Subscription video packages, do they work? EP #211 - Shorty

G' day guys. Dan here with episode 211 of the how to Scale a Video Business podcast with this week's Shorty.

So have you ever had an idea for a business? I thought this would be a really good money making idea, thinking along the lines of something like subscription video services. It's a topic that I hear come up again and again and again. And I wanted to address it because I think it's really important.

And that is because I've actually run a business where we had a degree of subscription service and I think there's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. And I want to touch on that today in this shorty.

A really important question you got to ask yourself is why do you want to create a subscription video service? And I think if we're being honest, usually the main motivation is because we want to have consistent revenue. We want to have some form of revenue that's coming in that is consistent and predictable. And I'm a big fan of subscription revenue. Okay. It's how I run most of my businesses.

But it's important that the service you're offering on the subscription marries up well with what you can deliver.

I have some clients who run this very well and they have like a package of video content that involves a certain number of days of filming in the studio and then a certain number of days of post production and a certain number of bits of content. And I have a client in the UK who this works very well with. He's got two or three clients. One's, one's a nightclub, one's a manufacturing company, one's a logistics company and they have a need for ongoing content. So companies like E Commerce always have a need for ongoing content. They're always having to update their lines, they're always having to update their product lines and their communications. And so I think subscription can work very well in E commerce or in clubs or in gyms where people need to have ongoing content. But the secret to a really successful ongoing subscription product is in you controlling the parameters so you know that your costs are fixed. And if you, if you allow that to blow out, it can kind of bite you in the ass. Because if you're just promising a certain number of filming these and edit these, the chances are the client's going to just see that as we're just, we're just getting a bunch of films, they're not going to necessarily understand the nuances of what isn't, isn't included in a subscription package. And you've got to be careful that you don't damage your reputation by promising one thing to get the sale over the line and then down the line saying, well, actually, you know, that that shoot out of town isn't actually covered. And, and this edit is only covered if we do this graphic. Because that client might just be sitting thinking, well, you're sitting in your office editing. Doesn't matter which button you press, why am I paying more for it? So you've got to be really careful how you pitch and deliver those kinds of services to avoid any pitfalls. As I said before, you know the key. We did the subscription service where we were helping a couple of different companies. One was a coach in the automotive space and one was.

A recruitment firm and they were on different packages, but basically one was on, you know, 196 videos a year. I think it was like 16 videos a month. And what we would do is we would get that person into the studio. We'd. Our process was simply we'd get the marketing department to ask the owner of the company a bunch of questions. They'd record those interviews and we'd get them transcribed and we'd turn them into scripts. So the key to this process is you controlling the creative process. The client pays and you do kind of everything. So we would then turn them into scripts, we'd load them into a prompter, we'd send those scripts to the owner of the company and ask him to rehearse them prior to coming into studio. Then one Saturday a month, we'd come into studio and we'd record for three or four hours and we'd record 16 videos. Now, the pitfalls were the person who was on camera was the owner of the company, wasn't a natural presenter and wasn't all that confident. Now, when they'd rehearsed, they were very good, but being a busy entrepreneur, they didn't always have the time or they weren't focused on it. And so they'd come in the studio unprepared and it was something that's very hard to get a good performance. Now, as far as we were concerned, we were there to deliver high quality video audio editing and we did all of that. But ultimately the video series wasn't that successful for them because they didn't promote it properly. They hadn't put the effort into the delivery. And so reflecting on that, they probably didn't feel like they had a great experience, which then in turn reflects badly on us. Even though it's out with our control, I mean, we can Direct and we can advise and we can guide as much as we like. But if someone's not going to do the rehearsal or planning, it doesn't matter. This just doesn't matter. So we, yeah, we saw a situation there where it's like, okay, well how can we, how can we change this? And so we did it for someone else who was a very good presenter and it worked out very well. But the point is, is it was a very different business to a regular video production company. It has to be very heavily process driven, it has to be very heavily systemized and you have to be very clear in what is and isn't included. It can be a really good source of income and a really good source of reven revenue. And so I'm not saying you should discount it altogether, but I think that oftentimes these ideas come into play and they.

It seems like a great idea to have a subscription video service, but I don't think people necessarily understand how much work is involved in systemizing that and delivering that in a way that things don't blow out. Now on the flip side, if you do it well and you can sell, you can upsell additional options, you can upsell different things. We actually ended up selling another $20,000 worth of products to this company because the owner wanted to turn, he wanted to write a book and I said, well, we could take all these videos and transcribe them and then edit them into chapters and create a book. And he created a book and we had it published and he sells it on Amazon now. And he was really happy to have that as his kind of, you know, authority piece. So all in all it was about 80,000, 60, 70, $80,000 worth of work over the course of a year. So it was a sizable client. It was a good client to have, but it was, it was a quite a difficult thing to manage because of expectations and, and, and delivery of the service. And I think if I had my choice, well, we actually ended up shutting that down and moving out of production altogether. But that was, that was a lifestyle choice because we wanted to move to a different part of regional Australia, live by the beach. And you know, I'd done it for so many years, nearly three decades, I had nothing to prove, I had nothing else to do. And I now have all focused and dedicated to helping businesses scale, helping systemize video businesses and coaching video business owners in how to run a video business that gives them everything they ever wanted. So yeah, if you're thinking about having assist a subscription service, think about the pitfalls and if you need some help with that, we can help. Ask yourself this has owning your own video business been everything you dreamed it would be when you first got started? It might be hard to admit, but think about whether you're genuinely achieving everything you set out to when you made that decision to grab the camera and go it alone. Are you really working less? Are you really earning more? And are you really in control? Chances are you're bloody good at what you do, but you're having to work like a dog, 70 plus hours a week, whether it's filming, editing, marketing, or any of the other jobs that come with being the big boss of your own video company. When you're managing projects, constantly searching out for new clients and worrying about cash flow, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture or make real progress. Let's face it, that stress is the last thing you need when you're trying to run a profitable company that supports you and the people you care about. Truth is, a business that provides financial, professional and personal freedom really is achievable. But maybe you've got that nagging feeling that you're overworked, lacking stability, and struggling to get to where you really want to be right now. It could be that you just don't know how to make a positive change on your own. So I created the Video Business Accelerator coaching programs to really supercharge your video business. With these unique coaching programs, you'll learn all the tools you need to get complete confidence in the success of your video business. You can take the first step on your journey to a successful business that doesn't control your life. Let me show you how. Head over to Denlany.com and click on Accelerator.