The streaming war is getting bloody. And not only that, but great players continue to join to get a profit from this great market.
Salesforce is the latest tech giant to venture into video streaming with the launch of a new service aimed at business professionals called Salesforce +, the company’s chief marketing officer Sarah Franklin tells Axios.
Because it is important
The service is part of a larger effort to transition Salesforce’s marketing approach from paid customer acquisition to owned and operated media.
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Franklin says the hope is that the content helps people hone their skills, while creating an emotional connection to Salesforce, prompting users to “want to use our products and want to interact more with us.”
Details
Debuting globally during the annual Salesforce Dreamforce megaconference in September, Salesforce + is a free service that will feature original Salesforce programming and eventually content created by your customers.
- The content will be available on demand 24/7, but will also feature live event programming, starting with Dreamforce.
- The company has hired around 50 editorial leaders to help launch the service, including screenwriters and broadcast producers. He plans to fill many more editorial roles in the coming months as he builds his schedule roster.
- More generally, there are hundreds of people at Salesforce currently working on Salesforce + in the marketing, product, and digital departments.
- For now, Franklin says the company has no plans to sell ads on the content or charge for it. “We will measure success by free subscribers and audience,” he says. It will launch with a considerable amount of promotion paid in September.
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Salesforce has built its own internal studio, Salesforce Studios, to film and produce the content, which will feature stories that Franklin says are meant to be entertaining and inspiring at the same time.
- “It will help you learn things that will help you perform well at your job, whether you are a salesperson, a marketer, a CEO, etc.,” says Franklin.
- While Salesforce plans to create most of the content at launch, it hopes to eventually build a platform for professional content from its clients.
- “We see an incredible opportunity to have content and series submitted by the community,” says Franklin, noting that Salesforce will review all content on their service. “We can provide some production quality and supervision approvals.”
Salesforce has produced 6 original series which will debut at the launch. Some programs, such as “Leading Through Change” and “The Tipping Point,” highlight the work and challenges that corporate leaders face.
Others, like “Boss Talks” and “Simply Put,” will focus on professional growth and building business skills.
It will also launch four “broadcast channels,” or channels that include live programming of its events, with more than 100 hours of content.
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Be smart: There’s clearly a market for professional development content, but since Salesforce + serves as a marketing vehicle for Salesforce, it’s unclear whether Salesforce will be able to take advantage of that spirit of the age.
MasterClass, for example, has more than tripled in rating over the past year, thanks to a huge shift in online learning during the pandemic.
The big picture: Salesforce isn’t the first marketing technology company to move in this direction, and it won’t be the last.
- HubSpot, a publicly traded marketing software company, bought The Hustle, a newsletter company targeting entrepreneurs, for $ 27 million earlier this year.
- TheSkimm is considering a sale to a non-media company, potentially including a financial services company interested in attracting younger women as customers.
What follows: the service will be available for free anywhere on the web in September. It will be released as a standalone streaming app shortly after.
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