Am I risking my Brand Reputation?
So, lets say after doing some market research, that I was able to determine that I could reach my target audience just as effectively, by instead of purchasing expensive FB ads, I could purchase ads on porn sites. Now my product doesn't have anything to do with porn sites, or anything else relatively "shady". But I fear that I could be sort of "tarnishing" my brand unnecessarily if i go that route. Or should I just take advantage of the extra savings? What do you guys think?
Let's start with being a little blunt: You do not have a brand.
............But you will! You will when you acquire all those customers from the porn sites you ole dog you!
Ever heard of wikipedia? Decent "brand recognitiion" for lack of a better term. It's a household name. Founded by a porn hound.
https://www.scoopwhoop.com/Wikipedia-Was-Funded-By-A-Porn-Site/#.rd0dkykew
Start hustling. You can clean up everything later.
Hahahaha that is true, I used 'brand' for a lack of a better word. Thanks!
Can you test it? Honestly I have never had to answer a question like this, but it's related to another issue that I did face at one point where a brand was pretty much destroyed because of some bad decision making. We just tossed the brand and relaunched under a new one, and that brand did well because the team had learned from previous mistakes.
You might be able to test your theory using a usable-but-not-current brand, which you can then combine if it works, or toss if it does not.
Keep in mind that your brand reputation isn't what you want to preserve, it's your brand equity. If you don't already have any brand equity, then you have nothing to lose and can just start over like the team above did. However if your brand is decently well known in your space, and people trust it, then I wouldn't risk losing the time and energy it took to build a positive brand on a risky advertising approach.
This is why I love this site! Testing it is a great idea. Keeps the reward minimizes the risks. Thanks!