Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud claimed that pretty much everything we do springs from the sex drive. Lots of people thought Sigmund was taking a good thing too far. Still, it's true the sex drive does sell. In using that fact to improve your retailing profitability, realize the sex drive refers to more than raw passion.
In consumer psychology, it means the mutual attraction of masculinity and femininity towards each other. It's the Yin and the Yang.
Researchers at University of Texas and University of Southern California observe that consumers associate masculinity with products and services that are disciplined, stable and serious and associate femininity with products and services that are delicate, whimsical and changeable.
Your customers make purchase decisions based in part of how well the purchase will project their desired degrees of masculinity and femininity. It's true across age groups: Children as young as twenty months old distinguish toys intended for girls from those intended for boys.
Northwestern University research found that boys are much more likely than girls to prefer rough chunky peanut butter to the smooth variety.
It's true across cultures. Classic research by a psychologist working for IBM showed how the descriptions of masculinity and femininity differ from one culture to another. What stays the same is the drive of each type to show off their credentials via product use.
Consider cell phones. In America, many men prefer a compact-looking cell phone to project a serious high-tech image. But a Wall Street Journal article reported that many Indonesian businessmen aimed to achieve their serious look with a old Nokia model nicknamed The Brick because of its heft.
In your marketing and selling, use words that your target audience associates with either masculinity or with femininity, and avoid mixing the two sets of words in the same message.
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