Some things are just too important to leave to anyone else. Your company image is in your hands. Everything you say and do professionally, contributes to the branding and image you create for yourself and your business.Where is your company going today?
Some things are just too important to leave to anyone else. Your company image is in your hands. Everything you say and do professionally, contributes to the branding and image you create for yourself and your business. What do industry leaders think about you and your company, and how does it influence their business decisions?
The adult entertainment industry has been like the “Fraternal Order of e-Commerce.” To make a movie analogy, the first few years of the adult business were like the marriage of Animal House and Porky’s. The whole industry was like a college fraternity. Everything attempted on the ‘Net was brand new never-been-done-before-innovation, everyone was a pioneer. The conventions and parties were the same, with gatherings of the industry elite typified by extravagance and excess, and so much excitement.
For some, those were the days my friend, but the industry is in a state of metamorphosis now. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still exciting, in fact in many ways it’s more exciting than ever, still changing every day, still a whirlwind of activity for every Webmaster; just different.
Establishing yourself as a participant in the adult entertainment arena now takes some serious contemplation and planning. As the maturation of the industry progressed, and every new idea was the first, it was easy to innovate and garner serious revenues from those innovations. There are some who now say that everything has been tried, that there aren’t any more great new ideas coming down the pike. Well, just like anywhere else in life, there will always be another great idea, it just takes more thought now to come up with them.
I ask someone to go on the Web and check on the availability of a URL that pops into my consciousness – a real home-run-type-URL that I just know won’t be available – and THERE IT IS, and I snag it! Happens every week! So I know there are still lots of great things to come. The revenues will always be there if you have the next great idea, or you capitalize or improve on someone else’s great idea.
Another industry aspect that’s changed is the manner in which everyone conducts business today. There is tremendous competition for every Webmaster’s attention. I see tremendous collaboration among the most highly regarded companies now, pooling resources and strengths to market programs together. The business minds creating these concepts and drafting the business plans, raising the venture capital, building the infrastructure, unfolding the marketing strategy, and fulfilling the big dream, are committed to their e-commerce goals – they might know how to have fun, but their recreation does not interfere with the focus they maintain for their work. The next big project innovation is the key.
Remember, everything you do on the Internet is probably there for posterity, until the end of time… no second chances. Every time you post on a board, or enter a chat-room to represent and promote your company, or send an e-mail, you contribute to the image and reputation of yourself and your business. The Internet empowers you with the ability to create brand recognition and corporate image like no medium in the history of man – and of course the same power to destroy it… no second chances. It’s up there in Cyberspace for anyone on the globe to access, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year.
Microsoft says “where do you want to go today?” I say, “Who do you want to be today?” For those of you just starting out, branding and image are cumulative phenomena. Each time you meet someone in the industry, or post on a board, or send an e-mail, you build your brand. Once the meeting is over, the post is in the thread, or the e-mail is sent, the accumulation contributing to your image is building.
Think of your company image as a domino line, and treat each opportunity to improve that image with the care with which you would place the next domino. You’ve got to be steady and consistent – no false moves, you can’t falter – with your reputation on the line. A click of the mouse like a fumble with the fingers, and all you’ve accomplished can be undone. That fast, just like the speeding line of falling dominoes, you can’t catch them, there’s no rewind.
Take inventory and evaluate your intangible net worth. What is your company’s reputation worth today, how does it correlate with your potential success, and what will be the value of your intangible net worth tomorrow, next week, next year, five years from now? Do you have a five-year plan? The care you take in building your image and the image of your company is the most important investment of time and effort in which you can engage, for the image produced is a priceless commodity. Intangibly priceless, because it cannot be bought or sold.
Like character, you either have it or you don’t.
Klixxx is a magazine whose mission is to educate Webmasters of all levels, and it’s also a publication that shapes opinion and comments on the movers and shakers of the industry. So the message to the Webmasters starting today, to those ready to climb the ladder to the next plateau, and to those seeking serious success and returns on investment, is to adopt and achieve an aura of professionalism. Read Klixxx, go to school, take some classes, listen to tapes, improve your vocabulary, study business communication, maintain ethical sites, attend the tradeshows and meet the adult industry “players” who exemplify the character and qualities of the most successful Fortune 500 company executives. These are the professionals who will inherit the future of the industry, and these are the ladies and gentlemen you should be seeking to emulate, whose business plans you should be following, and whose attention you should be seeking.
One of the Klixxx Magazine goals is to seek to make these professionals more aware of the new breed of emerging Webmasters, and the necessity of making time to meet them. The key to obtaining a meeting with these professionals will be the effectiveness of your communication, your presentation, the quality of your products and delivery of services, and your sincere desire to succeed.
To contact Joe D. email joed@klixxx.com.
