Promoting naturism

I’m not a marketing expert, but here’s an idea that could be a way to bring naturism to the attention of a lot more people. As far as I know it hasn’t been tried before for promoting naturism. Some existing naturist organization or organizations will have to pick it up and run with it. That’s probably not likely, but I’ll put this out there anyway.

This method may help promote naturism in general as well as organizations that use it. Perhaps it’s already been considered. It’s a contest/sweepstakes kind of thing. Yes, that sounds kind of hokey – but such is the essence of marketing. It does mean there are legal technicalities to consider. But the payoff could be large. Not only does it help promote the sponsoring naturist organization (“SNO”), but there could be large benefits for naturism itself.

The idea is to get people to post on Twitter (or Facebook, Pinterest, etc.) mentioning something provided by the SNO. For instance, it could be an ebook about naturism (e. g. “How to enjoy nude recreation”) or a gathering at a naturist resort sponsored by the SNO. There are a number of possibilities. To enter the “contest”, someone only needs to post a link to a SNO page that describes the thing, and notify the SNO online somehow. No actual purchase is necessary (legal requirement).

The “prize” to be offered could be, for instance, airline tickets and admission to a naturist resort or gathering someplace nice (California, Florida, Jamaica, Vera Playa, etc.), or a nude cruise, for the winner and a friend. If it’s a resort or a cruise, the provider of the prize might assist in the project (donating all or part of the cost, for instance). Additional secondary prizes could include naturist books, T-shirts, some number of admission fees to a naturist resort or spa, and so forth. Lots of possibilities.

Promoting either an ebook or a gathering admission could offer lots of benefits to the SNO and naturism. The first is simply to increase awareness of the SNO and naturism. Then if someone actually purchases whatever it is, there will be some profits from the sale. In addition, once the buyer takes advantage of the purchase he/she is more likely to learn about and become involved with the SNO and naturism.

Of course, I realize that all SNO’s finances are limited. The promotion alone could bring in some profits from sales of an ebook or gathering admission. The provider of the prize could help with the expense. A small naturist organization could also look into using a crowdfunding site like GoFundMe for this specific purpose.

There are good psychological reasons why this kind of “contest” could be an effective marketing tool. To begin with, most people like to enter lotteries and sweepstakes in the hope of “winning” something. The main marketing problem naturism has is that most people don’t really understand it and are afraid of possible downsides. But by entering a contest and admitting to others they’ve thought about naturism, people may be motivated to learn more about it. Taking specific actions about something (e. g. signing a petition) is known to increase involvement with the thing.

Another nice characteristic is that “word of mouth” is considered the most cost-effective sort of marketing, for many reasons. Almost any “product”, including naturism, gains credibility when other people see that a friend of theirs is interested in it. There’s motivation to look into something a friend suggests because, presumably, a friend’s opinion is important and is probably more credible than conventional advertising. Another factor is the notion of “triggering”. This means connecting an idea (naturism) to a specific person or other familiar thing/event/concept. The reasoning is that people are likely to think about the idea whenever they think about something familiar connected with it. In this case, that would be not only a friend who suggested the idea, but also the familiar idea of lotteries and sweepstakes. (“Hey, my partner and I might win a nude cruise!)

So that’s the marketing suggestion. Let’s see whether anything comes of it.