#vhx protips

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Gift a video subscription for the holidays

Great news, just in time for the holidays: Now anyone can gift video subscriptions!

Customers have always been able to gift video packages on VHX, but we just added support for gifting 3-month, 6-month, 9-month or 1-year video subscriptions. How’s it work? If you’re running a subscription video service, when a customer checks out they simply click “Gift to friend” and enter the email address of the giftee. The recipient gets an email, and can instantly activate their subscription and start watching. 

A streaming video subscription means you’re not just giving a single video, but an ever-expanding library of videos! You could gift a whole year of yoga classes, or send a few months of unlimited living room karaoke. 

Oh wait, speaking of holidays: You can set a delivery date for any video gifts on VHX. When your customers gift a subscription or an individual video package, they can opt to have it digitally delivered on a particular date. Send it on Christmas morning and it will arrive in the recipient’s inbox, shining and bright and digital! Or if Christmas isn’t your thing, customers can send any day — from New Year’s Eve, to a birthday, to…the winter solstice. 

So let your customers know how easy it is to gift your videos to their friends and fam on the biggest gift-giving day of the year! (If you didn’t already know, digital video is an amazing last-minute present.) Shout out gifting on your social media channels, or email your followers a great coupon to inspire their holiday video spirit. 

Even more marketing tips for selling video during the holidays.

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10 ideas to up your holiday sales game

It’s somehow already the holidays! And we all know 'tis the time for lots of sales. But what does that mean when you’re selling video? Here are ten things you can do right now to get your holiday marketing game together for 2015. 

1. Give the gift of gifting

Digital video is a great gift for friends and family, especially for last-minute shoppers: On VHX, we see a big sales jump on Christmas Eve (+112%), and Christmas Day (+244%). So offer a festive discount! It’s a big incentive for your fans to start gifting — all they have to do is hit the “Gift This” button when they check out.  Create a holiday coupon.

2. Thank your superfans

Send an email to existing customers with a holiday greeting and a big fat thank you. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, just genuine. You could even offer them an exclusive holiday coupon to pass on to their loved ones. How to message your customers directly.

3. Craft a special holiday package

Try selling a new package, chock full of extras, just for the holiday season (a time limit always helps.) If you’ve been thinking about adding new bonus material, or just want to experiment, now’s the time! Start a new video package. 

4. Get visual

Make some holiday-themed images to brighten up your social media channels. It’s a fun way to grab attention, especially if you’re offering something new for the holidays. Make sure your social media accounts are easy to find.

5. Use your live events

The people who come out to support your film in person are probably some of your biggest fans, so pass out coupons for digital copies. No time to plan? You can always have a few coupons in your back pocket to give out at the dreaded office holiday party.  How to download random coupon codes.

6. Make fun holiday videos

Video is your medium! Shoot a video greeting for your fans, add it to an existing package, and they’ll instantly have access.  Add a new video to a package.

7. Try $1

Get creative with pricing: Set a super low price for a limited-time window (like Christmas to New Year’s Eve) and offer a Pay What You Want option for fans to give beyond that. Try $1 and leave room for lots of generosity!  Turn on PWYW pricing.

8. Customize your thank you emails

After a customer buys your video, they get a “Thank You” email with their receipt. It’s customizable, and your chance to get personal. So offer your heartfelt thanks and holiday wishes, and maybe throw in a few Santa & menorah emojis. Update your thank you email.

9. Give away a bunch of free copies

It’s the season of giving! Give out free copies to spread the word before the new year, or offer a free trial if you’re running a subscription. On VHX, we’ve seen that free can pay off in the long term.  Start the giveaway. 

10. Track your sales

After all these marketing tips, holidays can mean lots of sales. So make sure you’re tracking how people are buying. The VHX Admin gives you tons of information about your customers, to help you make smart sales decisions on the fly. You can even integrate with Google Analytics for a deeper dive.  Check out the stats on your dashboard. 

