CarlosTheGaucho

How to effectively use press to promote your business

Introduction

I’ve been active in adult since 2003, started in live cams at the age of 22, running two studios while still a college kid. In 2005 I got me a gig as a “go to guy” with Big Sister Media and worked with the company both in house and remotely for four years, before turning independent at the start of 2010.

May I add I also held mainstream jobs before and during my adult business time (related to commercial law and IT sales). My original college education is technical, about to finish a degree in International business next summer.

Besides publishing in AVN, XBIZ, YNOT, I also had a chance to work with plenty of mainstream media outlets, such as NY Times, Bloomberg, Getty Images, Time magazine, National Geographic and even the “Hostel II the movie” Hollywood crew, where I prepared the questions and interviewed Eli Roth, closest I ever got to Hollywood so far.

Not going to elaborate about mainstream press experience though, since very few of you will ever have a chance or interest to work with mainstream press.

Enough introducing, let’s get down to business.

As a foreword, before you ever lay a word down…

Get out!

Forget your degree in marketing, get out and talk to those that you need to sell to, talk, talk and talk and read till you understand how do they think and what do they need.

If you were born poor such as me (had a single mother income to care about two kids, talking about communism that turned into broke pseudo capitalism in 1989), chances are you might have a good understanding for people that need to economize with money.

If you need to sell to people that actually have money to invest, again you need to spend with them lots of time to get into their mindset and examine their business (one of the first things for me personally was to learn how to dine in high end restaurants without choking myself with shrimp shells – thanks XXXJAY).

While a quote from Scarface “Don’t ever underestimate the other guy’s greed” is in general a very good life advice, what I’m trying to get at is that you need to examine the other guy’s business and figure out the practical problems he has to solve on daily basis, those problems you’re going to help him with.

This is no rocket science, but you need to keep your eyes open, your mouth shut and don’t you ever dare to think that you’re smart enough to sell to someone with no practical experience with their business and their needs.

That won’t work, this is B2B marketing, your future clients always think twice.

In other words, if you are about to announce a new set of promo tools you’re talking to webmasters, at that moment you need to be a webmaster. If you’re about to announce say a new B2B service you’re talking to business owners, you need to turn into a business owner, that is looking for your service.

As simple as it sounds, in many cases this is exactly the very essential problem.

Especially many corporate “experts” with their MBA tattooed on their forehead that live caged with their “likely minded” crowd are usually true experts in complicating anything that actually makes sense.

Let’s move on.


Don't get overly creative

Unique Selling Proposition is a term invented by a famous advertising executive Rosser Reeves, in short:

1. Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer
2. The proposition must be one that the competition either can not, or does not offer
3. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions (to pull over new customer to your product)

It makes all the sense in the world. In contradiction, it happens often that I get to read extremely sophisticated texts that don’t say anything at all. Just check a couple billboards on your way to work or when you walk outside, some of them just seem like as if creativity completely took over the subject.

Basically, without knowing the brand itself, you may end up wondering:

- What are they trying to sell you?

- What are they trying to tell you?

- Is this a philosopher going insane or someone that is actually supposed to make a living?

And if you asked 10 different people you would most likely get 10 different answers.

If you guessed, that these are also usually businesses that are (or were) so huge, stable and branded already, that they can afford disrespect to common sense, you’re right.

That’s not your case though.






Briefly and to the point

Value your reader’s time, the attention span in the third millennium is shorter than ever and it will only get worse.

Don’t you EVER let the reader wonder what the hell are you are offering.


Be as specific as possible

There’s nothing more odd, boring and overplayed than vague phrases such as “better” “best” “great”. While you can always moderately exaggerate, you have to be as specific as possible.

If you just shout “I’m better than the other guys”, it has zero informational value. Moreover - chances are you’re actually not better, and even if you are, by constantly shouting this around, you’re doing nothing at all to persuade the guy who reads your text about it.

Be specific, what do you have to offer, what is measurable AND interesting about your offer – be exact.


