Sex and Marketing: The Naked Truth

Some marketers are convinced that sex sells well. But what about sex itself? Is it easy for adult toy manufacturers and sex shops to sell their wares? This industry is characterized by moral, cultural, religious, and legal constraints. Let’s talk about the difference between selling shampoo and a vibrator, as well as what services the English toy manufacturer received the Queen’s Award for.

Founder of LoveBox

In the UK, sellers of adult products and erotic lingerie turn to the marketing agencies for many reasons, but this is not a very common practice. There are 2 reasons. The first is a huge number of micro-businesses competing in this market, without budgets for such expertise. And the second is the underestimation of marketing in general, it seems to me.

In any business, there is always an opposition “time vs money” when it comes to marketing services. If the company has no shortage of time, they can do everything in-house. And those for whom time is priceless will turn to the agency. Our visibility in the market and our heavy use of content marketing will work in our favor at the right time.

There are many such people in the UK who proclaim themselves as sex bloggers, although the quality and content of the content vary greatly. There are also sex product bloggers who review online. One blog author even created her own toy. The most popular get products in return for reviews. Those who value their reputation make reviews as impartial as possible or buy products themselves.

In The Uk, The Marketing And Sales Of Adult Products Are Different
Shop windows must meet certain criteria, and the proportion of sex toys sold to other products determines whether a license is needed. The cost of a license differs from city to city in the UK. Several years ago, Westminster City Council (which includes a Soho area with thriving prostitution and an abundance of sex shops) was demanded to return more than 1 million pounds for inflated license prices.

We Still Have A Lot Of Old-School, Unattractive Sex Shops That Operate Behind Closed Doors
But there are other, more customer-centric retailers who strive to provide a high level of service in a shopping-friendly atmosphere. Today, the traditional, conservative “British” approach to sexuality parallels a more open sex culture. And the media, of course, love these juxtapositions. They win in any way – when they criticize the vulgarity of Findom Financial Domination or when they enjoy the widespread interest in material about Daddy Cams.

TV shows about large retailers such as Lovehoney and Ann Summers are filmed, professional print media is released, which organizes a specialized competition among industry representatives. In general, the well-established cliché about shackled Britons is already becoming obsolete.

Few Successful Marketing Campaigns In This Market
One of the most successful retailers is the English company Lovehoney. They have been generating a ton of PR reasons over the years and the main source of information is often very insightful and absolutely successful licensed merchandising. They received the prize for the exclusive sale of the official collection of Fifty Shades of Gray erotic products. And before that, they made a deal with sex expert Tracy Cox and made her the brand face of some of their products.

The Queen’s Award For Enterprise In International Trade Winner
Despite the huge commercial influence of Fifty Shades of Gray, I was more pleased with their collaboration with the rock bands Motley Crue and Motorhead. I am a longtime heavy metal fan (I even hosted a radio show about rock music in the 90s), and when I saw that they released a series of sex toys with the names of their most popular songs, I laughed and shouted “Yeah!”

Lovehoney won the Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association prize for this collaboration with Motorhead, and I’m pretty sure there will be other collaborations in the future. This also contributes to their international expansion – they deservedly received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.

What Are The Main Mistakes Players Make In The Adult Products Market?

The Main Mistake
Perhaps the most visible (at least to me) is the one-way communication on social media. I see many sex toy and lingerie sellers who post and post their products tirelessly, but no one interacts with them.

The Second Mistake
Many online sex shops lack a corporate identity that would distinguish them from each other. In conditions of a low entry threshold, competing and not giving 100% is a waste of time. Get better or get out! Differentiate or Die!
The lack of content marketing is also obvious. Only a few large companies succeed at this: some have their own communities, review pages, and other consumer engagement tools.

The Third Mistake
There is a risk that social media and web analytics are crowding out marketing analytics. This is not just a mistake, but a prerequisite for dire consequences. Companies tend to substitute well-designed and well-run consumer surveys for their opinion on social media. Companies fail to understand that such responses cannot be considered representative. There is no identification of those who are in charge. It is not even certain that they are clients.

Marketing Research Vs Web Analytics

In the same way, it is impossible to understand from web analytics whether your site is a favorite for a buyer or simply the best of the worst among those viewed. Web analytics will not show you how often your customers visit your competitors’ sites and which ones. Also, you won’t know how much they spend on similar items anywhere else.

Of course, you will not get accurate information on how satisfied consumers are with the site and whether your online store will return/recommend it to others. Of course, web analytics itself is a pretty valuable tool for a company, especially in online trading. But it cannot replace marketing research.