Post on 17-Jul-2015
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Building A Video Empire
April 15, 2015
Building A Video Empire
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• We exist to inspire and empower the next generation of athletes
• Founded in 2005 as print publication
• Requested into 75% of nation’s high schools
• Largest teen readership in print with 5.4MM per issue
STACK Today
Building A Video Empire
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• Largest sports performance media company with 15+MM UV/month
• Library of 8,000 original vids and 85MM+ views/month
• Advertising and Sponsorship deals with Gatorade, Nike, Under Armour, NFL, etc.
• Partnerships with Yahoo! Sports, Fox Sports and Relativity Media
STACK Today
Building A Video Empire
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• Experienced the need for STACK as athletes at Mayfield High School
• Learned others had similar experience when meeting college teammates at CMU and Harvard
• STACK is the solution to athletes’ information problem
The Initial Idea
Building A Video Empire
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• First major question: Where do we begin?
• Leverage University Resources– Professors
– Classes
– Advisors
– Classmates
• Leverage Student Status
• Read, Read, Read
Starting The Plan
Building A Video Empire
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• Had classmates build us initial website
• Leveraged design and art majors for artwork
• Asked professors to be advisors
• Took relevant classes outside our majors
• Reached out to industry experts using student-status to open doors
Start Doing Something
Building A Video Empire
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• Built business plan instead of taking internships
• Won multiple business plan competitions and $15,000 in prizes
• Declined job offers out of college
• Raised money via friends & family and credit card debt to soft-launch mag
• Built prototype of magazine repurposing website content
Keep Doing Something
Building A Video Empire
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• Chose non-traditional route of controlled circ and free distribution direct to HS
• Ad supported model so more athletes could be reached
• Marketed magazine to 6,000 HS’s and signed up 3,000 in two weeks
• Sold ads to Nike, Reebok, Rawlings in first issue
Make Smart Business Decisions
Building A Video Empire
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• Started producing original digital video content in 2007 with star athletes and trainers.
Master Digital Video
Building A Video Empire
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Be The Expert
• By 2008 leading marketers like Gatorade and the National Guard were coming to STACK to help create custom video content
• STACK provided expertise in creating content for athletes and distribution to the brand’s target market
• Still actively creating custom content and recently did work with The Hobbit/Warner Bros.
Building A Video Empire
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Scale Content Production
• Empowered subject matter experts to be regular contributors via tech tools
• Now have hundreds of contributors that scaled content production by 4x
• Content includes both article and video
• Key element in growth of audience as more content for more sports and interests
Building A Video Empire
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Focus on SEO
• Started extensive SEO efforts in 2013 which have lead to 4x growth in organic search traffic in 15 months
• Content discovery is critical for success and search still a key driver of traffic for all publishers
Building A Video Empire
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Be Mobile Friendly
• Mobile web browsing is out-growing desktop browsing and many sites now receive the majority of their traffic from mobile devices.
• STACK released a responsive design in late 2013 and our organic mobile traffic has grown 6x since.
Building A Video Empire
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Know How To Market
• We began promoting our content via Outbrain, Taboola, etc. in 2013 and our traffic has boomed
• Social channels like Facebook and Twitter are also effective organic and paid marketing channels
Building A Video Empire
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Video Is Critical To Success
• Video is at the core of all content opportunities & experiences
• “Writers” need to be directors and video producers to create multi-media packages
• Trending toward 100 million monthly vid impressions
• Partnerships with Yahoo! Sports, Fox Sports and Relativity Media
Building A Video Empire
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Going Beyond Traditional Media
• Acquired franchisor of athlete-focused training centers in 2014
• Acquired mobile app developer of sports-fitness based apps
• Building new Direct-to-Consumer offerings to meet athlete needs
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Building A Video Empire
Chad ZimmermanSTACK
Co-Founder & President
Chad.zimmerman@stack.com