Innovation in entertainment management is the key to long term success and survival.

Osterfeld Models success can be attributed to the ever changing business structure and mold that we follow to create success in our industry. The reach of Osterfeld companies as a whole is far and wide ranging from television entertainment, adult entertainment, real estate, restaurants and more. In each of those companies fluid change and ability to keep up with current trends is critical in staying at the top. When I am asked what the key to our ongoing success is, I can generally attribute it to two factors: Our continuously evolving structure and operations systems that allow us to constantly innovate and the people that work within our company. The companies that we work with demonstrate that same innovation in their success, keeping them at the top.

Since our founding in 1999 the one thing that we have always done is adapt to our market and the current changing trends of our field. For this particular article, this field of topic is Osterfeld Models and the innovative change that social media marketing is bringing to the entertainment marketplace as it applies to rational systems integration in model development and placement.

Different is better.

Our management team continually focuses on the next trend. To be ahead of a trend is the key to beating the competition. We have done this continually. So have our clients. We regularly review our operations and compare our systems to the competition. We review them to ensure we have the best practices in place to make the success we hope for, a reality. We must continually ask ourselves: What are we doing better than the competition? What are we not doing as well? What can we do that is different? Different is everything. It is not enough to hope for success. You must take physical action in order to make that changes needed occur.

In an age where the world is cluttered with a multitude of everything, you have to stand out. Simply being there isn’t enough anymore. When a consumer (or in my case a model) is hit with a marketing message from my company at the same time a multitude of other messages come, I want them to remember my company, not the competition. And not just the general field. There are more companies getting into the business of model scouting daily. What makes us different from them is our reason for being here. My company is here to build a brand, and support an industry not just now, but 20 years from now. Once a quarter, we read and review one of the latest business motivation books by someone running another company. Seeing how others make it happen, really does work. Listening to other companies and other CEO’s to gather strategy that can focus your company and motivate your movement is ranked in the top 10 most important things you can do to succeed, in my book.

Set yourself apart from everyone else. When they copy you, change.

Our web sites, phone systems, staff practices, model forms, questionnaires, client database systems and model boards are the best in the industry. Training every person talking on the phone, how and what to say is just a critical as having a great looking online presence. When you present a look for your company brand online, you want to make sure the person answering the phone matches that look. High quality. Strictly business. Straight to the point.

Our blogs feature cards from real models. A new model may be skeptical coming into a new business and can easily log on and see what other models are saying. Real people, completing shoots. It has been a great success for us in that more models are checking out the www.osterfeldblog.com site every day. Additionally, the www.osterfeldagents.com board is providing the most cutting edge delivery program for models available online. Talent buyers and companies can easily see all new models instantly. Every morning, a broadcast email is sent containing all new models posted the previous day, reminding the buyers to check them out. The RSS feed also delivers instant headlines for new models posted for any buyer that subscribes to the feed. And of course, our booking agents are always there to follow up on each models profile and ensure the best fit.

Social media marketing for survival.

When it comes to social media, Osterfeld also remains at the forefront. Our MySpace and Facebook accounts are updated daily. Inquires from new models are handled right away. Our presence across the internet allows us to gain credibility from our models and our vast web presence utilizing Flickr, Photo Bucket, Blogging, Vimeo and YouTube to get the word out about everything Osterfeld. Osterfeld Models is the top ranked agency site in adult entertainment for traffic (ahead of the closest competitor by nearly 3 times the traffic). Each member of the model management team is involved in the process of social media. Each agent is on Twitter. our company has a main Twitter account that is operated by the head of Creative and Social Media Marketing. Each piece of the puzzle is continuously operated in order to archive the best results for our models and buyers. Whilst having all of these things are important, what you communicate is even more important. At my company, there is one rule for all social media marketing platforms and those who operate them: Positive message is King. All messages should be promotional, positive or entertaining. Reading Twitter remarks about your latest disaster every 10 minutes doesn’t exactly instill professionalism and confidence in potential marketers and buyers. Stay on message. Every company has problems, but those are best kept in house and handled quietly. Once you Tweet it, you can’t take it back. The internet is forever.

Close your loops.

