Makin’ It Sexy

When I first hear someone use sexy as an adjective that had nothing to do with the actual act of sex it made an impression on me. It was kind of funny (as I hadn’t heard it used like that before), it was bit shocking (after all what’s really sexy about a website), and it made me pay attention.

For an affiliate marketer or marketer of any kind – those are all very very good things.

Good marketing get’s attention.

Great marketing makes you want the outcome of using the product or service.

But something that great marketers forget sometimes is that the ritual of a thing is better than the actual thing or service itself. Sometimes that’s where the “sexy” is. Just consider cigarette smokers. They often have an “oral fixation” on the cigarette itself. They’ll chew gum, put a pen in their mouth all just to appease the ritual in order to quit.

There are a lot of things in life like that.

For example:

Tea drinkers… The hardcore tea enthusiasts opt for loose tea blends instead of the pre packaged Lipton varieties. It’s usually fresher with an unmistakable flavor. Because of that the ritual of making tea is a bit different.

To an outsider the process of making tea looks like this:

• boil water
• grab tea leaves
• steep
• drink

To a true tea drinker the process goes like this

• Fill the tea pot exactly to the fill line (it has a really “tin-y, hollow sound” when it’s full)
• Examine the tea options for the day.
• Pop open the jar and smell. Hmm… Oregon Chai or Vanilla Rooibos?
• Fill the mesh tea infuser – but not too full the Rooibos gets strong.
• Wait and listen for the teapot to whistle
• Jump up as soon as it goes off and pour a mug of it.
• Gently drop the tea infuser into the hot water.
• Quietly wait and occasionally move the infuser for at least 3 minutes
• Take out the infuser and smell the tea vapors rising off the top
• Sip and make a tiny “mm” sound that your mother used to make (the one you thought she was weird for making as a kid)

I’m sure you see the difference.

Is your marketing reflecting the outsider perspective? Or are you in-line with the enthusiast?
Don’t forget the ritual.

The ritual is often times more fun/addicting/what we crave than the thing itself. If you can tap into the ritual mindset you’ll sell more stuff.

Just for fun – Which PPC advertiser landing page appeals to the enthusiast more? Which is sexier to a true tea drinker do you think?

Advertiser A

Advertiser B