Remember your friend? You know, the energetic, optimistic "do-it-yourself-er." The one who never needs to hire a contractor for complex home improvement projects. Still having trouble? This should jog your memory: remember eating at your friend's house on a nice kitchen table next to a wall of exposed 2x4s? Or when you had to brush your teeth in a sink that was suspended only by pipes and no counter-top? Yes, your friend with the never-ending home improvement projects. Ok, now we are on the same page.
Most of us would agree: while some do-it-yourself (DIY) projects are successful, most take longer than expected, incur more costs than budgeted, and require constant tweaks and modifications. While it might seem like a good idea at the time, most folks find themselves wishing they had gone to the experts from the start. The same holds true when it comes to creating video portals.
As the best way for brands and enterprises with large video libraries to get their content to their audience, drive engagement, and increase long-term ROI on their video investment, video portals are a valuable marketing asset. They are also quite intricate.
An initial impulsive thought might be, "Hey, we have a web development team, we have a marketing team, we can do this ourselves!" But, hold on a sec! Before you go down the never-ending DIY path and serve video content to your audience on a buggy, outdated video portal, consider the following hidden costs of the DIY video portal strategy:
Time – How long do you think it would take to get your portal up and running? On average, it takes two dedicated web developers about four to six months to bring a video portal live. However, with an effective SaaS video portal solution, you can get up and running within one week. What does that time difference mean to you? Think of the marketing results you could drive with six extra months.
Cost – How much will it really cost you to build your portal? Don't be fooled. Just because you have dedicated web resources doesn't mean you won't incur additional costs when you DIY. First, moving these resources to a video portal development project takes them away from other priorities. Second, video portals need responsive design, enterprise-grade security and uptime, and integration with all your video and marketing workflows. That costs a lot! And, what if you want to build another portal for a short-term campaign, or for a few different market segments? Each one takes time and serious investment. By using SaaS video portals, you won't have to worry about any of these organizational and development costs.
Ongoing Costs –DIY portals don't run themselves. What's your ongoing maintenance plan for your portal? Basic tasks like uploading fresh content and maintaining uptime, and more advanced efforts like scalability and innovation require a lot of focused, long-term, ongoing costs. The question you have to ask yourself is, "Do you want your portal to look the same in a year as it does today?" If the answer is no (which it should be) then a DIY solution is not the most effective way to achieve this goal. SaaS video portals are constantly innovating and are maintained for you. They get better every month, and so does your video portal experience.
To find out how Brightcove can help turn your video portal project into an easy-to-start, easy-to-use, long-term success, check out the following resource: https://www.brightcove.com/en/gallery