If you thought I was going to get you all worked up, you were right. But it isn’t going to be with pictures of men and women in hot and sweaty compromising positions. It’s going to be by showing you that while you are missing the obvious, an entire industry group that is branded by some as immoral, corrupt and destined for the 7th circle of hell has you beat hands down when it comes to running a business.
So say your “Hail Mary’s” in advance, hold on to your favorite religious tome and see what you can learn from the rouges of the Internet.
Putting all the lasciviousness aside, can you answer the fundamental question of “What problem does porn/smut/adult entertainment/online dating/’insert your own term for it’ here solve?
Well without getting to deep into the sociological and psychological aspects of it, you can put forth the argument that it solves any of the following problems people may have:
- Boredom;
- Loneliness;
- Sexual curiosity;
- Want for adventure;
- Sexual education;
- Need for sexual gratification;
- Satisfaction of a sexual fetish that cannot be satisfied in other ways; and
- Many others that probably haven’t even crossed my mind and trust me, my mind is usually in the gutter, that is of course when I’m not thinking about my clients (Wow, I have some smoking hot clients, but I digress).
The take away point here is that the privacy and anonymity makes the Internet makes the sexual revolution of the 60′s and 70′s seem like an awkward first kiss. The market is huge. Estimates on the size of the online adult entertainment segments ranges from 20 to 50% A quick search of Google Insight for industry related terms (sex and free sex) and comparing them to the search terms (religion, god and Jesus) should give you an idea of the size of the market.
So if you can withhold your moral judgement, what this should drive home is that this industry knows how to market.
And you know how they do it?
By testing their marketing message over and over and over again. They develop targeted messages – UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITIONS (and my how they know how to proposition) and segment the hell out of the market. They are constantly testing ad copy, landing pages and follow up methods in order to maximize conversions and extract money from prospects in such a way that they practically have a formula for doing so. Let’s see this process in action. We are going to sign up for an adult orientated dating site and see how they attempt to convert us to a paying member.
Before we do so, let’s set the stage. First off, I am going to blur out the name of the site that I use for this experiment. I want to make it clear I am not promoting any particular site. Second of all, I am going to leave in all the language and copy that I am sent. This is important. It’s how they hit your hot buttons, your pain and pleasure spots. You have to learn to apply these concepts to your business. If the occasional off color or X rated word makes you blush or offends you, then don’t read any further. If you can look at it as an academic exercise, then you should.
Let’t build the persona first. Who is going to be looking for love, lust or some tawdry action online. L
et’s call him Robert.
Robert is 42 years old, lives in a metropolitan city, say Toronto, has been married for 20 years, has 2 kids, a mortgage and is a little bored at home and while he’s not looking to end his marriage, he is looking for some excitement. Curiosity has got the best of him and maybe if he can learn a few things, he can spice up his love life at home or maybe he just wants to see what its like on the other side of the line. He isn’t blatantly looking to engage in flesh to flesh carnal lust, maybe just some email/web cam stuff.
He’s a relatively good looking guy, may have a few pounds to shed, but isn’t an unshaven fat slob in a stained white tanktop looking to get lucky with some girl who has a preference for guys who are not as familiar with soap as they should be.
If this sounds stereotypical, its’s because it is and the reality is that for some sterotypes there is some truth. But the marketing world calls these sterotypes something else. They call them personas.
Up next, how Robert gets pulled into a site………..
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