We asked a bunch of Vimeo OTT sellers one simple question: What is your number one piece of advice for fellow video creators or someone just starting out? Some answers get into the nitty-gritty of marketing tactics, and some are big picture inspiration. And they come from sellers who specialize in everything from yoga subscription networks, to educational series and indie film sites. It’s kind of like having fifteen mentors in a room, passing you video knowledge. Listen and learn!

1. COWSPIRACY

“Stop waiting, just start making!”   Keegan Kuhn, Cowspiracy

2. BLACK&SEXY TV

“Focus on building an audience first, instead of attempting to monetize them. Give the gift of you away for free and later they will return the love.”   Dennis Dortch, Black&Sexy TV

3. THE ARTHOUSE

“Do your homework by studying your craft, your industry and your audience.” Lamont Pierre, The Arthouse

4. ULTIWORLD

“Provide a lot of value. Even the stingiest audiences contain a percentage that are willing to pay for your work as long as it feels like they are getting their money’s worth. That might mean improving your quantity (large archive or frequent updates), quality (bonus features for customers that spend more), or level of service (speedy customer support or responding to customer requests). Sometimes just improving your selling message can make a big difference if it more effectively communicates how much your fans support enables you to do what you do.” Orion Burt, UltiWorld

5. THE CHAMPIONS

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you no. There are so many ways to get your film made, and to distribute your film in this day and age. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and be creative!” Darcy Dennet, The Champions

6. CONSUMED

“My piece of advice for filmmakers starting out would be to think very carefully about what your first film is going to be that goes out into the marketplace because you will forever be defined by that piece of art.” Daryl Wein, Consumed

7. MANILOW TV

“We all have great content but it’s hard to convince someone to pay for it. Don’t be afraid to test and try different customer acquisition strategies. Put the proper tools in place so you can measure your results. Then follow the data.” Chris Walters, Manilow TV

8. CALISTHENICS UNITY

“Listen to Vimeo OTT’s advice if they give you advice about something. They usually have more experience than you and often knows what’s best haha! They are just as interested as you to make your business grow.” Christian Højby Nielsen, Calisthenics Unity

9. AN AFRICAN CITY

“Listen to your gut! And just do it! What are you waiting for?” Nicole Amarteifio, An African City

10. GIFTED

“If I could give one piece of advice for somebody thinking of starting a subscription service it would be to post lots of updates. Keeping people up to date on what/when new content will be posted will help keep churn in check. Also, consider using updates as a piece of “bonus” content. For example, we occasionally post an update that has a “quick tip” from Phil, or even more closely resembles a blog post.” Johnathan McFarlane, Gifted

11. CONTORTURE

“My number one piece of advice is to capitalize on pre-order functionality. Allowing sales to come in while still completing my project provided months of “hype-building” while generating special discounted orders.” Jonathan Nossan, Contorture

12. MHZ CHOICE

“Resist the temptation to build everything yourself from scratch. You’ll be broke before you know it. Focus on the reason customers are coming to your site — your content — and strategic decisions will flow from that. To that end, partnering with Vimeo OTT was the smartest thing we’ve done so far as it allows us to direct our attention on acquiring more content and subscribers.” Jason Connolly, MHz Choice