1. Sign up for a MediaZilla Growth Plan or Above
The first step is to create an account with MediaZilla if you don’t already have one. The free trial will let you test out all the monetization features, but once that expires you will need a Growth plan or above to access Dynamic Video Sales.
2. Link Your Account with Stripe
Before you can start using Dynamic Video Sales and collecting money, you must link your MediaZilla account to a Stripe account. Payments from clients are made directly into your bank account configured via Stripe. Setup only take a few minutes and no existing Stripe account is required.
3. Create a Presentation
Begin by creating a project in the dashboard, upload all the completed videos to it, and create a presentation. You can also work with an existing presentation.
4. Adding Your Add-ons to a Presentation
Dynamic Video Sales works by having you specify buttons as add-ons available for purchase within a presentation. Add-ons aren’t limited to videos either. They can also be a link button or a submenu button containing lots of content. Access to the add-on is locked until the viewer purchases it.
Add-ons that Have Not Yet Been Edited
If you have not yet edited the video being offered as an add-on (most common scenario), you will want to upload and use a short temporary video as a placeholder for it. This process can be streamlined by creating a product catalog.
You cannot have multiple add-ons reference the same video in a presentation. When a video button is set as an add-on, all buttons linked to that video are locked and treated as part of the same add-on. To include multiple add-ons with placeholder videos in a single presentation, upload a unique placeholder video for each add-on. You can reuse these placeholder videos across different projects.
Already Edited Add-ons
If the add-on is a video that's already been edited and is ready to go, simply upload it and add it to the presentation menu as you would with a normal video.
External Links as Add-ons
If you will be selling access to a cloud storage folder for raw footage or some other external link, just create a link button as you would normally.
Submenus as Add-ons
If you will be selling access to an entire submenu of content, whether it contains a chapter selection or various separate videos, go ahead and create the submenu normally.
5. Configuring Add-ons
Dynamic Video Sales Settings
Once you’ve added all your add-ons and/or placeholders to the presentation menu, now it’s time to configure them. The presentation must first be published.
If you are on the view screen for the presentation, select the '$' icon on the left side panel to open the Monetize settings, then select the 'Dynamic Video Sales' tab at the top. (see below)
If you are in the Presentation Editor, click the '$' icon in the top-right to go directly to the Dynamic Video Sales settings.
From the Dynamic Video Sales settings, you'll see the following options:
Select Add-ons: This enables you to select which buttons in the presentation will be identified as Add-ons, locking their access for viewers until purchased.
Add-on Menu Title: Here, you define the title for the Add-ons section that will be displayed to the user. The default is "Purchase Add-ons".
Currency: You set the currency that will be charged in the Add-ons section. Your selection automatically becomes the new default going forward.
Selecting Add-ons
You can turn any video, submenu, play-all, or link button in the presentation into an Add-on.
Click on “Select Add-ons”
Notice the presentation is now highlighted on your screen.
Click on any buttons that you want to be an Add-on
When you click a button in the presentation, it marks it as being an add-on.
Observe that selected buttons are outlined in blue.
You can add as many buttons as you want.
If you have multiple buttons referencing the same video, such as a scene selection, you only need to select one of the buttons and all the buttons that reference the same video will become selected, simplifying the process.
When making a submenu an add-on, you do not need to make any buttons within it an add-on. Their access will automatically be locked from the parent menu.
Removing an add-on
When selecting add-ons, simply click on the button again to remove it as an add-on, thus making that content accessible to anyone viewing the presentation.
Once deselected, it will not longer have a blue outline.
Click “Done” to finalize your choice of Add-ons
Notice that all the selected add-ons are displayed in a list in the Dynamic Video Sales tab on the left.
To edit this list, click on 'Select Add-ons' again.
Configuring Add-ons
For each Add-on, you can define:
Add-on Title: This is the title of the add-on displayed to the viewer in the add-on list. It defaults to the same title as the button but can be changed.
Add-on Description: This is the description that will be displayed below the preview or poster frame on the Add-on screen to the viewer when the add-on is highlighted. If the content uses a placeholder video and requires a turnaround time to complete, we strongly recommend communicating this in the description to set expectations and avoid an unhappy client that might be expecting to view it immediately upon purchase. Example: "This is a full-length multi-camera edit of the ceremony. Please allow up to 2 weeks to complete once purchased. We will notify you when it is ready to watch!"
Price: This is the price that will be displayed and charged to the viewer. Stripe transaction fees and MediaZilla commission will be deducted from this amount.
Preview Video: This video will be displayed on the Add-ons screen and autoplay when the add-on is highlighted in the list. Using a preview significantly increases the likeliness of making the sale and we strongly encourage using this feature. A quick 10 second sneak peek of the content can go a long way. See example
Preview Client Experience
At any time, you can view a preview of how your add-ons will appear to the client by clicking on the Preview button at the bottom of the Dynamic Video Sales tab.
The preview does not contain the checkout screen where they enter their payment information, but rather simulates a successful purchase when you select an add-on and click “Checkout”.
To save your changes, click on “Save.”
Your client will only see the updates after you publish your presentation.
To be most successful with Dynamic Video Sales, be sure to read the complete playbook.