Use a simple language

This is not only an alibi for my English. Get that message out without forcing the reader to translate / simplify for himself, sophisticated style belongs to novels - not to a sales text.


Try to catch the attention as soon as possible

Remember, if you loose the first two sentences you have most likely lost your whole press release.


Every single word must be focused on selling the product

This is a piece of advice that changed my life - always keep that in mind, re-read your draft many times before you publish it.

Once again - every single word must be focused on selling the product.


Retail is about detail

This is Sam Walton’s advice – a guy from Arkansas that made billions of dollars.

Your offer must be very well thought out, this is exactly what will make your offer stand out at the end, so take your time. Also, give it for a review to someone you trust and who’ll give you a honest feedback.


Find your uniqueness

What is unique about you or your business? Nothing ?

Take another look cause you don’t try hard enough, there’s ALWAYS something unique!

This doesn’t even necessarily have to be an aspect your competition is lacking, but more likely than not, you’re about to find something they don’t market or talk about in public, and that’s definitely high on the “uniqueness” scale. You basically need to come up with something that will be interesting enough for the reader to remember your offer, this can be your niche, your history, your sales record, unique brand name etc.


Don’t spill all the beans at once

Do you have news or accomplishments you are dying to share? Don’t do it!

At least not at once.

Make a plan, unless the offer or news are time limited, divide it into a suitable number of separate press releases to come out say once a week.Your name or your company brand needs to be constantly seen to gain the trust and attention it deserves. Don’t loose that opportunity.


Always include deeper url’s when publishing online

Not only your main url, but take the extra time to show samples of what you’re talking about, saving time of people that are making you money is mutually benefitial.

Always double check your text with the publisher

While there are some extremely talented people (and extremely charming – paging Kristen Kaye) that work in adult media, they’re not experts on exactly your business, so whenever you do an interview or submit a press release for an approval, always double check the approved version with the editorial. Make sure it doesn’t contain any factual disputes or lacks your initial intention.


Example:

This is a press release I put together recently for MaDalton, the owner of Amazing Content , one of the smartest people in adult and a great friend of mine.

Note the editorial changes in both cases:

AVN RELEASE

XBIZ RELEASE

Recommended reading:

“The 22 immutable laws of marketing” – Jack Trout, Al Ries, 1993

“Differentiate or Die” – Jack Trout, Steve Rivkin, 2001

“My Life in Advertising and Scientific advertising” - Claude Hopkins – this is the single best book related to advertising I can recommend, this book changed my life and is a must for anyone serious about effective copywriting. Hell I shouldn’t even be giving you a tip on this book since I'm about to loose a part of my competitive edge.

In addition to that, pretty much any autobiography of a successful entrepreneur I read does too. Don’t be afraid to branch into exotic industries, this will increase chances you’ll think outside of the box next time you need it.

A final sentence?

Don’t you ever be lazy to think.

Thanks for your patience, Thanks Jill and GFY.

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Amputate Your Head

Great job on this dude... I enjoyed reading your short history intro too. Good stuff man.

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TeenCat

another nice addition to the series, nice job my friend! cant wait to start some business by myself ...

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B2BwithJoeD

Great to see you out Carlos - there's some sage wisdom here for sure - and great advice for those in both digital and print media - keep an eye on your brand online, and don't be shy about asking for corrections

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O MARINA

I read it all, even to the end where you call Dolt an Amazon
You make some good points, Carlos=)

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ShellyCrash

Great read, Carlos!

Had to LOL a little bit at:



Good read, good job on the article. Sorry, had to raz on that though, no hard feelings.

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Juicy D. Links

nice one Carlos!!!!!

CarlosTheGaucho

Yeah I already emailed Jill if she can fix it, as every preacher I failed a big time

----------> www.amazingcontent.com

Your reliable source for non exclusive and exclusive HD content in many popular niches, including ex girlfriend / self shot

///////////////////////////////////////////

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CarlosTheGaucho

Thanks! I sure have a lot of respect for your posts and history, appreciate that!

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notime

I really enjoyed reading what you wrote here Carlos.

