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I agree with Dave. This is a great thread and like him, I do not believe in "Luck" either. I do believe that in today's market many of us are not willing to put in the time , effort, strategy and energy required to make something a success or better.. a brand worth following.
Will76 raised a question that honestly has me at loss when he stated / asked:
" The biggest hurdle I face with start ups that are similar to a classified site or dating site is how do you start it off with no users? Ok so you can fake it and make some bogus classified ads or dating profiles but still, who wants to use a site that is new and has very little to no one else is using yet ??? Is it because there were no other free dating / classified sites except for theirs back then so people gave it a shot?
That is an excellent question and one I wrestle with every day.... And I don't have the answer.
But to the other question about launching on a budget with little or no traffic, here is my contribution the the thread.. right , wrong or just tell me I'm crazy... I'd welcome the feedback and further discussion. I think this is a valuable thread.
1. Press
a. Press Releases: Press releases in adult tend to fall on deaf ears but they are still a "free" way to get information about your product or service. Mainstream press releases for adult offerings can be tricky but there are companies who will allow you to submit a press release if the release is "news worthy" and it does not contain overtly adult language or links directly to the adult site. Over the years these have proven to be a great way to achieve some mainstream exposure and has lead to mainstream opportunities.
b. Publications: There are plenty of publications out there in Tech as well as "Tabloid" who are willing to write about adult .. as long as there is something that is worthy of coverage. The key is cultivating the relationships at these publications and providing them something valuable. If you can make the "reporter" look good .. you may just find that they seek you out for quotes and information.
c. Mainstream Media: Same logic as the publications. Find an In. Dave mentioned that they sponsored Howard stern ... that's brilliant, strategic and I'll bet it took some time and effort to figure out who , what, where , when and why. Dave, I'd love to hear more about what you actually did there. But Howard, Opie & Anthony aside there are plenty of mainstream morning radio shows, TV Talk Shows and Documentaries who cover interesting aspects of adult. G4 TV, HBO, Tyra, Oprah, hell even Bill O'Riley has had Jenna on .. twice. Getting on is not easy but if you have a legitimate "hook" .. something news worthy or something timely to offer, especially during sweeps then a ton of tenacity might just pay off.
d. A Shocking Headline: Internally, we may all scoff at things like Ashley Madison offering $25M to buy naming rights... but all scoffing aside .. it made USA today as well as 295 other mainstream news outlets.
All of the above are relatively low cost / potentially high exposure opportunities. They do however require a lot of work , tenacity and the willingness to actually converse with people voice to voice. Rarely, will an email get you "mainstream" exposure.
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