Branding important? [Paysite Tip]
 

Hey guys, it's been months since I had time for a blog post but a topic came up recently and so I took some time out to write it:



In just about any other industry but ours, millions of dollars are spent on the simple idea of branding. Is it really warranted or is it just a collective ego thing for each company? I?m sure it?s some of both and to varying degrees depending on the product/industry but let?s look at the effect it has on our own.

I think most webmasters will agree that the vast majority of programs/sites don?t spend much time on the thought of creating a true brand. Sure the domain name gets some thought and maybe a little time spent on a logo but some nice graphics and a slick name hardly qualify as a true brand. A brand is what happens when the mere mention of the name or a glimpse at the logo brings with it the weight of perceptions and suppositions. The company that has successfully created a brand doesn?t have to sell you on the quality of the brand and the idea behind it so much because it has taken on a life of its own and has a perceived value established.

In adult this means consumers will chat it up to their friends (I wonder how many sales Bang Bus got from word of mouth!) and webmasters will trust they are promoting a product of a certain level and not worry about wasting their traffic. A few companies that come to mind that have created a real brand have also done very well for themselves. Are they doing well because they created a brand or is the brand a result of success? FTV, Naughty America, Lightspeed etc? In the case of Naughty America they went to a lot of trouble to make a very recognizable logo and video bumper as well.

In my view, the answer to my question is that part of why they did so well is that they built a brand. They built trust in webmasters because of care for quality and they were perceived by the consumer to be more than just run of the mill porn. it?s far too easy in this business to just churn mediocre stuff out, but the people who care enough to create a brand perception also care enough to provide good product and people respond to that. They respond to the brand right off the bat because it?s an indicator of the quality to come. Over time that brand will bring you more and more of the coveted ?type in? traffic as well.

So take the time to think out a brand. Make a visual brand that leaves a quick impression instead of trying to make something too graphically slick, make it graphically recognizable (Pepsi, Nike, Target? graphical masterpieces???) and then build a consistent product that keeps in line with the perception the brand puts forth.

It may seem like basic advice but what % of people are following it?



More at:

http://www.guaranteeddesigns.com/blog/

Great post!

nice to see you around!

PK

Very good tip Mark :)

always great stuff Mark, hit me up when you have time buddy :thumbsup

If a want to see a hot girl getting plugged, doesn't matter to me what brand is on it. The need to release sperm supersedes any brand in my book.

But for the rest of the world, I couldn't tell ya.

Well you certainly hold a unique flavor ;)

Indeed. It could just be me. My cock pretty much controls what's going on over here. :upsidedow

very nice Mark

That's a very good tip.
Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup

I think the most recognised brand in porn is BangBro's. Most men know what BangBro's is, and if I saw a BangBro's t-shirt or something in a shop I would probrably buy it, but yeh there is no graphical image I could ossaciate with it...

I didnt read the post yet.. but I can promise you that more than 60% of my income come from some sort of branding.. I can't get into details thou.

Branding is super important.

Very nice!

Beg to differ with you on that one...tell me one huge company and I mean huge company in this industry that has not created a recognizable brand???

Great Post! and looking at your blog!

I feel the same way check out the site Im currently working on its my first site and I believe I have branded it well. Here is the work in progress.

http://puresybian.com/maintour1.html

http://puresybian.com/maintour2.html

EVEN THOUGH I AM THE UNDERDOG I WILL SLOWLY BUT SURELY MAKE MY WAY TO THE TOP BECAUSE I HAVE A PASSION FOR SHOOTING THIS STUFF.

From Your Blog
 

This is a tip, I try telling everyone. Webmasters have no clue, how getting a girl published in a magazine can increase her popularity. Magazines only print 8 tops 12 photos on a model, so when a Magazine readers falls for a girl he has no choice but to look for her online.

Plus the ego thing is huge, to get a cover of a magazine is a big a deal. Models make a good profit on selling signed copies of their magazines.

Thanks for the tip above and as mentioned in your Blog.

Anyone interested in submitting sets for magazine publication, e-mail wallp at scoregroup dot com.

Branding works when a person has to remember something and then make a selection later.

The Internet breaks this because I can take the same related product, make it my own 50 different ways, and as long as I get my products in your face, my new brand will be beat out the old.

Thank god for this - or all of us would be toast.

