It’s easy to dismiss
Fifty Shades Of Grey,
the books,
the movie.
It’s mommy porn, right?
The name some people
have smacked on this story
trivializes its appeal.
Sex sells.
Sure, sex sells
but there were 1,000 other ‘mommy porn’ stories
published in the same month.
Many were hotter.
Many were more risque.
None of them sold
100 million copies.
There are many lessons
smart marketers can learn from FSoG.
For example:
Anastasia is a woman
who considers herself average and unremarkable.
She’s accustomed to being overlooked.
Female readers relate to her.
I write ‘average’ heroines all the time
because even my extremely educated,
high powered female executive readers
feel average in some way.
Christian Grey, the hero, sees something special
in this average woman.
He can partner with anyone
but he only wants her.
What prospect doesn’t want
a saleswoman or salesman to look at them
like this,
like they’re special, remarkable, different?
If your target customers are women,
you should consider studying
and learning from Fifty Shades of Grey.
And please don’t ridicule it in public.
Odds are,
many of the women around you
secretly enjoyed this story.