PHOENIX - Panelists during Thursday's Niche Marketing seminar at The Phoenix Forum reiterated one bit of advice to attendees: Be familiar with your customers' desires if you want to operate or promote a niche site.
Indy of Indecisive Entertainment, Steven Gallon of Grooby Productions, Yo Adrian of Radical Cash, Barry Fruitman of Webcam Cash and Kevin Godbee, an Internet business consultant, all offered the benefit of their experience during the event. Whether it was recounting mistakes they made in the beginning - "Not listening to panelists," quipped Godbee - or offering advice on how to reach different markets - Indy operates tease and denial sites and receives traffic from phone sex companies that offer the same niche - the panelists were firm on knowing the content.
"Customers are looking for quality," said Yo Adrian. "You can't just get any content in the niche and pass it off as the real deal."
Gallon agreed, noting that customers of niche content are looking for specific content and can smell a fake from "a mile away."
"If you screw them over, you will lose them as a customer," he said. "And they will tell others you are a fake."
Fruitman, who operates webcam sites, explained that while webcam is another medium - like photos or videos - there are niches within webcam sites, including Asians, ebony and transsexuals.
The experts also touched on how much content to release in an effort to attract customers - less than a more "vanilla" porn site, they said, because niche content sites tend not to have as much competition.
But one point made repeatedly was those who produce or promote niche content must either have an interest in the niche, or have someone on their team who is interested or "gets it."
"If you have no interest in the niche, then you are going to have a very, very hard time marketing it," Gallon said.
The Phoenix Forum continues through Saturday. For more information, visit ThePhoenixForum.com .
