Note to the marketing world: It's the relevance, dummy!

I've never yet heard of a reputable nonprofit that tried to use sex to raise funds the way many advertisers do to sell products. It's only a matter of time, I suppose.

But some advertisers swear by that technique. Too bad for them. Because not only is it tasteless, stupid, and sexist -- it doesn't work!

A new study reported recently in the Denver Post says that the use of attractive models can undermine the credibility of a message. Sex! - now wanna buy the toaster? undermines the widely held belief that sex sells:

If customers want quality -- when buying a new computer laptop, for example -- an attractive model can hurt a product's credibility .... Beautiful people may attract attention, but advertising agencies who use them are just plain lazy ....

The issue is relevance. And while few fundraisers will ever be tempted to use sex as a cheap attention-getter, plenty of them use similarly irrelevant tactics that can grab attention but fail to close the circle and start a relationship. Like sweepstakes. Address labels. Other premiums that have nothing to do with the cause. Those things are the "sex" of nonprofit marketing. If someone suggests using them, just say no!

You owe your donors relevance. And irrelevance doesn't work all that well.

Technorati Tags: fundraising, sex sells