The August 2004 Issue of the Gots To Have It, Newsletter contains:

Kim Thomas President of Tickle Your Fancy Co.

Don’t Forget To Tickle A Friend Marketing a Sensual Products business is a fun and exciting way to make fast friends and money. Edenfantasys.com reported that there is an estimated 14 million Americans who are "dedicated sex toy users" and with this sort of buzz why wouldn’t I want to get a piece of that American Pie? Initially, you would think an industry that grossed over $500 million a year in North America alone must be a cinch to market. I mean, hey, doesn’t sex always sell? My clients, who range from the libido charged college student to the humble middle-aged homemaker often surprise me with their early hesitation. Their bashful nature appears all over their blushed faces when I hold up an "8 inch massager" per se, and suggest its amazing relaxation capabilities.

The majority of my business involves co-hosting "pleasure parties." These events are much like Tupperware parties except I’m not quite selling Tupperware "wink, wink." So, how do I market my products and rid their faces of that hot crimson rush? The answer: create a comfort zone through a shameless humorous approach. It’s always easy for people to laugh at themselves and I make it a habit to use my own sensual experiences—mainly embarrassing ones—as a way to break the ice. Testimonials are always a plus and once I start sharing, people start to come out of their shells and share as well. Before you know it everyone is laughing, smiling, and eager to hear and share more.

I have had a "personal experience" with all products featured in my presentation. I share my thorough knowledge of the products to inform and remind guests of how to enhance their sexual experience, whether it is alone or with a partner or two. Contrary to popular belief, the days of the "Lovefest" with multiple partners are still among us. I’m always open to take questions at any time during the presentation; and once the questions start to flow, I know the comfort zone has been properly reached.

During my presentation, I also play a few games to break up the monotony and offer a little competition between the guests. Games like the Talented Tongue, The Super Panty Relay and others are interactive and help test sensual skills. As prizes, I give out sample sizes of popular products that I offer. Sampling helps to increase awareness and familiarity using a fun memorable environment as the back drop.

The common tactic known as "word of mouth" or a referral has helped me to gain many client and business deals. I always ask one favor of the guests, clients and business partners that I come across— "Don’t Forget To Tickle A Friend." It’s as easy as that, and it doesn’t hurt to have a cute little slogan that you know folks will comment on and remember. As a way to show my appreciation I also offer a discount on their next purchase with Tickle Your Fancy Co. All of a sudden my popularity has skyrocketed through the roof, not to mention being someone who can brag that they have a friend who sells "adult novelties."

These are just a few of the marketing tactics that I use to promote my business. Every week I take the time out to research new products on the market, beef up on promotion strategies, and seek constructive criticism. Remember, you can’t reinvent the wheel; the best marketing strategies are those that have been recycled and customized for your particular business. My advice to all entrepreneurs is to customize that "wheel of fortune" to work for you. So, the next time you 're online, be certain to visit www.ticklingyourfancy.com and most importantly "Don’t Forget To Tickle A Friend."

The Sexy Side to Marketing

We all have a sexy side, no? Even some of our businesses reflect that side in the way we market them. Sometimes the most corporate businesses can find a way to make marketing sexy, and if used tastefully, it can definitely work. And why not, it 's true, SEX SELLS.
It 's ever so tempting to add some sexual spice to our visuals, voice, or vocabulary. Here in the United States, we see it on television advertisements for everything from beer to deodorant to gum. Some spare us the subtleties in letting us know:
If you by this product you 'll get 'some '.
Of course, some advertisers are slightly tasteful in their presentation.
Take Old Spice for example…their ads translate into:
Buy my product, get noticed, have women sniff you in a crowded party as you walk by, get a kiss and eventually…uh, yeah, you get some!

Sex in Advertising
Sex works best when the product or service can honestly promise increased sex appeal: perfume, apparel, and a fancy car or jewelry. Even such products like toothpaste can promise to make your breath fresher and your smile irresistibly kissable. With products like these, enhancing your sex appeal can be a persuasive product benefit, and therefore, it should be the focus of your ad.