The key to success with Social Media Marketing programs (or any marketing program) is to close the loop. Several business books talk about “open loops” which can be categorized as things that we need to get done or finish…hence the loop is not completed, it is open. The social media marketing way of looking at an open loop is that if you have a presence on 10 sites, you need to close the loops to link them all together. For example, if I write a blog post at www.osterfeldblog.com then I should Tweet that on the company Twitter account, and link in everyone else in the company to read it. On the blog, I should have links to company web sites and directories to drive potential clients over to the main site. The main site has links to our Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. And the list goes on. Closing the loops, and looping in all of your power in social media means making sure that your message and update is communicated across all social media platforms. You probably have different people following you on different media platforms, why tell 5 clients something that is important, when you can tell them all.

21^st century thinking. The winds of change are blowing.

Right now our creative and development team is working on a 21^st century affiliate program to drive traffic to the clients that we sell our models too. What better way to ensure the continued success of our models, than to provide direct links to business and customers to our buyers. This system is so far ahead of the affiliate sites in current existence, that there will definitely be some culture shock when it hits the market. But, with our knowledge of television markets and emerging online trends, we will be positioning ourselves to be at the start of the next revolution in adult marketing and entertainment. Television is going online, more every day. Adult entertainment has shifted from magazines to VHS to DVD. The DVD market is collapsing, it may survive another 3 to 5 years, but it is done. The final blow for most companies that have low cash flow will be the current recession started in late 2008.

The ship has left the harbor.

Unfortunately, some companies have actually missed the boat on DVD to online transition, because the market is already going to move to another trend. Most attempts to get online lack something new and innovative, making them undecipherable from everything else on the internet leading to over produced online content that is boring and not unique. I worked directly with a company for over a year to create a product that was unique, different and ahead of the trend. But in the end, they cut out everything that would have made it different and released the same old thing. Then they fired me. Some companies are not comfortable with innovative change and that is unfortunate. Many companies that have been around have a resistance to change. But it is the company that is willing to take a risk and move in a new direction, which will succeed in the new market.

In 10 years, most consumers will watch television over the internet, on their TV. It is this trend in technology that those companies who are successful will move into. The rest will die. If a company is currently trying to move from a DVD base, to an online base, they are too late. The internet presence and amount of quality online entertainment available from sites that have been web based for the last 8 to 10 years are so far ahead, it would be impossible to catch up without spending millions. And simply regurgitating old content won’t do anything, accept fill a site database and maintain a low end consumer rating. They key in this scenario, is to innovate. Move past the standard model internet based adult site, and look at the emerging television to internet trends. Don’t try to simply create the same thing that is out there, do something new.

I was approached a few years back by some TV executives that wanted to create a reality based TV show around myself and my company. Reality is in. Go for it!

You are out of your mind.

More than a few people have said that I am a little more than crazy for talking about all of this. And I will tell you my thoughts on it and why I talk about what we do to get ahead.

First and foremost, this information is out there. If you haven’t acted on it now, why would you do it based on what I say? People and companies that fail to change have done so probably for a long time. Regardless of what I say, they aren’t going to change that. I could be wrong from time to time. If they do, more power to them. But I am not giving away any trade secrets that about 1000 other books out there don’t already point out. Most just fail to do anything to act on the knowledge available.

The way I look at it is if I can encourage my competition to do better it is only going to raise the bar for my own company and my people. Companies already copy us. From the near direct wording of their sites being the same as ours, to design and business practices. Imation is the most sincere form of flattery, eh? Well, I think that is true. When you are the industry leader, people look at what you do and try to do the same thing. The one thing I know is that we are still the best. We have the best systems, the best people and the best innovation and I am confident that we will remain in the lead.

Others attack me and say that my ideas are wrong, or that I am self important (which I suppose I cannot disagree with. Anyone that writes something and tells you how to do something must for some reason have it in their head that they have something to say that someone is going to want to hear, maybe). They might be right, but I have been successful at it so far. And no one else even comes close. I love to read blogs and emails where people attack us for the things we do. It entertains me. But it also encourages us. People only attack you when you are at the top. So if people are attacking us…

In closing I would like to say, make sure to freshen up your web site every year at least. I see some companies out there with the same tired old thing, year after year. And those if you focusing on black should take a look at white. The market, for adult entertainment has emerged since the years where you watched it hidden in your home and it was suppose to be something filthy and bad. Flashy and trendy includes white these days. Come out of the dark and into the light! I say this with much love, but some marketing people just need a push sometimes. So there you go!

Written By:  Michael Osterfeld
Edited By:   M. Neumeier