ADVERTISING GETS SERIOUS
by Brandon Palmer
Advertising online adult content has always been a serious endeavor, but somehow -- just when you think you've got a handle on it -- it gets even more serious again.
The problem, as we all know, is that porn surfers are pretty savvy when it comes to marketing. The new technology that brought in the big bucks yesterday faces declining response rates today. Webmasters must always stay one step ahead of the curve if they want to maximize conversions and profits, and that means being on top of the new technologies.
Take banner ads, for example. Remember, there was a time when even banners were innovative! Now they are so prevalent that surfers have become immune to them. Banners seem so obvious that experienced surfers are likely to question the creativity of the site's content if a boring banner ad was the best marketing they could come up with. Plus, they seldom target specifically what surfers are looking for. And blinking ads -- they have the saturation of normal banners with an added feature -- they are annoying! While it may seem like banners are still giving you some sort of response rate, they are cumbersome and inefficient. Even Hotmail has just removed all banner ads from their site. Take this as the signpost of a trend. Banner ads are out. The same time, effort and money could go into an ad that actually works well.
Enter, ExoticADS and search broadcasting.
Drawing on the marketing model of search engines -- which still work quite well, and will probably always make up some component of adult content advertising strategies -- Alexious Fiero has created an innovative, visually-driven advertising technology known as ExoticADS.
ExoticADS, which can be test driven at SexxxMedia.com, are, in Fiero's words, "high-impact rich-media ads that appear as a result of a keyword or search term inquiry." The ad -- essentially multimedia content, perhaps an adult video with components of television-style commercials -- will appear in a custom interface box on Exoticast's distribution partners' websites. The ads are instantly playable and are able to be viewed in full screen, "without distractions by intruding or unrelated advertisements, commanding full attention on the platform, giving your company's message a more prestigious status and a stronger persuasive marketing edge," as Fiero explains.
Fiero has created a system that uses a search engine paradigm and is initially partnered with Sex.com. Search results are displayed as multimedia only, and surfers have the option of viewing an introductory broadcast and skipping to the next broadcast if it is not what they are looking for. Fiero believes that it is this interactivity which essentially improves on the already successful search engine model, by tailoring it specifically to porn. "After viewing the broadcast," says Fiero, "the user can then elect to open the website link that pertains to the broadcast or continue the search. This adds value to broadcast and marketing strategies because it provides a far more effective user experience than that of conventional search methods by allowing users to view rich media information while simultaneously interacting with a company's website. High impact multimedia content will make the user's interactive experience especially unique and entertaining, thus guaranteeing continuous traffic and return visits to a company's website."
To put it simply, the search engine format ensures that surfers get the types of ads they are looking for -- no more pesky "mature model" ads for users that are looking for barely legal amateurs, no more tranny ads for guys who are looking for bears. Then the rich media, full screen ad brings them in with quality, interactive content. It's like television commercials, but surfers get to choose what commercials they are looking for and they get to buy the product -- online porn -- instantly.
Greg, webmaster of an adult cartooning how-to site, GregBoone.com, agrees that interactivity is the key, but he believes that surfers will respond more to interactivity with a real person -- models or the webmaster -- than to technological interactivity. To Greg, it's not more technology that is necessary to continue to invigorate the industry, but a focus on the human side of online porn. "Most webmasters overkill," says Greg. "They make umpteen gazillion websites and don't make money or provide fan service. Yet, if they focused their attention on 1 to 3 sites and built them up, they'd get that loyalty. It's about providing service and answering e-mails. I get everybody visiting my site and e-mailing me. Cops, judges, celebrities, military, everybody."
Hammer, an adult content marketing expert who runs PornSitePros.com would tend to agree with Greg. He is skeptical of ExoticADS because, as he emphasizes, surfers can view multimedia content at the site. Hammer worries that it might be a waste of time to show potential members full video ads in order to get them to your site, when you can use other methods to get them there and then use the multimedia content to get them to join.
But Fiero insists that ExoticADS will change the way surfers look for porn sites. He believes it's just a matter of the industry becoming accustomed to this new paradigm. And he thinks that porn ads could use a major overhaul.
"Why are most ads on the 'Net ignored, sometimes rejected with unambiguous hostility?" asks Fiero. "The reasons are many, but presentation tops the list, and intrusiveness follows close on its heels. The current campaign in Internet advertising is to bombard users with a barrage of ads, thrown at them out of context, out of sequence, out of relevancy, and without much style or creativity."
Fiero's idea of using the tried and true search engine approach with creative ads has a lot of staying power. Search engines are the most consistent form of adult content advertising and ExoticADS improves on them by providing immediate, quality content. "The concept of throwing everything on the wall and seeing what sticks is inarguably quite wasteful and impractical," insists Fiero. "Our search broadcast technology will turn that around. It will create multimedia interaction that immediately supplies information and answers to inquiring individuals on specific subjects, ensuring that anyone in the market has access specifically to the most pertinent information in various multimedia formats, providing relevant options and thus creating a higher probability for action. We are positioning ourselves to be the advertising system of this fast approaching new wave in the Internet -- 'Search Broadcasting.'"
Still, some wonder if search broadcasting -- if exploited -- will lose the trust of surfers. It's an innovative enough technology that it, if used the wrong way, could totally implode. Look what happened to pop-ups -- they were exploited to such an extent that they became virtually useless. Neal of SomaVision.com and SomaDoll.com, who has pioneered another advanced technology - erotic games with realistic, 3D graphics -- is cautious about search broadcasting if it is used in the wrong way. "I tend to steer clear of applications which require the user to install proprietary browser-based plug-ins," he explains. "Both adult and traditional advertisers have abused this type of third party installation to hijack users' browsers and run cloak programs, and I feel the trust level for these types of installations is on the decline." Note that ExoticADS do not require plug-ins, but other search broadcasting technologies could.
Fiero believes in his product and is pushing on. His larger company, Worldwide Broadcast Network, is pioneering search broadcasting in the mainstream industry as well as the online porn business. And, as with much Internet technology, Fiero is sure that the adult content side of the 'Net will lead the way.
"I foresee the adult market adaptation of this technology to become prevalent much faster than the mainstream market," he says. "Most adult sites have some types of video previews and clips that can be easily integrated in to the platform. I also think that no other industry needs to be more visual than the adult market."
ExoticADS are brand new, but they just may change the way webmasters attract potential members to their sites -- at least for a little while. There are always new technologies around the bend.
Heck, Fiero might even bring banner ads back! The company's site SexxxMedia.com already has samples of playable, video banners. Now that's something sure to get porn surfers' attention.
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