Grdina believes that the adult industry in 2007 is in a major flux. Content producers are faced with the new challenge of emerging platforms and if they don’t become familiar with pay-per-view, video-on-demand, paysites, broadcast distribution, viral marketing, mobile and downloadable content, no matter how good their content is, the company will go the way of the dinosaur, Grdina pointed out.
“If you don’t embrace new mediums and you don’t evolve as technology evolves and as new distribution channels develop, you are dead,” Grdina said. “With DVD sales declining, you have to be aggressive. Club Jenna started with a single site, ClubJenna.com, and has now grown to manage many adult stars’ sites along with a full high-end production company with contract girls, mobile deals and now, even our own broadcast channel on the Playboy network.”
Because of the glut of content in the marketplace, adult production studios need to do more than ever before to attract people to their product and focus on keeping them happy so they become loyal customers, Grdina said. To that end, Grdina has aggressively pursued a comprehensive marketing campaign with adult stores, where his contract girls will sign autographs for fans, and Club Jenna will ship the store point-of-purchase displays, posters, memorabilia, T-shirts and other items to keep fans and stores owners happy.
“I think it’s more important than ever to have personal relationships with your clients who sell your product and with the consumers who purchase it,” Grdina said. “If you produce crap, you will only attract a one-time consumer. A quality product ensures repeat customers.”
Grdina advocated a proactive approach to growing a business, saying, “Success leaves clues; follow the trail.” Analyzing trends are important too; check Alexa rankings of popular adult sites, start new lines to take advantage of new niches – and most of all – seek out new mediums for your content, because if you are boring and stale, who’d going to buy your product?”
In closing, Grdina told a touching story that expressed his desire for more solidarity among industry members.
“Our competition are our biggest allies,” he said. “There is so much outward adversity toward members of the adult industry – don’t fall into that stereotype. Mainstream media expects us to be sleazy and unethical, but that’s just not the case. We know who we are, and we should present ourselves and our businesses with class, dignity and respect.”
