Page 58 - AVN December 2016

FEATURE
When the adult industry came online it represented a
major change in the way adult content would be produced,
distributed and consumed for the entire blue industry.
Peepshows and DVDs eventually became webcams, tubes
and dating entities that capitalized on the advantages
of presenting customers with a frictionless sales funnel,
dynamic content downloads and a much faster pace of
evolution than brick-and-mortar stores could contend with
in many segments of the industry. Now as savvy veterans of
adult transition into the green industry to pioneer the way
cannabis is marketed and monetized, many are making use
of all the lessons they have already learned.
“A shoe store owner or real estate agent who wants to get
into cannabis may have some skills that apply, but inevitably
they need to solve digital problems like how to process
payments online, where to host their sites, how to acquire
targeted web traffic, where to find reliable developers who
work well with products intended for mature consumers and
so on,” said Justin Rose of GrowThisFast.com and
Monetize.xxx, companies that focus on acquiring properly
targeted traffic for products and services in each industry.
“When I discuss strategy with someone who has a
background in adult, I don’t need to start at square one.
They already fully understand the language of landing pages,
traffic targets, ad networks, tracking software and all the
other tools needed to turn ad dollars into revenue. It’s just
a matter of helping them calibrate their existing tools and
showing them new channels that work well. On the other
hand, when I work with someone who was never in adult, it
can take a dozen emails just to get the message across that
buying clicks blindly from a friend of a friend of a friend is
almost always a huge mistake.”
The same sort of caveats are already becoming clear for
social media efforts as well. “We have had some pretty good
success and some harsh outcomes bringing cannabis to social
media outlets, and our experience in adult is priceless for our
own ventures thus far,” explained Lauren MacEwen of 7Veils.
com. “For starters, we were able to build a large presence
on Facebook for marijuana clients of ours very rapidly, but
then Facebook suddenly decided one day to close down
hundreds of accounts in the sector without reason. Since
then they seem to be allowing cannabis to regain a presence,
but it’s Facebook and as anyone in adult already knows,
their ‘rules’ aren’t something you can rely on long term.
Having multi-platform redundancies for brands we manage
has been crucial to smoothing out the bumps in the road
and building momentum in ways that no single platform can
shut off by fiat. Adult has taught us the value of establishing
brands beyond any one profile or platform, so our clients
are able to leverage Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn,
Reddit, unique domains, publicity, email, SEO outlets and
many other venues simultaneously—while so many others in
cannabis lose their entire audience the moment anyone who
works for Facebook decides to shut them off.”
Even among adult-friendly alternatives to mainstream
platforms, an adult pedigree makes a big difference. “Unlike
Google, BoodiGo is a search engine that is completely
agnostic to the kinds of legal content that it spiders for
consumers,” said BoodiGo President Colin Rowntree.
“Our BoodiAds backend allows business owners to buy the
targeted traffic of many keywords that Adwords disallows,
without the fear that we might change our minds or shut
down mature content that is clearly desired by consenting
adults. What I find interesting is that many new buyers from
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mainstream start out by asking us what is allowed, and then backtracking to see if they can make their
business model fit. Conversely, adult businesses start by deciding what they want to accomplish and then
backtrack to find a way to fit their goals into existing regulations. It’s a difference in mindset that often
distinguishes those who figure out a way to make something happen, from those who have great ideas but
fail to follow through. I’m happy to work with anyone in adult or mainstream on legal cannabis … though
it’s fair to say I find working with people from adult to be much faster and simpler at the start.”
Perhaps more than anything, adult has taught business owners that money is what matters most. It’s
fine to talk about traffic, followers, branding and esoteric political glory, but at the end of the day if you
aren’t making money you are doing it all wrong. When adult first began there was no infrastructure for
processing credit cards online. That changed, and over time a robust high-risk processing industry evolved
around adult. Today, nearly every item can be found and paid for online with credit cards and several other
alternative payment options available. Marijuana ought to be able to benefit from the billing infrastructure
that already exists thanks to the porn pioneers of the past, and the technology is certainly applicable, but
a federal prohibition on sales has caused most banks and processing companies to stand on the sidelines
waiting for new laws to be enacted that legalize the banking and billing of the cannabis industry. Now
that seems to be changing, and once again, it’s people who have experience in adult leading the charge.
“When I discuss strategy with someone who has a background
in adult, I don’t need to start at square one. They already fully
understand the language of landing pages, traffic targets, ad
networks, tracking software and all the other tools needed to
turn ad dollars into revenue.”
—Justin Rose, GrowThisFast.com and Monetize.xxx
“We started handling the ‘green space’ this year and the response has been overwhelming,” said Mike
Ackerman, president of ActuallyHelping.com. “It hasn’t been easy offering terminals, processing for
VISA and MasterCard, as well as depositing for the legal cannabis industry, but after some hard work
and a lot of legal consultation we have managed to navigate the road to a successful offering.” Many are
still operating on the assumption that marijuana can not be paid for with a credit card, but those from
adult who know how to ask around are already building an important competitive advantage by working
together with people who have earned their trust in the blue side of online business over the last two
decades.
“The biggest surprise to me was not how many adult businesspeople have gotten into the green
industry, but how much more advanced they are in terms of company setups, marketing and the general
business acumen they have. It isn’t easy transitioning from one industry to another, but time and time
again it seems the ones operating in this space with the most success are coming from a strong online
marketing background and almost invariably they have some connection to adult already.”
As nations become far more socially liberal—rejecting condom laws and legalizing marijuana—
the opportunity to capitalize on shifting sentiments by hustling online are obvious. Navigating new
regulations, exploring new kinds of user experiences, and making sense of the uncertainty that naturally
occurs in any nascent B2B network where nobody has a complete Rolodex already in place is something
adult online pioneers are doing very well on the fly, while many others are still stuck in the digital starting
gate waiting for the light to turn completely green.