These lines were very interesting because of the simplicity of it's truth:

Let me quote them here:

"Forget your degree in marketing, get out and talk to those that you need to sell to, talk, talk and talk and read till you understand how do they think and what do they need."
-Yes, everything is about people first! The rest comes on 2nd place.

"If you need to sell to people that actually have money to invest, again you need to spend with them lots of time to get into their mindset and examine their business."
-Correct, selling is actually solving a problem for the other party against a payment in an environment where the buyer personally likes the sales person offering the solution they are looking to find, next to offering a proper solution that is.

"Your offer must be very well thought out, this is exactly what will make your offer stand out at the end, so take your time. Also, give it for a review to someone you trust and who’ll give you a honest feedback."
-Good point, people who ask for (and like) feedback stand a better chance, because they care and are open minded.

Bump 4 you Carlos.
Thanks for the good read.

mineistaken

Can you elaborate, like could you give a short example of same text - one where every word is selling and another where not every word is selling. Of course second one should not be total crap

By the way thanks for the article

CarlosTheGaucho

I'm actually about to head home already, let me try to find a suitable example and post it tomorrow.

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CarlosTheGaucho

Let me try :

I checked a couple press releases and it didn’t take long to find some I could immediately use as the “not that perfect” example, yet since I'm here on a job and not to stir up contraversy, let's stay hypothetical:


Say that the situation is following:


- company XYZ, based out of Miami, Florida wants to launch a new sponsor program TOTALPORN, and start with say two pay sites
- they will use custom produced content with the models they hand picked
- the niches are say mature and porn star auditions (let’s keep it simple to imagine), but since the content is produced in Europe, the models are not the oversaturated Brazzers type LA girls, the mature models are all 40 +
- the company involves a well known industry veteran JJ, with 13 years of experience in both – promoting and running sponsor programs, owning a stake in the company and was in charge of building the sponsor program
- every site is updated two times a week with HD and SD downloadable and streaming video
- the standard program is 50 / 50 rev share with a 5 pct. two tier, company covers billing costs so it’s 50 pct. net for the affiliate, third party billing
- the program will include a variety of promo tools, including say picture FHG’s, video FHG’s, tube clips ready to export and use with Nubiles, TEVS, TubeAce tube scripts

....

Example # 1:

Miami based XYZ has launched its new affiliate program TOTALPORN.COM, featuring the best content in the mature and porn star niche. TOTALPORN.COM features two flagship pay sites, featuring the hottest European models, offering great member value and excellent retention.

A vast selection of promo tools is available, including banners, picture and video FHG's and embeddable tube clips. Custom needs will be resolved promptly by TOTALPORN’s webmaster support.

TOTAL PORN is offering a 50 pct. net rev share plus 5 pct. for every referred webmaster.

The company says its goal is to provide a top affiliate program and is looking forward to work with webmasters of any size, while continuosly providing great value for its pay site members.

Interested parties can also RSVP for the company’s official Launch pool party at the XXXPORN tradeshow, taking place place March 30th.

....

Example # 2

Miami based company XYZ, co-owned by an industry veteran JJ, is announcing a launch of its brand new sponsor program TOTALPORN.

The program starts with two pay sites – maturedreams.com – featuring
true mature models that are all 40 +, majority with no previous porn star experience, and pornstarauditions.com – featuring fresh European girls, that are not featured on the most popular and populated porn sites yet.

Every model was hand picked and all the content was custom produced to exactly fit the surfers in its respective niche, both sites are updated two times a week with an exclusive HD and SD video, available for download and streaming.

Available promo tools include banners (sample link), full page ads (sample link), easily exportable picture galleries (sample link), video FHG’s (sample link) and tube clips, custom exportable and ready to use with the TEVS, Nubiles and TubeAce scripts.

“The whole setup was built under my supervision, we took our time and the sites are built with surfers in mind, sponsor program is built with webmasters in mind. If you want to promote fresh faces and sites that were built for its members, and are still relevant in 2010, you can’t go wrong with us”

Said JJ, that brings in 13 years of experience in both – promoting and running pay sites.