For ads aimed at women, they can be successful for the most part with the romance approach through using the stereotypical images; roses, soft lights and music. One of my favorite warm and fuzzy commercials is the one when the couple looks like they are in the middle of Paris, when the boyfriend yells out, "I LOVE THIS WOMAN!" and the pigeons fly away as they giggle and spin around with stars in their eyes. How cute.I know the men reading this need a barf bag right about now. You 're excused fellas. Sorry, just had to share with my girls. LOL! That was a diamond commercial if memory serves me correctly.

Most diamond ads use the romantic approach. Although most men buy diamonds, they buy them for women who generally authorize the final purchase decision. So, it does make sense to aim the ads at women. If there are any sexual undertones, they are extremely subdued and done tastefully.
For many products, it 's pretty easy to find or create a sexual connection. But the use of strong or mild sexuality can help attract and sustain attention, no matter the product or service. Some ads go from clever to shocking, to … "oh come on now, you know that 's not EVEN right!" I’ll go over a few of my favorite examples of sex in advertising.

1. Take a look at this scenario for instance

You 're strolling through the mall and glance up at the store’s name, "Wait a minute did I read that right? (Only changing because it’s read not said.) You wipe your eyes and look again, oh…it’s FCUK, FRENCH CONNECTION, UK...but of course! Their online store even sounds a bit, well…see for yourself:

2. Or better yet, take a look at this charming ad I found.

She leans forward, exposing an eye popping view of her cleavage. The headline reads, "This is Debbie. She wants you to have this pair in your car." The rest of the ad tries to convince consumers to buy the grease gun cartridges she holds in either hand. Riiiiiight…but what 's even scarier is they have her number in the ad. She works for them! Hope you got a raise Debbie. Times musta been hard for her!

3. Tantalizing Event Promotions

The typical party promoter will send a big graphic of a sexy woman licking a cherry and then the promotion says, "Come out for a sophisticated evening," Sophisticated? And you 're promoting it like that? It 's getting a bit tired guys. That 's why I actually look forward to Lucky You emails from Nicole Hill. Her personal introduction to promote her exclusive PASSWORD PARTIES is what makes her invitations unique. They are not over the top with a zillion graphics, nor do they have photos of sexy women; but her copy is very intriguing and makes you crack a smile at her wittiness.

She also sets herself apart from the rest by not calling herself a party promoter, she said in one invite, "I prefer to be called an event producer, a socialite, or a friend maker…" How 's that for positioning?

She also sets herself apart from the rest by not calling herself a party promoter, she said in one invite, "I prefer to be called an event producer, a socialite, or a friend maker…" How's that for positioning?

Here 's a sample of one of my favorites. Her stories usually clue you into the password to use for that evening, which will gain you entrance to the party.
You 'll see it 's sexy and tasteful, and most importantly it works!

"last week, after the party, i received an email from a male friend who had been to the party. he asked if i could get him in touch with a 'girl ' he had seen there; she was sitting in a corner section, toward the front, for most of the night. he asked in his email that i would not reveal his true identity. so i won 't. but i will say: to the young lady with dark hair, sitting toward the front with a group of friends...there 's a really handsome guy that thinks you 're hot. (& he hopes he 'll get to see you tonight to tell you so personally.) is that discreet enough? true story."
You can find Harlem 's 'only ' password party…. When you step to the rope, tell the lady what she wants to hear: "True Story"

And another of my favorites…

"last week i was on the A train heading downtown. being the "sexually challenged" young woman that I 've (somehow) turned into recently, i started flirting with a less than average guy who sat down next to me. he sat down so close, i could feel his thigh and hip bone on me...why was i sooo turned on? i fumbled to write down my email addy right b4 i ran off the train. he was pretty shocked when i gave it to him! yeah.....it 's sad, but true. i am now officially sexually challenged and desperate... ha!
but if you see me tonight, don 't even mention it. I 'd rather talk about you and your exciting life.
You can find Harlem 's 'only ' password party…. When you step to the rope, tell the lady what she wants to hear: don 't mention it."