Online, brand loyalty, that is something you build and something that is very hard to beat.

Sadly some of the biggest " BRANDS " in adult, have the WORST sites. The members areas are filled with upsells, and hard to find content. BUt they sell, because the sheep follow along, and the people are to stupid to admit that what they bought is not the best thing, and the smaller brand had better.

That's the Webmasters, not the people. The people aren't typing the brands in, they are being exposed to them by others.

If the Webmasters changed who they targeted, the people would have different brands to join.

The people LOOK for those brands, And are lead to believe that its the best because its big.

When you think of taking a cruise. You think Celebrity or Carnival, What about Princess cruise line. Ever heard of them, I have been on all three of them, and would take Princess any day over the other bigger names. Better service, better entertainment, less crowding,

Branding is god in this business now.

Branding offline is very different than branding online. When you have 5 cruise ships to choose from, peoples selection isn't always based off a brand. But either random choice or through brand loyalty (which is word of mouth). I have never heard of Princess or Celebrity, only Carnival - does that mean they branded me or better? Nope.

But now that you told me that Princess is better, I will probably check it out, if I ever go on a cruise. Did the Princess brand have anything to do with it? Nope, but your loyalty to the brand did.

depends on what you mean by "brand"... just because sites are recognized due to the volume of saturation, doesn't mean they've build something significant in the name or that the fact that surfers know what "bang bus" means everyone is going to jump on board with a new site from a "trusted brand" - how many of these "brands" are beating the shit out of customer credit cards with endless cross sells? how many of these "brands" sell access to a site full of absolute crap?

we are not selling paper towels and light bulbs.

porn is about impulse... not lifelong loyalty.

porn is nothing like staying loyal to Ford and anxiously awaiting the new Mustang. the real truth is that this industry does almost nothing but fuck surfers over and disappoint them and with very few acceptions of those few companies who actually understand the need to provide quality to a paying customer, a "brand" isn't a benefit at all.

How many "brands" are going broke? how many "Brands" go out of business each month?

why is it that those guys who are consistently doing things well, putting out great content and taking care of customers are usually the last ones hyping their product?

Great post MarkyMark :winkwink:

Branding has become paramount, but it always makes me think how many sales the average affiliate loses to the brand. I mean, every video and pic from juggcash has "brazzers.com" plastered on it which is very smart marketing, but it makes me cringe to think about how many sign ups I lose to curious surfers who want to type that in to see what's up.

another biz thread quickly bumped off page 1 :error

7 years ago when we started Twistys we spent huge amount of time debating how much time we'd focus on the Twistys Brand. Back then there were very few brands, most paysites were generic names. We decided to be different and focus on our Brand. I'm really glad we did. It is a huge part of our success.

hard to distinguish between brand and reputation. i am sure the savvy web surfers definitely give new sites from Bangbros, NastyDollars, NA etc a shot based on the reputations they've built for quality that is now associated with their brand.

in solo girl site niche - branding is absolutely useless.

I bet Lightspeed would strongly disagree. If you are selling something to a mass audience then brand is ALWAYS a factor. Granted, so are an infinite number of other variables, but useless??

It seems like the majority of this discussion focuses on B2C branding when in fact I believe that in this industry B2B branding is actually more important from a building a business standpoint.

Who thinks that B2B vs. B2C require two different branding strategies and if so what are the main differences?

Our primary focus in this industry is and will continue to be B2B branding.
_

Thanks PK. Haven't spoke in way too long! I hope you're kicking' butt as usual. =]

Yup there ya go. Recognizable visuals and a slogan to drive a point home. Now if your content consistently follows your formula and you don't settle sub-par to your brand ideal then it will begin to build a name over time and that "type-in" effect will grow incrementally.

Yes from the affiliate standpoint it can be a problem and hence why so many good affiliates look to promote the new guy (perhaps this is what keeps this business expanding so much). As a paysite owner then I think it's also paramount to work with your best affiliates and give them some exclusive access to new products rather than run out and announce them the minute they are online every time.

Yes it does only touch on the B2C area but I do think that one effects the other. Most smart affiliates look for the company with quality product so the consumer brand bleeds over to the affiliate. But you are absolutely right that branding your program B2B might even be more important than your B2C efforts, especially in the early stages.

I'm surprised this thread died so quickly