Someone recently approached me, asking me for help with their Onlyfans. As it turned out, his particular page was a market I don’t have any particular experience in, so I wasn’t able to be of much assistance. I know nothing about gay male prostitutes, and I was honest about it with him. He was very hostile about it, and it became very clear to me that he didn’t have a very basic understanding of marketing. I wondered how many others like him didn’t understand this very basic concept of “target audience.”

See, there is no one “adult industry.” We are a collection of several smaller industries. I know people love to just say the adult industry as if we are just one massive unit, but we aren’t.

What may work for one may not work for another. All niches in porn aren’t the same, and our potential buyers are different.

If you are in the market to buy shoes, me trying to sell you a dress would make no sense.

They are two very different products. Sure, you can technically wear both shoes and a dress, but in the end, they are not the same.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for marketing to consumers of adult content. Every market is truly different. Generic marketing advice doesn’t always work for this very reason.

Every niche in our industry has its own target audience.

A guy interested in a blonde MILF with big tits isn’t going to be interested in gay male porn.

That part most people get. But the part that most people miss is that the buyers themselves are also different and have very different motivations.

And that’s the part that you need to hyper-focus on.

To truly reach that major level of success, you need to understand your target audience and in part, understand how your target audience (your potential buyers) are different than those in other genres.

Social media platforms like Instagram tell us very basic information about our target audience, and that’s always a good place to start. Simply open up your IG app and look at your follower stats from your dashboard. It will tell you if they are male or female, what their age range is, and where they are from.

You can also find this out using Twitter’s analytics (again, very basic information, but something is better than nothing).

• Instagram Insights: View data on the age, gender, location, and activity times of your followers.
• Twitter Analytics: Shows age, gender, country of origin, and times your followers are most active.
• Facebook Audience Insights: Offers detailed demographic breakdowns, including education, relationship status, and job titles.
• YouTube Analytics: Shows age, gender, geographic location, and device usage of viewers.
• TikTok Analytics: Provides data on followers’ gender and location.

I have a girl I work with who has an abnormally large number of followers from New York.

A person from New York is going to be very different (personality-wise) than someone from Texas. Knowing that she has this large New York following, she would be smart to cater her posts to a more urban, fast-paced audience that likely values sophistication, trendiness, and directness in communication. New Yorkers often appreciate content that gets straight to the point, aligns with current trends, and offers value or entertainment quickly.

In contrast, if her audience were predominantly from Texas, she might lean toward content that feels more laid-back and community-focused, reflecting Texan values like hospitality and tradition.

Understanding these nuances allows her to craft messages, visuals, and offers that resonate more deeply with her followers, ultimately driving engagement and sales.

It’s not just about what you post but how you post it—considering tone, style, and even the timing of posts to align with your audience’s lifestyle. Knowing your audience on a granular level can turn generic followers into a loyal community and, more importantly — turn them into paying customers.

This is the reason why it’s important to not only understand your audience but consider the advice so-called marketing gurus are giving you. Do they truly understand YOUR audience?

I will be the first person to tell you I don’t know the ins and outs of every niche in the adult industry.

I can tell you that there are many, many, many niches, and everyone has their own unique target audience. The advice that I post about is often aimed at mainstream female performers or adult content creators.

I don’t have experience or expertise in the amateur BBW market, the trans market, or the gay male market. If you need help bringing your game to the next level and you work within one of those niches, then you should seek out someone who knows the markets well.

Why?

Because bad advice can be devastating.

You only have to watch the latest Jaguar commercial to learn that lesson.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great commercial, but it misses the mark when it comes to reaching and resonating with the typical Jaguar buyer. And that is the lesson here. They made this great commercial. But if that commercial does resonate with your potential buyers and, in fact, has the opposite effect of making them turn away from you, then you just did more harm than good.

And this my friends is why you need to know who your target audience is. You want to get to know who your potential buyers are – what they like and don’t like.

Spend the time to do your research.

I promise it will be worth it in the long run.