I have been approached a couple of times by businesses and individuals on the concept of YouTube and its impact as a marketing tool.
First and foremost, I must remind that I am not so much interested on sharing on HOW to do a good eye catching YouTube video...as it is something that I feel is a rather 'subjective' matter which is more a subject of creativity rather than technical skill set.
Here I would like to touch first on the 'considerations' before embarking on YouTube as a marketing tool.
Increasingly YouTube has grown into a powerful marketing tool for almost everything, from weddings, to celebrations, politics, films, dramas, singing careers, you name it....and yes...even for products and services. YouTube has in fact become a hot site to promote almost everything. However, especially from the business perspective, not every business (or everyone) gets acceptable results/ROI from their YouTube marketing videos.
One thing clear in YouTube marketing is that it has allowed organizations, businesses and even individuals alike to be more effective and 'convincing' than conventional 'print based' advertisement as it allows for more effective 'SHOWING' rather than just plain old 'TELLING' to occur.
It is important to note that success on YouTube depends on what you intend to establish/achieve with your online YouTube videos. So, my advice is, before you start shooting with your smartphones/video camera/tablets consider answering the following questions first:-
1. Should your business even be on YouTube?
Do you actually know what is your business all about, and do you actually want it to be on YouTube? It is important to note that not every business is suitable for YouTube. As a rule of thumb, if you can't show your product or service in action, don't put it on YouTube...if you can.,,,great...than you have a chance.
For example, if you sell or manufacture screwdrivers, its pretty easy to demonstrate it on camera, but if you sell a 'part time baby sitting' service or 'high-school tutorial service'...it takes extremely high imagination and creativity to demonstrate that on a YouTube video (meaning...difficult to make a good 'marketing' video).
Even if you could somehow make a video (that demonstrates your service), an important thing to bear in mind is...you need to set a clear goal on what it is you want to establish with the particular video?.. Your goal will determine what type of video you should ideally produce.
2. Do you want to attract new customers or support existing ones?
Most organizations/businesses find YouTube as a good medium to attract new customers (even political parties :p). Normally, this is done by showing a particular product and demonstrating how it works, than direct the audience to an official website for more information or close in a sale. As YouTube has yet to allow direct link from video to 'site', than the common practise is to superimpose on screen the 'official site URL' and to also include it in the video's text description.
A YouTube video is also being commonly used as a medium to provide support or additional information to existing customers. For example, if you provide/sell a product that requires some form of assembly (like a tent), you may produce a video that shows how to assemble it properly. A how-to-video can be more effective than printed instructions, and is capable of decreasing the number of post-sale customer support calls.
3. Do you want to EDUCATE or INFORM?
Based on observations, it can be generalized that the most successful YouTube videos tend to accomplish one of these three things:-
INFORM,
EDUCATE, or
ENTERTAIN.
It is also noted that although Entertainment videos (think GangNam) are the most likely to go viral and create spinoffs/parodies...it is the most difficult to create.
Which is why most business/organizations focus on making videos that aim to INFORM or EDUCATE.
Informative YouTube video: a specific video that can provide specific details on a particular product/service/company/or simple topics of interests to potential customers. For example, the recent Malaysian election saw an avalanche of videos with interesting topics to entice voters to either vote for/against a particular political party. (Or if you run a home stay or bed and breakfast business, you could perhaps do a short video tour of your facility)
Educational YouTube video: a specific video that normally shows customers 'how to do' something, normally in a step-by-step manner. For example, how to assemble a D.I.Y. table.
Depending on the nature of the business being run, each business will naturally gravitate towards a YouTube video that is either informative or educational in nature. For example, if you ran a home based catering business, the video could be an informative video that show your top dishes in an attractive settings, or an educational video that show customers how to cook their own versions of your favourite recipe.
All in all, the choice/decision of either Informative video versus Educational video (or even Entertainment video) falls largely on your personal style and (personal/company) image to be portrayed. However it is important to NOTE that YouTube videos (unlike conventional marketing) is a soft selling approach. Here, direct commercial messages is normally and largely REJECTED, so as a tip, if your video can offer something useful and/or memorable, than you're in a position to create your own unique branding in the long run.
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