What other marketing tips do you have for video publishers? We'd love to hear all the gory, cheery details. Happy video holidays!

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Be conscious of content

Some types of content can get away with being priced higher than the average. Educational, instructional, and fitness content indexes at a higher price point than a feature film. Short films and web series are typically priced lower than average. The key: Does your audience know what they're getting? With something like yoga fitness videos, people know that they're going to get a yoga workout. But with a film, it's harder for someone to predict if they'll like it. So in that case, a lower price helps incentivize purchases.

Want more pro-tips for selling your videos? Subscribe to 30 Days of Data to get them delivered to your inbox.

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VHX Success Stories

Online distribution opens up so many possibilities for getting your video to audiences. And it has many moving parts! That's why we're making distribution easy with tools for marketing, content delivery, community building, and more, all rolled up in  one platform. 

We also have so many great examples of publishers doing it right — because sometimes you just need to see it with your own eyeballs to get inspired. Enter Success Stories. These VHX publishers are using their tools wisely (and we've got the pie charts to prove it):

Read up on how comics documentary Stripped used bonus material to expand their audience.

See why popular series MeatEater used coupons to boost momentum. 

Learn how Life Itself used digital streaming and gave fans a chance to participate in the Sundance premiere.

Have great strategies that are working for you? Log in to the VHX Forums and tell us!

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You're Gonna Want to Embed This

We just gave the VHX player an upgrade!

Trailer embeds are kind of like an artist's frame: They're how your videos are pinned on the Internet for the world to see. And sharing a trailer or sample clip for your project is the tried and true best way to persuade your potential customers to buy it! 

That's why we care so much about making your embeds work well and look great. We've made it as easy as possible to buy your movie right from the player, and to help them look their best wherever you post them (hopefully everywhere!) we've made it super simple for you to customize. 

Here's what's new:

A slick new design

Easy-to-customize embeds that go anywhere

Boosted optimization for purchasing

Add a trailer embed to any site in a couple quick steps. All the tools you need are right here on the new Tools page in your Admin. Embedding the VHX checkout on your site is there too — just as easy! Log in and check it out, or see a couple examples below.

Really enjoyed this film for humility and simpleness. You have to be interested in street photgraphy though @vhxtv http://t.co/nmH2mEs03H

— Jeff Wilson (@jjwilsonphoto) May 26, 2015

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New feature: Now you can choose to have video gifts delivered on Dec. 25th

You already know how easy it is to gift a VHX video. But, here's something brand new: We've just added a magical holiday hack that means when your customers gift your video, they can opt to have it digitally delivered on the morning of December 25th.

< CHECK OUT our GIFT GUIDE for gift inspiration >

If Christmas ain't your thing, stay tuned: Gift delivery on *any* date is coming soon. In the meantime, let your customers know how easy it is to deliver your titles for their friends and fam on the biggest gift-giving day of the year, or see what we're watching on VHX, and maybe check some people off your own holiday gift list.

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THE RETRIEVAL: Big accolades, smart bonus content

Beyond being bedecked with festival laurels, new Civil War-times feature The Retrieval is being called "gorgeous," "hypnotic," "powerful," and "damn near flawless" by the cinema press powers that be. In this haunting coming-of-age story, a fatherless 13-year-old boy headed north on a perilous mission to retrieve a wanted man under false pretense, and when they meet, he faces some very difficult decisions.

Bonus content is easier to come by for a documentary, but for narrative features, it can take a lot of work — or a lot of imagination — to see the potential in the stuff on the cutting room floor. Our friends at Kino Lorber are helping sell The Retrieval from its own website powered by VHX, and the deluxe edition houses — in addition to commentary and deleted scenes — the stunt rehearsals for Civil War movie musts including horses, pistol whips and all kinds of guns firing. Check out the trailer here, and check out the deluxe edition for some smart ideas in bonus content (not to mention faux fight skills from the 1800s).