Positive reviews, great customer service and of course, high-quality products, all help build and maintain trust, and therefore have a measurable impact on sales — but so does working with accredited sex educators, therapists, academics and experts. Influencers and celebrities with walls full of Grammys can bring fantastic exposure, but for earning trust and building lasting connections with reputable journalists, you want people with walls full of sexy, sexy diplomas. Here’s why.
The Industry Has Matured
Knowledge is power, sexual education is empowerment — and spreading both is a great way to earn trust and get your brand taken seriously in the press.
The brands that have seen the most success recently and have broken through to the mainstream are all working with certified sex educators. What’s the correlation? Authority. We’ve known for 20 years that “authority” is the driving influence behind SEO. The more authoritative your voice — the more you demonstrate your ability to speak from a position of expertise — the more willing Google is to drive traffic to you.
Having a qualified sex expert on board and offering them your platform to spread useful, actionable knowledge grounds your business’ perspective on a foundation of knowledge and experience. Provide value that way, and Google will help you find an audience. It works just the same in the real world. If your business has a senior exec with real sexual health credentials, event organizers are more willing to offer them a microphone.
Building Your Reputation
There’s another reason why trust is crucial. We are in the business of intimacy. We deal with and cater to people’s deepest desires and innermost secrets. When a customer decides to give a sexual health brand their money, that is a significant and powerful choice. After all, these are products that are going into their bodies. That transaction is one of profound trust, and to encourage that level of trust, your brand’s reputation needs to be impeccable.
Academics tend to be good writers and can also articulate in front of the camera. Those skills are worth their weight in gold when it comes to your reputation. Certified sex experts can provide accurate and balanced information on behalf of your business without much need for your oversight. They are the experts, and it’s good for a business when they are let off the leash to some extent. In fact, some of the best campaigns are those suggested by sex educators themselves, because they have insights that unaccredited experts don’t. It’s their job to understand sex, and they’re at the forefront of sexual knowledge.
Of course, it’s not enough simply to have a qualified sex educator saying intelligent things on your behalf. To build your reputation, you have to listen to the concerns and criticism of any educator you work with, getting their feedback on the design process and asking for their help in other parts of your business. Both this process and the better products that result will bolster your reputation.
More and Better Coverage
You are far more likely to secure really good coverage in bigger, more mainstream news outlets if the person being quoted is a certified sex educator. Big publications and outlets have their own reputations to protect. They’re understandably unwilling to promote just any random Joe in case that Joe turns out to be a charlatan or is giving unsound sexual advice. By securing a reputable sex educator, or becoming one yourself, you stand a far better chance of getting covered by the kind of media outlet whose attention might double the size of your brand overnight.
How to Do It
How do you attract such a sage of the sexual landscape? Social media is always useful here, and it drives most independent sex educators’ business. They’re generally working hard to network for their own income, so search Instagram and Twitter for viable partners and collaborators.
Alternatively, get accredited yourself. The American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists is the first choice for those committed to expanding their sexual knowledge, but there are other options too. Everyone Deserves Sex Ed is a highly qualified organization that offers a 40-hour course with certification, perfect for getting your foot in the sex education door.
Remember: knowledge is power, sexual education is empowerment — and spreading both is a great way to earn trust and get your brand taken seriously in the press.
Kathryn Byberg is the founder and CEO of Little Leaf Agency, a PR and communications agency dedicated to sexual wellness.
