The idea of Kisses and Candlesticks divides the things we give away into two groups:
- Kisses - low cost (to the giver), high-value (to the receiver) items, which demonstrate friendship and affection. They’re given without expectation to almost anyone.
- Candlesticks - high value (to giver and receiver) items, which are given in the hope that the recipient will be inspired to act in a way that will please the giver
My old bosses ‘everyone gets a day’s free membership’ idea was a candlestick. It would have removed any barriers stopping curious potential customers from trying her website, and trusted them not to exploit their limited access to download her entire archive (a safe assumption - most people are honest, and those who aren’t were never going to become good customers anyway).
By answering the ‘will I like what I see?’ question, the unlimited free trial would have made curious surfers into paying customers much easier than it was while trying to simultaneously guard and share the content.
At the time we’d already got some of our marketing right. We were ‘kissing’ everyone who came to the website by sharing a limited, constantly updated, selection of video clips, photosets and samples.
Unfortunately kisses don’t provide enough substance for many people to make a firm choice with, and candlesticks are too valuable to give to everyone, everyday. What we should have done is offered the free access once every quarter and kissed anyone who stopped by in between.
So isn’t this already common practice all over the web and everywhere else for that matter?
No. A kiss isn’t a kiss if you have to enter your email address to receive it. A candlestick that comes with paperwork doesn’t demonstrate much trust. Gifts are only free if the recipient trades nothing in return for the item they receive.
Trading information is the most obvious pollution of kisses and candlesticks marketing, but anything which demonstrates you want to insure yourself against loss works against the idea of giving something away. It turns a gift into a transaction and, in those cases, the more lopsided the deal, the more likely the recipient will think that the information they’ve exchanged will be exploited in some way they can’t imagine in order to equalize things.
E.g. If a link appeared on the Rolls-Royce website which said ‘Drive a Rolls Royce for a week! Unlimited miles! Free Gas!’, backed up by a form asking you for a name, address, social security number and credit card info, most people will stop thinking they’re going to drive a car worth more than a small apartment, and start thinking about ‘the catch’ - even if none exists. The power of a truly newsworthy promotion has been instantly polluted with the unmistakable whiff of scam. So you might still go for the ride in the Roller but a lot of people would see the forms and run away.
Giveaways don’t work when nothing’s really being given away. Bartering isn’t free. Kisses and candlesticks are given without conditions.
I like the idea in principal, but I stop when I think of the nature of the content I create. Giving totally free access to my smut scares me. A few free pics seems less likely to cause a stir with the fundies. I know all publicity is good publicity, but that only works if I can still make money off of the product - which is me, if I can still run my business as I like. If they shut me down or make it impossble for me to do business I won’t be better off.
And I can only imagine how pleasant a webcam show would be with that many people in it. It is rough enough as it is.
I think Seska raises a good point. There is that whole age verification quagmire, and many sites use credit card authorization as their assertion that they are dealing with adults. To her larger question, I suspect a candlestick could be a form of partial access that didn’t give everything.
So here is my question. Is it kisses *and* candlesticks, or kisses and/or candlesticks. Is it always appropriate to do both, or should sometimes just one be preferable?
Seska, you’re right about the differing concerns for content in the adult space. The key is to find a valuable angle, even if it’s not exactly what you’re giving away.
E.g. You could do a no-sex show once a month. A chance for people to see the technology and chat to you but without the sexual angle. They’d bond and I guarantee a few would come back for the nude show (held immediately afterwards perhaps). Just one idea.
Porn is hard to give away because of the content. Where there’s a dollar there’s a way though…
Kisses and Candlesticks Jock. Sure - some people don’t need much pushing and a kiss, or not, is enough. The Candlesticks will get all the people who stand on the edge (the ones you don’t see or hear from) who are ready to go but have reservations. For them, the goodwill an appropriate gift creates makes all the difference. If you’re just using part of the equation you’ll be missing out on potential customers. Once size doesn’t fit all but this approach should cover a lot of bases.