14 Nov Is Public Relations for Sex Toys Necessary?
The short answer to ‘is public relations for sex toys necessary?’, is yes, absolutely. Now prepare for the long answer…
Over recent years, the sex toy industry has exploded into an exotic and highly profitable option for budding entrepreneurs. Retailers can almost exclusively be found online in this day and age, as the digital approach to sales is far more lucrative. The issue here is, how do you direct your target audience specifically to your online store? This is where our Adult PR agency can help.
The taboo surrounding sex toys (and sex in general) is fading pretty much universally. Despite this, however, many adult industry companies still have great difficult achieving online results. Constant changes to user guidelines and algorithms is largely the reason for this. Setting aside a budget for PR and marketing is a great way to tackle this head on. An established and trusted agency like Adult PR would be happy to take on the job!
In today’s blog, the Adult PR team have delved into the multitude of ways PR and marketing can assist your online sex toy shop.
Is public relations for sex toys enough?
Before we delve into the detail of PR for adult brands we need to consider, will this be enough on its own? Social media can be extremely helpful in bolstering any PR plan. It’s more than likely that you’ve already given this a go, perhaps to gain a little brand exposure and funnel more customers to your site. What you probably found, however, was that some platforms are much more difficult to navigate when posting XXX content. Sharing the wrong things can easily get your posts shadow banned or even your whole page removed. log
We will also always ensure to meet user guidelines, so you never need to worry about your accounts being flagged. The key to doing this successfully is to include SFW content within your campaigns. By doing this, you will be able to reach a much wider audience whilst establishing a strong connection with your consumer base. Our in-house social media team can create and post content to your platforms and frequently engage with your following, all the while avoiding any risk of your account being shut down.
…and SEO would also be a big help!
It’s hard enough for mainstream businesses to get their website ranking organically on Google, let alone an online sex toy shop with a mass of competition. This can very quickly (and often unexpectedly) become a full-time job to adult businesses. Not ideal when trial and error can often play a big role, ultimately taking valuable time away from other important aspects of the business. Luckily for you, Adult PR also has an in-house SEO team to help with this exact problem! We will jump into the back end of your website, optimising your online content as we go. In the meantime, this will provide you with the time you need to run your business effectively.
‘When are we going to get into public relations for sex toys?’ we hear you ask? Soon! But there’s a little more to cover first. For example, did you know that adult industry websites drive more monthly traffic than Amazon, Netflix, and Twitter… combined?! It’s true! And sadly, it means adult brands are much more likely to get lost in an ocean of competition. This is why, preferably before launching your website, you need to research a series of relevant keywords. These search terms must then be organically added throughout your site. This, in turn, will help you rise up the search rankings and have your site found by prospective customers.
Finally! Public relations for sex toys!
Okay, so you’ve sorted out your keywords and your social media is looking good… what’s next? We, of course, recommend public relations. Getting your brand’s name in the media is going to be one of two things: difficult and time consuming OR very expensive. An agency like ours have a lot of contacts that make the process a whole lot easier. What’s more, we also have the skills to ensure your name is placed in big-name publications with ease. Ultimately, outsourcing this work to our agency will really help to put you on the map!
Listen to your customers!
This is a very important point and to help us demonstrate why, let’s consider Lovehoney. If you’re looking for help with marketing your sex toy business, we’re sure you’ve heard that name many times. But just in case you haven’t, Lovehoney is a hugely successful online sex toy store. It blossomed from its humble beginnings as a three-man team to a multi-million pound business. Now, we can’t promise to quickly boost your business to this level of success, but we do know how important competitor analysis is.
Lovehoney was established by two friends way back in 2002, so they didn’t have social media to worry about. They did, however, need to worry about utilising a £6,000 investment effectively. Public relations for sex toys wasn’t the first thing on their mind, at this early stage. They first had to make sure the money went toward setting up their website. The rest then went towards a small supply of stock. Simple enough, but then how did the brand go from this to the UK’s most popular sex toy retailer? They listened to their customers.
To stand out against their competitors, Lovehoney collaborated with their consumers in order to discover gaps in the market. It was this initial feedback that led to the huge range of sex toys they now produce. Many of these are now best sellers, which has inevitably helped to build trust with their customer base. Once this has been established, they could then move onto working with the press and other elements of PR.
Normalise Your Products
Along with listening to their customers, Lovehoney also worked hard to normalise their products. Whilst the sex industry is less taboo than it has ever been, there’s still a lot of stigma around it. So, you can only imagine what it would have been like trying to sell sex toys online at the turn of the century! To do this, Lovehoney employed content writers who could provide their products with perfectly detailed descriptions and other original content. All of this proved great for their SEO and should be taken on board by any budding sex toy business.
Contact us
If you would like to hear more about what our team can do for you – whether it’s public relations for sex toys or other marketing elements – please get in touch with us at [email protected] or click here to be taken to our contact page.