4. Sexy and Funny Television Spots

One of my favorite commercials introduces AXE — a body spray deodorant —apparently a prime example of a metrosexual product. According to its maker, Unilever, "A stylish brand [that] boosts young men 's confidence and attraction through the combination of a distinctive masculine fragrance and long-lasting deodorant protection."

An early series of AXE ads featured an attractive blonde standing next to a mannequin in front of a red velvet curtain. Each spot began the same way: She would explain that AXE is a body spray for men, and she 'd spray some on the dummy. Then the "AXE effect" would kick in. In one ad, looking instantly intoxicated, the woman says, "Hey sailor" to the mannequin, and suddenly her boyfriend bursts into the frame and punches its head off. ("Doug! We were just talking!") In another, a second woman moves in closer to smell the alluring scent of AXE on the just-sprayed mannequin. This caused the spokeswoman to drop her smiley façade and yell in a "sistah-girl attitude", "I KNOW YOU 'RE NOT TOUCHING MY MANNEQUIN!" These are hilarious spots. And as you can see, humor and sexual undertones work well. AXE can also be interpreted as: it 's so sensual, it can make any dummy seem attractive. LOL ~okay, so that 's my interpretation, no offense to the AXE wearers out there! ~

Some more recent AXE ads are not subtle at all. In one, a handsome guy who hasn 't finished buttoning up his shirt strides into an elevator. He sprays on some AXE, exits, and another guy — who appears to be a less sexually appealing — gets on. Apparently the smell of AXE lingers in the air, because the attractive woman who steps in next finds herself drawn to his dorky charm. It 's the Power of AXE! She presses the emergency stop button. In the next shot, the doors open and apparently she 's mauled him in a quick make-out session. She 's straightening her dress, his hair is wild and he looks dazed and confused.

I 've got a question: anyone ever smell this stuff? Let me know if it 's really that good!

5. Online Ads…Statistics Neva Lie

One thing I love about online advertising is that it 's so trackable. When you have statistics at your fingertips you can see what 's working and what 's not.
SCOTTeVEST manufactures clothing for techies and those travelers who want "to carry and use their electronic gadgets without being burdened by wires and bags." The brainchild of Scott Jordan, SCOTTeVEST makes jackets, baseball caps, and other gear with special pockets for multiple electronic devices, including cell phones, PDAs, and CD players.

Techie clothes with Inspector Gadget pockets, sexy? I think not. However, when Jordan brought a former Playboy Playmate Becca Scott for its marketing, a fleece pull over became a little sexier. To prove my point, we can compare their original online e-mail campaign without Becca versus the one with her.

FYI:
Open Rate=How many times the e-mail was even opened and read.
Click Thru Rate (CTR)=How many times a link was clicked.

WITHOUT PLAYMATE :
The March 2003 edition didn 't include Becca. It went to approximately 48,000 recipients. The open rate was 27 percent and CTR on opens about 31 percent.

WITH PLAYMATE

The following month 's newsletter featured Becca. The open rate was about the same (26.22 percent), but the real difference was in click-throughs. The CTR on opens was 58 percent. Nearly half came from the Becca section of the newsletter.
Given the attention Becca generated, Jordan took the idea and ran with it. His company dedicated an entire section of its site to Becca. It even included free Becca Scott wallpaper for computer desktops. Jordan doesn 't have an exact count of how many copies of the program have been downloaded, but estimates it 's in the hundreds of thousands.

6. Sexy Logos? It's my time to clear the air! True Story :) Okay, so I will put myself on the hot seat. It was 1996 and I had just come up with the name — Gots To Have It — for my new marketing company. I thought it was empowering and inspiring, because I was sick and tired working for others for years and not seeing the fruits of my labor. I thought, I GOTS TO HAVE IT…Darn it! It 's my time to shine! My very good friend Delilah Garcia was doodling something in pencil for her design class in school. I loved the model she drew and asked her to exchange the dress for a business suit. That take charge, "don 't -mess-with-me-stance" is what stood out to me as well. When I first started out, my clientele was very young, hip and in the music industry. I didn 't want to be viewed as a ~yawn~ corporate type of company when approaching them, and the logo just worked. People liked it and remembered it! I also realized many women loved it, which I guess explains how my audience became 85 percent women!