TOTALPORN offers a 50 pct. net rev share for life and a 5 pct. referral fee for every referred webmaster and safe third party billing.

Interested webmasters sign up at TOTALPORN.com or contact JJ at [email protected] with any additional questions.

...

The second example is using more or less very much every supporting argument, shows samples where required, while it doesn't lie nor exaggerate, every word should be relevant since the goal is not to impress every single reader, but to get a webmaster's attention / interest / decision / (in the ideal case also) action.

That all in 2010, when those that really have traffic hardly sign up for any other program with a pic of Ferrari on their homepage.

Of course in case you're not directly involved with the company, you have to do your homework and find those arguments first.

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Wizzo

Some Excellent tips and pointers!

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mineistaken

Thanks for examples, its way easier to undertand the whole concept now.

Lilit

Nice read Carlos! Pretty good set of sales tips. Thanks for this one

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Mutt

good useful read

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JamesK

I like these posts. Good job!

CarlosTheGaucho

np

Many Thanks everybody!

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CarlosTheGaucho

bump f. the Friday Euro time

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CunningStunt

The most entertaining of the series so far, not the blatant shallow thinly veiled spam the rest have been (of those I've read).

Respect.

martinsc

great read

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CarlosTheGaucho

Sure took some effort to put this together, so I am very glad to hear you actually enjoyed that.

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ThumbLord

well done, Carlos, some good info.

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dallasnovelty

Great Info Carlos thanks for sharing all of these with us

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MaDalton

we have lots of naked amazons in our shop

good read, Carlos!

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CarlosTheGaucho

Thanks!

Leaving for today.. whoever is not lazy to read I hope there's a tip or two that can be of any use

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Tanker

great article!

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Klen

Can you make a video with naked girls dancing and you saying that in audio :D

CarlosTheGaucho

Just chiming in as I am back from a bar - no I can't

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USA

great read ;)

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Poppy

Nice info Carlos.

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munki

Great write up, bookmarked...

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Simon

This is actually a good tip for webmasters looking for new sponsors to promote (and for any sponsors still using expensive cars, mansions, and piles of cash on their affiliate program pages). You're correct that most webmasters who've taken the time to build good traffic know that those mansions, exotic cars and stacks of cash are usually all–and only–for the program owners on programs like that.

Nice job on the original post, and lots of information here that applies when targeting a consumer audience too. I come from more of a direct response marketing background, where I came up reading the likes of David Ogilvy, Joan Throckmorton, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and some others. There's a lot to be learned from the old masters of the craft.

Thanks again for a good read.

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fatfoo

It is sure easier to get your name out there on Internet forums and online magazines.

TV, radio and printed magazines (depending on size and popularity) are harder to get into.

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Hank_Heartland

As Carlos said, the trick is to make your info unique and entertaining if possible...Do that and be relevant to the media you are seeking an insertion and you will most likely get in

Great job Carlos and everyone should bookmark

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spazlabz

Thank you for writing this and giving some great tips. I am always interested in ways to improve my texts

emjay

Some very good advice there Carlos, thank you

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SZNY

great post Carlos!

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myjah

Carlos, just wanted to say thanks again. Your contribution is greatly appeciated!

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mikem123

great read. thank you for the advice.

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dicksman42

Thanks....

Django

Great read, bookmarked

mukeshsnp

Thank you for writing it!

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dc0ded

excellent article. very well written and very informative. thank you very much and keep posting such nice articles.

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My Pimp

That is so true .

ManPuppy

Excellent article. Your directness is refreshing. I'd hire you! lol

The article reinforces my rules of thumb: Marketing is not about the product. It's about the consumer. Screw the features; emphasize the benefit. If I'm your customer, speak my language -- what do I want and what's my hot button to make a decision right now?

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MiaLelani_SocalCamCash

Thanks for the tips! Hopefully I can implement a few tips to help promote myself

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possiblygreen

Looks like I'm off to amazon to pick up some more reading material!

2ndxachrm

Thanks Carlos!

good read.

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