Content Marketing Today

When Sex Sells–and When It Doesn’t Sell the People You Need to Target

We all know that sex sells in plenty of obvious circumstances. But, sometimes, it may really put off the folks you really want to influence. A recent post in the CopyBlogger reminded me of the dangers that lurk when you fail to understand your target audience. And, it also made me think of PajamaGrams.

As Valentines Day approaches, we are bombarded with TV ads for PajamaGrams.  It may be that most of the recipients of those classy PJ’s are comfortable grandmotherly types for whom full-length flannel jammies are more appealing than tiny bits of lace. But their frisky commercials sure seem to target a younger demographic for whom sleep is not the high priority it becomes as we get a bit older. So, in that case sex does sell. We know it’s working because they keep rerunning the same commercial year after year.

But, as Simon Payn reminds in When Sex Refuses to Sell, just driving huge amounts of traffic to a site may be completely counterproductive. He recounts past incidents in which his companies’ ability to drive traffic based on their sites’ temporary sex appeal ultimately drove advertisers away.

Simon reminds us that you mustn’t drive just any traffic to your blog, but the right kind of traffic. That is,target those prospects whose vital information needs match your ability to provide precisely the information that matches those needs. 

Here’s what he concludes:

The Three Rules of Targeted Traffic

So here are my three tips for getting the right kind of traffic for your blog.

1. Decide who your ideal reader (the person most likely to come back to your blog frequently) is and write your posts for that reader.
2. Avoid going off-topic, even if you know that topic might get you on Digg.
3. Write that post – and its headline – so that it’s as interesting to your targeted reader as a story about Lindsay Lohan is to a 14-year-old boy in his bedroom.

Simon reinforces the vital rule of effective content marketing: Unless you understand your target customer and what they need, you cannot hope to communicate with them successfully.

Read his entire article, When Sex Refuses to Sell, and be sure to subscribe to CopyBlogger. It offers great stuff consistently for those of us who are trying to deliver relevant and compelling content for our readers.