopping done”
• “Watch the game instead of mowing your lawn”
• “Spend more time with your family”

Taking that same perspective, what emotional appeal can you use for a landscaping service?

• “Make your yard a showpiece”
• “Cut your water bill with xeriscaping”
• “Save natural resources with drought resistant  landscaping”
• “Create a yard in tune with nature”
• “Increase your privacy, naturally”
• “Create the yard you’ve always dreamed of”

As you can see, all it takes is a little rearranging of your thoughts on the service you provide, regardless of how mundane it might seem to you. Marketing something like lawn mowing and landscaping can be spiced up significantly if you realize the benefits of your service and start selling those benefits rather than the raw product of “cutting the grass.”

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