You’ve put a lot of effort into your VOD site and it’s finally ready to launch. Now, it’s time to get your site the attention it deserves!
In this article, we’ll show you how you can generate buzz before the launch of your video-on-demand platform. That way, you can hit the ground running!
Here are the 7 actionable strategies you can use to build anticipation 5-10 days before going live:
- Set up a pre-launch page
- Promote your launch on social media
- Offer early-bird pricing
- Create video marketing campaigns
- Use influencer marketing
- Use existing email lists
- Run paid ads
Let’s jump right in…
1. Set up a pre-launch page
Setting up a pre-launch page is the foundation for every other strategy in this guide.
Since your site hasn’t launched yet, you’ll need a designated page to direct all the traffic you get from these marketing efforts.
Your pre-launch page is created with the sole purpose of converting visitors to sign-up to your mailing list!
It’s designed to give potential clients all the information they need to know about your upcoming VOD site and take them one step closer to becoming paying subscribers.
We recommend that your page includes:
- Your launch date.
- Video teasers or snapshots of what to expect from a subscription.
- The benefit of subscribing to your site.
- Subscription prices for different plans and what’s included in each plan.
- A clear call to action to capture emails (more on that later on!)
- A clear discount offer for people who leave their emails (we’ll get into that in section 3.)
Here’s an example we created with Uscreen’s Landing Page Builder:
If you’re a Uscreen customer, you can build a pre-launch page in the admin area! Check out how to create your own pre-launch page using our landing page builder. And, to add an email capture block follow the steps in the video below:
2. Promote your launch on social media
Create awareness for the launch of your VOD site by having countdown posts on your social media stories or feeds. This gets your followers excited as your launch date approaches!
Your followers on social media platforms are what’s known as qualified leads. They’re aware of and interested in your content. This makes it easier to convert some of them to paying subscribers.
If you’re looking for some inspiration, we’ve set out a 5-day promotional countdown that you can use to generate buzz before the launch of your VOD site:
- Day 5: reminder of launch.
- Day 4: prompt people to ask you anything about your product and what to expect from it, for example you can use the Question Box on Instagram.
- Day 3: a giveaway of your choice for one ‘winner.’ This could be a free consultation, ebook, subscription discount, or whatever you’re capable of in return for someone sharing your post and tagging some friends. The goal here is to get as many people sharing your post in the hopes of being that chosen winner.
- Day 2: a walk-through of your site on social media stories like Instagram and/or TikTok.
- Day 1: reminder of the launch and urging people to make use of the early-bird deal (more on that later).
- Day 0: reminder that you have launched, you could also show a trailer or teaser of your video content.
Remember to add a link to your pre-launch page to each update. You can also set up a Linktree account with your sales page and put it in your bio.
The Social Media Guide for Driving Traffic To Your Video Streaming Site
3. Offer early-bird pricing
A great emotional trigger that prompts people to take action is having a limited-time offer. This goes back to our hunter and gatherer roots where scarcity made us want to hoard resources.
Take Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Boxing Day, arguably the biggest shopping events of the year. People know that these discounts only last one day and they’ll make use of that!
You can leverage this scarcity-trigger yourself for the launch of your VOD site by creating early-bird pricing that lasts 3 to 5 days.
This gives people a discounted price to subscribe to your product. For example, you can offer 15% off for an annual subscription to people who give their emails before the official launch of your VOD site.
Make it clear on your pre-launch page that people who leave their emails will be emailed a coupon code to use on the day of your site’s launch. Then, promote this early-bird offer on your social media accounts.
Once you’ve finalized who is on your early-bird email list (day of the launch), you should set a limit for how many people can redeem the code, that way you’re ensuring only the people on your list can use the promo code.
If you’re a Uscreen customer check out our help guide on how to create a coupon using our platform.
4. Create video marketing campaigns
Creating a video marketing campaign can help you reach a wider audience for your launch.
In fact, social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are prioritizing users who use their short-form video features, making it easier to be seen.
Better still, short-form videos like…
- sneak peeks of your VOD content: a great way to repurpose your premium videos as teasers or tidbit trailers to post on social media
- behind the scenes content: helps people relate to your brand by showing the process behind creating your polished, on-demand videos
- vlogging: another way to humanize your brand, this can be done live or on-demand
…require little effort and no extra investments!
For example, if you’re a yoga professional who’s launching a VOD platform, you can publish short pose tutorials on your social media platform as a teaser of what to expect with a full subscription!
The more value your followers get from free content the more likely they are to reciprocate the value you give them and subscribe to your channel.
You can also use TikTok and Instagram stories to show behind-the-scenes content or host Q&A sessions. This requires little effort when it comes to video production and will go a long way in making your brand more accessible and relatable to your audience.
Remember to direct people to your pre-launch page in your videos, that way they can move along your sales funnel.
You can also read our guide here to learn more about how to repurpose your premium content for social media.
5. Use influencer marketing
Influencers have curated a dedicated audience that cares about their opinions and recommendations. Their followers want to know their insights and advice when making product-related decisions.
