Sex sells (Now maybe people will read my blog!)

So we have all heard the phrase that sex sells. Well does it really? Short answer is yes. Now this would not make for a good blog post so I figure I will give my two cents on why sex seems to work so well.

I have a theory with advertising and marketing and the most effective campaigns. The best campaigns have that "Wow Factor" that leaves the audience with quite an impression on the company or product. Sex just so happens to be one of the items that can work and that is why it sells. Humor is also one of those huge aspects of advertising that just works for some companies. Look at Budweiser and the famous Bud-Weis-Er frogs from so long ago. Spokespeople also work along the same lines. Michael Jordan had a great run with Gatorade and Nike.

Basically I guess my reasoning behind this post was to partly debunk the "Sex Sells" line while also showing why the line is true. Confusing, I know. Also I wrote this to show that sex does not have to be used in advertising as Humor, Spokespeople and more can be used. You could say that lazy advertisers use sex to sell their products but that too is not entirely true. There are products and companies that have used sex to sell their products VERY effectively. As with any campaign you must take a look at the target audience, your product and the company culture to determine if sex works. Basically my blog post has been a way for me to declare the validity of and uselessness of sex in advertising.

If that was not confusing for you then you are my hero. That is all.

Social Media Meltdown

So a while back I talked about a few new-er social media apps; Loopt, Wave and Foursquare. Time has come and gone and I have decided on a winner (in my book). Of course this is just my personal preference so take it as you will, and try to convince me otherwise in the comments!

My last place app would be Loopt. I honestly did not keep it long as it did not have the "wow" factor that made me want to keep using it. Basically I could do everything Loopt can do (minus actually looking for a place to eat) with Twitter. I did not see the benefit to using the app and stopped using it very quickly.

Next up is Wave. I left this at second place because I kind of still use it. A group of friends and I get together via Wave to talk about music but the conversation starts to lag.... not due to our lack of knowledge on the subject but due to the service itself. Our group only consisted of four members at that time, really? This shouldn't happen. At least it is free and technically still in closed beta so maybe it will get better.

Next up, and my favorite, Foursquare. What sets Foursquare apart from the other location based apps is the game you play. Checking in is fun and all but the first time you get that Mayor status you get a little sense of entitlement. Upon losing a mayor status, it is like being demoted at work. You almost feel like less of a person and you try to win it back (great news for the business). Becoming mayor of even more places or getting more badges then your friends is like street cred. You have bragging rights.

I have been exchanging Tweets with (I guess you could say) friend on Twitter about this service lately and have come to the consensus that it is just plain addicting. Going out of your way to "check-in." The history of my Foursquare looks like a listing of local restaurants. It is a unique way to show ownership of your local area and to share it with your friends. If you are afraid of sharing your status, you can not send it to Facebook or Twitter but if that is not good enough you can always set Foursquare to hide your whereabouts even from friends on Foursquare.

The way I see it is Foursquare is stimulating the economy, one check-in at a time. Can't go wrong with that.

Too many hands....

So I had the great opportunity to meet with a business group today. Let me put it this way, and I hope it does not sound harsh, the company has potential but will not grow as it is presently constituted. The problem? Too many ideas from too many people. In theory the idea behind the company is great, get people from as many different specialties as possible to generate the greatest amount of ideas that do not cost anything to implement (ok so that last part is not as conducive to making money but that is not the point of this post). The problem is the amount of "expertise" in the room.

What I have found from my business traveling's in the small business world is that sometimes you just need to jump in to test the water. The more you think about your product/service the more you will over think. Now this is not always the case but 9 times out of 10 this will happen. Am I advocating not having a plan? No. I am advocating having more of a guideline and that you tweak it as you go. You need to stay flexible when starting and running a business as change is inevitable. Taking on business partners can be good, as long as you do not have too many and they all know what role they are to play.

Remember my motto, Dive in and Adjust your Plan!