XBIZ Senior Editor and seminar moderator Stephen Yagielowicz kicked off the seminar with the topic of branding, and Farrell Timlake of Homegrown Video and Stephen Bugbee of Matrix Content discussed distributing exclusive content without overexposure and over-saturation.
Timlake told attendees to spread their brand names online through different distribution models, but be sure to only release a "trickle," which will effectively expose consumers to the brand without giving everything away in one fell swoop. Bugbee also said it's important to distribute some of your content in-house.
"Your content is gold," Bugbee said. "Create your own projects and ways to distribute them."
World Wide Content's Raffi Vartanian said that he uses 20 percent of his content as promotional material and relies on webmasters and staff to police tube sites and make sure only that percentage is being shown for free.
Allison Vivas of TopBucks, Silvercash Albert and Vartanian all urged content producers to spend the money and time to copyright material and trademark brands, because that's the only way content owners will prevail in court.
"You have to prove damage if [the content] is not copyrighted," Vivas said. "If it's copyrighted, there's already a dollar amount put to the content."
Albert said it's foolish not to copyright, and the $45 application fee is a small price to pay to protect content.
Regarding repurposing old content, Vivas, Bugbee and Vartanian all said that there are a million different ways to carve up and sell old material — never lose the ability to take advantage of content's life cycle.
Bugbee said that because Matrix's content is relatively broad and isn't narrowed into specific niches, his content can fit into almost any market. Vivas said that repurposing for markets with different regulations – such as cable or international markets — takes more work, and it's important to go where the money is.
"It makes sense to go where the numbers show the best [return on investment]," Vivas said. "Know your distributors, find where the money is being made — that's the best way to monetize your content."
And Albert reminded attendees that markets constantly change, and what might not look lucrative now could be the complete opposite by August. By being picky when forming trusting relationships with distributors, he said, and making selective decisions, you can be sure your content is being taken care of.
