14 Effective Ways To Market ‘Unsexy’ Products And Services

While working in a “sexy” field might be fun for marketers, many businesses and industries are decidedly “unsexy.” Crafting an effective campaign strategy within a marketplace that many people perceive to be boring to begin with might demand a more creative, formal or otherwise distinct approach.

When the offering itself doesn’t easily grab the attention of consumers, it’s up to marketers to find ways to make it stand out and seem more appealing. To help, 14 leaders from Forbes Agency Council explored different ways to effectively market products and services in industries that are more serious and lack inherent sex appeal.

1. Tap Into The Hidden Elements

Every single unsexy business has hidden elements or stories that other people would find fascinating in a conversation. These are generally overlooked because the business owners view them as mundane and normal; but to someone new, they are interesting. You need to find these elements and stories and use them to help your company stand out. – Brian Meert, AdvertiseMint

2. Produce Insightful Content

Our firm specializes in B2B marcom for cleantech industrial goods and services. We’ve found that producing insightful content is key to client success. This means using the client’s internal analytical capabilities to produce content that tells prospects things about themselves that they find useful and didn’t know already. Insights even trump creativity. – Mike Casey, Tigercomm, LLC

3. Express Your Passion

Passion, while maybe not sexy, is very often attractive. When you are around people or brands who are truly passionate about what they do, it’s contagious. Find what your brand is passionate about, express it authentically and creatively, and you will soon be leading your field. – Mark Bubula, Friends & Neighbors

4. Incorporate Humanizing References

There are no unsexy fields, only unsexy marketing. Basic fixes can include: simpler language (nix the technical lingo), shifting messaging from focusing on features to emotional benefits and avoiding flat audience portraits, a pushy vibe and conventional, one-off tactics. Do consider incorporating unexpected, humanizing references, such as “swipe right,” into the brand experience. Being original, authentic and current is always sexy. – Abigail Hirschhorn, Human Intelligence | H.I.

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5. Show How You Solve A Real Problem

It’s the unsexy services that are often the most influential and impactful in daily life. Show people how your service or product solves a real problem. Everyone feels stressed, as if there’s too much to do and not enough time to do it. If you can help, show people how, and they’ll love you for it. – Brian Sullivan, Sullivan Branding

6. Create Emotional Connections

My company has many clients in the mineral exploration industry. Through effective storytelling, your message can transcend any industry. If you can relate to the consumer and create an emotional connection to trigger the necessary action, you have achieved every marketer’s main goal. I recommend well-designed infographics and short videos, perhaps on your company’s culture, team and community involvement. – Robert Simpson, PR Associates

7. Tap Into Pain Points And Add Value

There are countless unsexy fields, including professional services. The key to making a campaign impactful is to tap into the clients’ pain points and add value with each encounter, even if it is just offering a small tidbit of data or a trend. On the design side, the trick is to use some wit. Move away from cliché stock imagery and traditional color palettes and design. Go bold! – Elonide Semmes, Right Hat, LLC

8. Highlight The Unexpected

There are many professional services industries that may not seem sexy at first blush, but marketers can “bring the sexy out” in these fields with a, “Wow, I didn’t realize that!” strategy. Draw people into the brand’s products or services by demonstrating how the brand makes people’s lives better, and use smart humor or enlightenment to make the brand more relatable, purposeful and appealing. Voila! – Crystal Sargent, Invested Advisors

9. Position The Brand With A Unique Story

You can effectively market services and products in a unsexy field by telling a unique story. It could be a portable toilet company; if you can position it using something unique about its method of disposal helping the environment, or the owner being a young father (i.e., “the American dream”), it then becomes an intriguing story. When positioning a brand, I focus on what is unique about its culture. – Logan Rae, Argon Agency

10. Share Data And Stats In Colorful Formats

Using data, stats and graphs in a colorful format can really help juice your marketing in a unsexy field. Whether it’s saying, “Four out of five dentists recommend Trident,” or a vibrant chart showing the stratospheric rise of Bitcoin, numbers appeal to many consumers, especially when presented the right way. – David Hadaway, Altair Data Resources

11. Disrupt And Disarm The Audience With Humor

Comedy is the answer to turn to when you find yourself marketing in a unsexy field. Humor is the universal connector, and done right, it disarms your audience. Disrupt with something ironic or ludicrous to establish a problem-solution relationship and get attention. Once you have the “hook” in, use the time to get your key message across. – Rob Fallon, Bluewater

12. Create A Brand Personality Through Tone And Voice

Just because you are selling a boring widget does not mean that your ad copy, social posts and flyers can’t be snarky or sassy. Know who your target client is and have fun with them. For example, copy developed for a systems engineer should be decidedly different from ad copy for a mechanic, but both can contain humor and eye-catching imagery. – Korena Keys, KeyMedia Solutions

13. Combine Business Messaging With Human Needs

Unsexy industries serve real business needs, so it’s easy to let their marketing become sterile. But remember that software engineers and parts suppliers are also humans who eat breakfast, have families and lose their keys. The best content combines business messaging with human needs. If you’re reaching your audience, it doesn’t matter if your content is flashy or award-winning; it’s effective. – Matthew Lopes, The DVI Group

14. Know When To Break The Right Rules In The Right Way

I’ve never bought into the sexy/unsexy delineation: Honda wasn’t a “sexy” brand until Wieden+Kennedy made it one. Then, it very much was a sexy brand, until a succession of other agencies put a stop to that. The real job for an agency is to make a brand compelling. If you’ve got your audience right, there are compelling stories to tell in any sector. You just have to know when to break the right rules in the right way. – Dan Cullen-Shute, Creature

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Author: Expert Panel®, Forbes Councils Member