Porn. It’s always been ahead of the curve, forging a lucrative online business model and embracing change other industries are struggling with. So what can marketers learn from the flesh peddlers of the interwebs? Here are seven sexy tips.
1. Give it up for free – but not all of it
Since porn first came to the internet, people have been trained to expect more and more free stuff. It’s gotten to the point that you couldn’t give much more away. Yet paid sites do exist, as do DVD sales and those quaint ‘adult’ channels on subscription TV and at hotels. So clearly, people are still stumping up cash to get some although, as it has been widely reported, not as much as they were when there was no such thing as free porn.
The lesson for marketers is that offering freebies is a great incentive to draw people in and hook them, but give away too much and no-one is going to part with their hard earned dollars. It’s a delicate balance, much like the one make-up artists in the porn industry face. One more layer of mascara and these stars of the porn industry could be mistaken for drag queens. Not that that’s a bad thing.
2. You’re only as good as your last… innovation
Porn has been seen as an online pioneer leading the charge in everything from video streaming to affiliate marketing and cookie-based online tracking.
Even the ‘Rules of the Internet’ acknowledge the proliferation and pornifcation of all things digital. Believed to have been created by the online group Anonymous, two of the rules are dedicated to porn.
Rule #34: There is porn of it, no exceptions.
Rule #35: If no porn is found at the moment, it will be made.
It’s a small leap to get to the pornification of most online offerings. Online video – hello porn streaming tube sites, webcams – cue live sex cams, and location based apps – yes Grindr, we’re looking at you.
But as Lewis Crutch, editor of UK marketing website Marketing Bees says, social media is starting to leave porn for dead: “Online porn had a reputation as the foundry of cutting edge website technology. The operative word here is ‘had’. As in past tense. It has since been eclipsed in the innovation department by social media sites, mobile, and other technology platforms.”
In 2008, social media sites dethroned porn as the most visited on the internet according to “data geek” and author Bill Tancer who came to the conclusion after analysing information from more than 10 million web users.
The lesson here is clear – you can’t afford to rest on your laurels. Bruce Buchanan, CEO of referral marketing firm Rokt told B&T recently that online tools such as cookies and display ads are about to see a dramatic shake up. He said: “Traditional formats are dwindling because the architecture doesn’t work. You’re going to see a bit of a shake up.”
So porn moguls and marketers are both in the same boat right now when it comes to advances in online technology. Although some people would say marketers have more in common with the porn stars themselves. After all, they both screw people for money. See what we did there?
3. Size matters almost as much as keywords do
When people are looking for porn, they generally don’t search for “porn”. According to research conducted by Online MBA, 75% of porn related searches start with the word “sex” followed by “adult dating”. Very few mention the word “porn”.
When it comes to helping people find your product or service online, you need to bear in mind the numerous pathways they are traveling to get to you. Get acquainted with the language that does it for them. According to Gizmodo, “Asian”, “teen” and “MILF” are the top searches our fellow countrymen call upon when hunting for some titillating viewing. Maybe they’re being just as creative when on the hunt for a new car or health insurance. The MILF Mobile has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
4. Get into bed with your competition
According to a study conducted by US food delivery service Eat 24, 99% of ads on porn websites are actually for other porn websites. And that additional 1%? That’s for ads for porn related stuff like male ‘enhancement’ aids.
It seems like a pretty crazy business model to sell your ad inventory to the competition but you don’t read headlines about porn websites laying off staff as regularly as other media owners so it’s obviously helping them to stay afloat. According to Eat 24 who used this data to sell home delivery meals, porn sites XVideos and Youporn get more traffic than The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.
So what can marketers learn from that? Maybe getting into bed with the competition isn’t such a bad idea. Could Fairfax start running ads for The Sunday Telegraph or The Australian?
Take the case of Myer’s Emporium magazine which currently flogs ad space within each issue to the brands Myer stocks. Why couldn’t the retailer sell some of those spots to David Jones? If you have a competitor with a massive media budget, it’d be nice to get a piece of the pie. It could open up a whole new revenue stream.
5. You don’t need a big budget to get off
You only need to watch this promo for online reality series The Sex Factor – think The Apprentice but for porn – to realise porn stars aren’t hired for their acting chops.
http://youtu.be/_dX53KKknnY
And you won’t see the lighting and camera operators behind most of the content on porn sites picking up awards for their technical craft any time soon. Still, one in three women and seven in 10 Aussie men watch online porn. So what can we learn from that? If the content is compelling enough, it doesn’t matter if it’s not beautifully shot by the most talented in the business.
Daniel Buchuk, the head of brand and strategy at website traffic comparison provider SimilarWeb, told the audience at the 2013 WPP Stream (un)Conference hosted by Sir Martin Sorrell: “If content is king, porn is King Kong.”
http://youtu.be/Vgv5MdyEU2I
Get out your gorilla suit and start making some content because isn’t it better to have lesser quality output seen by many people than something perfect no-one has watched?
6. Giving is just as good as receiving
Earlier this year, porn site Pornhub ran a campaign to plant trees which it launched on Arbor Day, a US holiday that encourages people to plant and care for trees. For every 100 videos watched in a certain category, the site promised to plant one tree. In 2012 Pornhub ran a similar campaign to raise awareness of breast cancer donating $75,000 of its revenue to the cause.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is something of a buzz term at the moment but if a porn site can give back to the community, why can’t other brands? Granted, their messaging was a little off with their ‘Save the Boobs’ campaign prompting at least one charity to reject their donation but still, their hearts were in the right place.
Not sure where to start? Sydney agency Republic of Everyone works with brands and companies to develop CSR strategies. You can read more about this in the June/July issue of B&T Magazine. Subscribe here.
7. Where should you stick it?
While many brands and media owners are still catching up with the increasing use of mobile, data shows that porn is leading the pack. In a piece about how marketers can improve their efforts by watching lots of porn, American marketing strategist Adam Whittaker says for many websites in 2013, 15 to 30% of total web visitors came from a mobile device. For porn, however, about 52% of consumption was on mobile phones, compared to 46% the year before. As Whittaker says: “Consumer behavior and media consumption habits are always one step ahead in this industry.”
Currently, the business model isn’t in place for free porn sites to monetise their offerings on mobile and so they restrict the number of video views driving users to the desktop where they can rake in the big bucks.
So if you weren’t already, you need to watch porn. As in, you need to watch and see how the porn industry deals with the shift to mobile. You’re welcome to also watch porn for other reasons but we understand if you don’t feel comfortable talking about that here.
