Streaming Media White Paper
Online Video Choices
for Marketers
The merits of using free versus
paid Online Video Platforms
Michael D'Oliveiro || Principal Consultant at Xerrata
Managing Streaming Media
Countless enterprises like yours are looking to incorporate online video (or streaming media) into your
communications plan. It could be for your marketing team as part of a plan to include video in content
marketing. It could be to build a training library. Or it could be to deliver live streaming in-house for
important events.
It's important to note that doing one or all three may not mean that you should just settle on one video
partner. You need might need several based on your needs. In the early stages, it might even be tempting
to consider adopting free online video sites out there, obviously these being either YouTube or Vimeo.
There is nothing wrong with free. Free doesn't cost you anything and is a good way to experiment
internally. As consultants who frequently have been in these discussions with corporates, we would argue
that what's more important is to lay out your needs and use cases - both short term and long term - and
then help you pick the right partner.
It may not save you time but it saves you a lot of money later on. Just to help you get along, we thought
we'd get to the root of the discussions on Free vs Paid platforms and lay out the pros and cons easily.
Let's delve deeper into the reasons that most clients provide...
1. Free is a no-risk option to get started since I have no budget to begin with
That sounds good as long as you don't publish a thing 'live' yet. Do not mess with the consequences of
putting something out there and then retracting it, or worse, leaving it unattended to permanently. Create a
sandbox environment where you can invite early, or beta, users to visit your site and be part of a qualitative
survey. As your own team experiments with the provider's content management system (the account
where they upload and manage videos) they might end up having specific needs that may or may not be
able to be met.
The Verdict
Free
Paid
Online Video Choices For Marketers
The Merits Of Free Vs Other Online Video Platforms
2. Free is a great way to understand my needs better
Sure, but your needs should be tied back to some business objective that you've been set. If you're
convinced that your in-bound marketing strategy works better with video, make sure that you follow the
example of point 1 earlier and get data around the level of engagement that video delivers vs text-only
content. It could be that you're trying to educate customers on how to use your line of cosmetics better.
Make sure you first invest in good quality production values that match what your target market wants.
Then pick the platform to do a trial in. It could end being that you need something for select clientele or
your internal sales team. If the material is classified you might need to build a registration service first so
that you authenticate your customers.
Appoint someone in your team to be the product manager to act as the voice of the user or your customer.
If resources are not at hand, consider a third-party or consultant firm to do so. Often, they bring an
unbiased view to the table.
The Verdict
Free
Paid
3. I want to keep my customers on my site
and create more engagement.
That's a good metric and video definitely helps. The
problem is that if your best videos are hosted on
YouTube and customers end up going directly to its
website or App, you are losing valuable visitors to
your own site. Ultimately, this defeats your original
purpose.
Even worse, if your customers dwell offsite on a free platform, they could see an ad for a competitor. This
is neither good for customer acquisition nor brand safety.
The Verdict
Free
Paid
Online Video Choices For Marketers
The Merits Of Free Vs Other Online Video Platforms
4. I need an in-depth user-level view when I conduct my video analytics
Slicing and dicing engagement of video analytics often means going down to a User level. You could be
using this to generate demographic-based views, help users troubleshoot issues or even resolve billing
disputes. You might also end up having custom needs. These might not be availabl to you by the free
platforms.
The Verdict
Free
Paid
5. I want to integrate my videos with marketing automation platforms like HubSpot,
Emarsys or Salesforce or email-based services like MailChimp.
Most marketers already have a marketing automation solution integrated from various partner platforms.
The expectation is that video has to plug into this ecosystems easily and tightly like all the rest. With that in
mind, it is possible that you will not get these benefits with a free platform. And that means you won't be
able to scale your business easily.
The Verdict
Free
Paid
Online Video Choices For Marketers
The Merits Of Free Vs Other Online Video Platforms
To make your video communications or video
content marketing more effective, consider
consulting streaming media experts who can
guide you to a future-proof and effective
solution.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is no denying that a free platform has intrinsic benefits. The likes of YouTube and
Vimeo have great audiences which can definitely be leveraged. But why not create your content on
your platform and then syndicate (ie. export) your videos to these sites instead? It's like using
HootSuite, but for video. And all paid platforms do that easily.
That way, you can leverage the power of the free platform, but with all the flexibility and power of the
professional one too. The adage that you get what you pay for still remains true with video for
enterprise uses. But if you can plan ahead, you can be assured that the money will be well-spent.
Online Video Choices For Marketers
The Merits Of Free Vs Other Online Video Platforms
For more information on how Xerrata can help you implement the
right online video platform for your long-term needs, contact the
author at: michaeld@xerrata.com
For more insights into Streaming Media, visit www.xerrata.com
© Copyright 2019 | Xerrata