In fact, research from Edelman found that influencers can increase sales, trust, and advocacy. So, to raise awareness for your VOD launch, partnering with an influencer can be super helpful!
You’ll need to research influencers that cater to your target audience to increase your chances of getting prospective customers.
Choosing the right influencer is beyond the scope of this article, you can check out this useful guide on how you can find the right influencers to market your brand.
Once you’ve found influencers in your niche, invite them to use a private beta version of your VOD site. That way, you can have testimonials and advocates ready to promote your product for the launch.
Set trackable goals to make sure your influencer marketing campaign works. These goals can relate to:
- Engagement: how many likes, comments, brand mentions, and shares you get.
- Impressions: how many people you reach.
- Traffic & conversions: how many people visit your pre-launch page and leave their emails.
You can use social media management tools like MeetEdgar to help you track social media metrics, like engagement and impressions.
As for tracking traffic & conversions, you can use a UTM tracking code, which is a custom URL you can generate to track the traffic you get from different marketing campaigns.
If you’re in the fitness niche, we have an in-depth post about how to use influencer marketing to grow your business.
6. Send email marketing campaigns
Email marketing is an effective way to raise awareness, build anticipation, and increase sales for your VOD product.
There are two types of people you should send emails to:
- Existing leads: these come from an email list you already have. They are people who haven’t heard of your upcoming launch or haven’t directly asked to be reminded of your launch.
- New leads: these are people who visited your pre-launch page and left their emails to be reminded of your launch.
It’s easy with Uscreen…
As a Uscreen client, you will need to connect to any of our third-party email service provider integrations to send out newsletters to your email lists, such as Mailchimp, Drip, GetResponse, and more.
Existing Leads
Existing leads know your brand but may not know about your upcoming launch. So you’ll still need to convince them to become paying subscribers. That’s why we recommend sending 3 emails in the week before the launch.
Send the first email 7 days before your launch, that’s just enough time to spark people’s interest without getting them bored.
This email should include:
- Your logo.
- A captivating subject line that highlights the key points of your email.
- An explanation of what your new product is about.
- The benefit of signing up to your VOD site
- The launch date.
Then, send out your second email 3 days before the launch date. Here, you can include:
- Your logo.
- A preview or video teaser of what your product looks like.
- The launch date.
- A call-to-action (CTA) button to your pre-launch page.
- An early-bird offer for people who sign-up on your pre-launch page.**
Your final email should be sent the day of the launch, this can have:
- Your logo
- A captivating subject line that shows you‘ve launched today.
- The early-bird special promo code.**
- A clear CTA button to your VOD site.
** You’ll need to make note of which people show up on both email lists, Existing and New leads. That way, you know who is eligible for the early-bird offer.
This brings us to our second group of people…
New Leads
Your new leads are the ones you’ve generated by driving traffic to your pre-launch page.
They have explicitly asked to be reminded of your upcoming launch and are just waiting for you to give them the go-ahead to sign up to your premium VOD site.
This means you can send them just 2 emails to remind them of your launch, both emails should convey excitement. Send the first email the day before the launch, this should include:
- Your logo.
- A captivating subject line that highlights the launch is tomorrow.
- A video teaser of your VOD site.
You can then send the second email the day of the launch, which will include:
- Your logo
- A captivating subject line that shows you‘ve launched today.
- The early-bird special promo code.
- A clear CTA button to your VOD site.
And that’s it!
7. Run paid ads
Your potential customers are looking to interact with your ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, or YouTube; chances are they’re using one or 2 of these platforms already.
Find out where your potential customers are before you launch your paid ads campaign. After all, you want to make sure your ads are being seen and your money is well spent!
If you’re unsure how to pick the right platform for your ads campaign, check out Step 3 in this in-depth guide on paid-ads for your VOD site.
Once you’ve figured out where your potential clients are, you have several targeting options; here are 2 popular ones you can use to kick off your paid ads campaign:
- Keyword targeting: promote your ads by targeting certain keywords that are inline with your VOD brand. These keywords should have a connection with your product and preferably a healthy search volume.
- Audience affinities targeting: target your audience based on Google tracking and recognizing what they’re interested in. This could be what they browse, read, or search for.
The goal is to promote the launch of your VOD site and convey that your product is exactly what your viewers need.
One way to do this is by repurposing your video marketing content that shows what your product is all about and how it can help your target audience achieve their goals.
Another effective way to do this is by creating interactive ads, here are some interactive ads examples to inspire you.
Wrapping it up
We know you’re excited (and maybe a bit nervous) for the launch, and that’s normal!
We’ve given you 7 ways on how to create buzz before the launch of your VOD site….
- Set up a pre-launch page
- Promote your launch on social media
- Offer early-bird pricing
- Create video marketing campaigns
- Use influencer marketing
- Use existing email lists
- Run paid ads
…. which will help you direct traffic the day of the launch AND increase conversions.
You can pick and choose which tactics work for you, or use them all. Either way, they’re guaranteed to help your launch succeed.
