I got inspired to share this after a couple of conversations I’ve had recently and after reading a great article from Charlotte Grey’s blog about free content that you can read here.
-The Following is taken from my upcoming guide, How to Produce Erotic Hypnosis for Profit–
Understanding your Customers and Competition:
The Erotic Hypnosis marketplace is a unique market at this moment for three reasons:
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One: It is a niche market, it is a vice market, it is a unique market even within the Fetish Entertainment Industry, and it is traditionally underserved.
Erotic Hypnosis at its core is about people wanting to be hypnotized.
Their motivations range from enjoying the process of entering trance to
feeling like hypnosis is the only way/best way to experience certain sensations and pleasures they desire.
Practically speaking, what this means is that within an already small market, the clientele is further segmented into even smaller sub-markets. This is because while hypnosis itself is a fetish, there are complimentary fetishes and lifestyle desires that the customer has that they feel can best be or only met via hypnosis.
Basically, Erotic Hypnosis has evolved from a term to describe the hypnosis fetishist into a catch-all term for the use of hypnosis in any and all erotic context.
Additionally, as hypnotism is an actual skillset that has to be developed, the ratio of the number of people capable of providing Erotic Hypnosis in comparison to the number of customers for said services is astronomical.
One could assume that it is in the range of at least 1000:1.*
What this means, which is what a lot of people already know, is that there is a lot of money to be made in this market.
*Numbers speculated upon by unique traffic numbers provided by several sources.
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Two: Since it is an underserved market, and it is a growth market in part because of overall fetish content accessibility and the increased cultural acceptability of adult entertainment, there has been an influx of role-play content providers.
Role-play content is interesting because it is essentially content about the idea of being hypnotized, and not actually being hypnotized. For some people this is what they enjoy the most, the idea can be an arousing one and some people just like porn. The people that provide this content, via phone service or videos etc., are not factored into the above ratio.
Since role-play content is much easier to produce than hypnosis content, and there are infinitely more preforms capable of creating it, role-play content has seen a dramatic increase in volume over the last 3-5 years.
This is done in part because the market is underserved and people want to by porn. Guys especially want to buy (or see) porn, and since guys are heavily visually stimulated the traditional cam girl/amateur porn star who is creating role-play content is positioned to take advantage of this market.
However, it is important to note that while this is true, it makes up only a small portion of the market, and it does not include the most lucrative concepts and components of the market. Role-play content providers are not competition.
But, that’s not all.
This influx of role-play content providers puts a greater premium on people that can actually provide this service. While it can be argued that this type of content provider is diluting the product, it is important to remember that it is not the same product in the first place, and defining the difference in your marketing and in your content will serve to define you and attracted your best possible clientele.
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Three: Customer income, comfort, and taste demographics automatically exclude/limit customer flow.
Conventional economic theory, and some common sense, tells us that there are only so many dollars to go around in any market. Conceptually this is true, but, practically speaking this philosophy has limited value in this market.
You are not competing with everyone else for every dollar because not every dollar is coming your way. This is in part because of individual accompanying fetishes and content desires.
Further, since there are so few content providers, even when there is an overlap in potential income it is still not a cause for competition.
Since fetish content serves the sex drive, and the sex drive is fundamentally compulsive and insatiable, if you provide the type of content that appeals to someone they will eventually buy it, income permitting.
It is also important to understand that customer income is a key factor in determining where their dollars are going to go.
A lower income customer is more likely to exclusively buy pre-recorded content, be it mp3s or videos etc. Even if this customer wants to do live sessions, they will likely not be willing to pay up to three or four times the price of an mp3 for a half an hour phone or Skype session.
For this customer a $30 MP3 is an investment that can represent half a work-day’s worth of income. It also means that they will always want to buy this type of content when they can afford to, and if you can capture their imagination or serve their fantasies, you will always be at the top of their buying list.
But, since vice is compulsive, they will also end up exploring other providers and there is nothing you can do about it.
Customers with higher income, or more disposable income and/or self-control issues, that find a content provider they like, will buy from that provider in bulk. This is a cyclical process, meaning that they will do this for you, but they will also move on to someone else and do the same thing.
Again, you can’t stop this from happening, you can only try to attracted this customer in the first place.
Customer retention occurs by continuing to produce the type of content that your customers enjoy, and also creating content that appeals to new customers that you can then convert into regulars.
Catalogue content, mp3s videos etc. can and will make you money based on the size of your catalogue and your influx of new customers.
Customer retention also occurs with clients that order custom content and live sessions. These two services are the most lucrative components of this business in a dollars per hour ratio. Creating a catalogue product can make you money repeatedly over time, but a live half hour call for $90 dollars (or whatever you charge) makes money faster than your files will based on the production time and labor as well as cost if you outsource any components of the creation process.
A custom file, which is by its nature a highly specialized experience and as such ought to have a significantly higher dollar value attached to it, can net you a substantial profit compared to labor invested. While a catalogue file may make you more money in its lifetime, you can make with a custom or two what you would make in a week of catalogue sales depending on your volume and price.
Both customs and live sessions also have the same access limitation to potential costumers.
They are both more expensive and both require the customer to be actively involved in the process. Some people are simply not emotionally capable of having a live session even if they can afford it, and the same can be said for ordering a custom.
Additionally, some people are just satisfied with catalogue content, or lack the privacy or time to have live sessions.
What Does This Mean About Competition?
Competition in this market, chasing every dollar you can get, is not the most lucrative or time effective use of your labor and energies.
Essentially, you can chase dollars, or you can make dollars.
In this market you don’t have competition, you have peers. You have people that you share customers with, and you have yourself.
Your market value, and your ability to establish market share, is dependent on your ability to produce quality content that will retain the first time buyers you attract, and keep your regulars coming back for more.
You may think that this means you are in competition for new buyers, but practically speaking, you are not.
Unless you are advertising in different market spaces, you are interacting with a motivated and captive audience. Your customers will find you, especially if you define and communicate your brand.
Your competition is always essentially with yourself.
Your goal is: Can you create the best product, the strongest brand and image, and can you effectively communicate that to your potential customers.
It is not: Can you do better/more/beat someone else, because that approach is not cost and labor effective.
There is too much volume, there is too much underserved volume for there to be any utility in trying to compete with people that are statistically and/or practically not your competition.
This is business, not sports.
There is no trophy and no award for you doing better or worse than anyone else. There is only the money you make, and the money you don’t. The best way to maximize the money you make is to make your success a priority by maximizing your brand and your strengths.
The time you spend chasing other people’s money is time spent leaving your money on the table. To maximize your money you have to define your brand, you have to find your niche, and you have to exploit your corner of the market.
None of that involves worrying about what other people are doing.
(I hope you enjoyed this segment. What follows next is identifying how to establish yourself in the market and how to successful brand and advertise your product and your character. But I’m not done with that yet, and I can’t give it all away for free.)
Anyway, if you have questions or ideas for future articles, of if you just want to reach out and say hello, feel free to drop me a line.
Also, if you appreciated this article, I’ve created a $1.00 tip goody. I was thinking about selling the articles themselves like I do free stories, but this seems easier for everyone in the long and short run.