Well, he toned her down a bit for me. But, I can 't tell you how many times I went back and forth with my designer about cleavage or no cleavage? I asked around, men and women alike. Most people thought it was fun and sexy. And even though she 's only a cartoon, many have been trying to get her number since 1996. LOL! Anyhow…she 's my super-shero and my trademark. So, for the last time…Yes, it 's sexy and fun, but NO IT 'S NOT RELATED TO SPIKE LEE'S SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT. :)

I guess the "IT" in GOTS TO HAVE IT reminds us that our personal hypotheses of its meaning can vary from one person to the other. Although I do have a definition on my website about what GOTS TO HAVE IT MEANS ( www.gotstohaveit.com), people just can 't seem to get their heads outta the gutter. I 'm mean, haven 't I proven to you already that I 'm a respectable young lady? Now, if you 'll excuse me, I have to go porn surfing…It 's for part two of this issue! Sheesh!
(KIDDING)

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Porn Schmorn… by Lena L. West

You’ve seen the ads -- busty women clad in down-to-there outfits popping up from every corner on the Internet. Make a typo while trying to visit a favorite site and you’re likely to be treated to images of things unimagined. Searching for information to help you foster self-discipline –- an admirable goal –- will deliver links to sites that will keep you ‘tied up’ for days,literally. E-mail that promises to enlarge body parts that you don’t even –- and wouldn’t want to -- possess. All in the name of selling sex, peddling flesh, choking the…ahem…you get where I’m going with this.

Now, you’re probably reading this article expecting me to make some seemingly obvious correlation between great marketing strategies and Internet porn. After all, that industry mastered Internet marketing and we could all take a lesson from those guys, right? Mmmm…not really.

Do you want to know the REAL reason porn has done so well online? It’s not the unmentionables and scantily clad women. The websites simply appeal to their visitors’ most base emotions, plain and simple.

I submit that if porn sites didn’t actually sell sex, they would be out of business in a heartbeat. Don’t think so? Think about it, would anyone go through the following scenarios if they wanted to buy let’s say, a radio? (In case you’re wondering the answer is no.)

•You're bombarded by ads that pop, pop, pop and keep popping up. And, even after you close the window, there are other ads that have popped under! And, still ads that pop up even after you’ve been away from the site for a solid 10 minutes.

•Spy ware. Enough said.

•Can you think of any other business where you have to enter a credit card number before you get to see what you’ve bought?

•Privacy policy? Yeah, right! As if!

•There aren’t even any customer service numbers to call. If you get stuck during the registration process, you’re pretty much well, stuck.

•You’re expected to field repeated requests to change your default home page or install some obscure plug-in that you’re not quite sure isn’t a virus.

•And, what about this age verification thing? They bounce you to another site, bounce you back, open a couple of other windows in the process and, you’re still expected to remember your verification account number???

•And these sites ain’t easy on the eyes either. Yellow type on black backgrounds, grainy images, floating doodads, gratuitous use of Flash, Flash-based intros on the home page with no skip button...

So, let me get this straight, you want me to pay for merchandise sight unseen; you want to make every attempt to mechanically screw up my computer in the process; you don’t tell me what you plan to do with my personal information; you want to damage my eyesight and hold me hostage at your home page while your intro loads all while trying to repeatedly hawk hidden cameras that I will never buy?

I could go on but I’m sure you get my point. The only reason -– and I do mean ONLY -– that these types of sites survive is because of their sexual content. So, don’t look to that industry for examples. Rather, find an experienced Internet marketing consultant and work with them.

The only take away lesson here folks is that people, when interested and excited enough and with enough cash, will do and pay for anything. Sad marketing and even sadder people.


Lena L. West is the Founder & CEO of xynoMedia Technology, a technology consulting firm that specializes in helping business owners who feel like hostages to technology. Sign-up for your free copy of The Technology Planning & Strategy Workbook at http://www.xynomedia.com © 2004 Lena L. West. All rights reserved.

© 2004 Lena L. West. All rights reserved.

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If you want it, you Gots To Have It!


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