6 Strategic Ways for Video Businesses to Use Redemption Codes

By Chris Smith on August 31, 2017

Once you’ve launched your OTT video business, the next critical step is stepping up your marketing efforts to build your audience and drive subscriptions. Zype’s redemption codes are easy and effective marketing tools that any content owner can leverage to scale their video business.

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Redemption codes are single-use codes that give your customers access to designated premium content, whether it’s your entire video library, a specific playlist, or just an individual title. Once Zype generates a unique code, it’s up to you how to distribute it, redemption codes can be printed, emailed, or even embedded on your website.

Redemption codes are more than just a discount, they offer many different strategic and creative ways to grow your OTT video business. Here are 6 examples of how content owners incorporate redemption codes into their content marketing strategy.

1. Event Marketing

In this day and age, in-person marketing opportunities are rare, yet very powerful. Make the most of the events that you host or attend with redemption codes. Drive brand awareness and give attendees a compelling reason to subscribe with a branded postcard and a special offer in the form of a redemption code. Drive urgency by with an expiration date and always follow up with an email or two that reminds customers to use their code.

2. Free Trial Offer

The free trial is a strategy that subscription businesses in every industry use because it’s an effective way to attract and convert free users to paid subscribers.

Offer your viewers a chance to preview your premium content before they subscribe. Redemption codes allow content owners to control the parameters of a free trial, from time-limited access to the entire library or unlimited access to an individual video.

After getting a taste of the content they’re missing out on, they’re likely to convert into a paid subscriber. Free trials are especially effective for content owners with a YouTube presence or have designated free content on their website.

3. Retain and Reward Loyal Customers

In order to have a successful subscription business, It's essential to retain your existing subscribers. Content owners can use redemption codes as strategic incentives to better retain subscribers. You can offer a code when subscribers request to cancel, or proactively offer codes to subscribers that are at risk of churning by tracking viewing and engagement metrics.

Redemption codes are also a great way to drive brand loyalty and show your appreciation to your fans. Reward your most loyal or VIP users with special offers, whether it’s a discount or giving early access to new content. You can also use redemption codes as rewards for special marketing campaigns such as contests or drawings.

4. Encourage and Reward Social Sharing

Harness the power of social media with redemption codes. Give your subscribers an incentive to share codes and a recommendation to their friends through various social channels including email, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It’s important to have a program in place with guidelines that reward subscribers who actively participate or successfully refer new subscribers.

5. Package with Physical Product Offerings

Today, many content owners are multimedia focused, their content goes beyond video and may include a physical product offering such as a book, DVD, product box, or other merchandise. Redemption codes are very effective tools for these content owners to drive subscriptions or membership upgrades by simply packaging a special offer code along with their physical product offering.

6. Collaborate with Sponsors and Advertising Partners

If you're a content owner that works with advertising affiliates or sponsors, redemption codes are a great way to collaborate and cross-promote. Incentivize your partner's to share codes with their audience to expand your reach quickly. This strategy works especially well for broadcasters

These are just a few ways that content owners can leverage Zype’s redemption codes, you can customize your codes to work for your business. Not only do redemption codes help video businesses drive and retain subscribers, they can also help drive urgency and reveal important revenue insights (codes are easily tracked in Zype’s analytics Dashboard).

Connect your video with viewers, everywhere.