Page 46 - SKU-000506274_TEXT.indd

C h a p t e r 2 Developing Your YouTube Marketing Strategy 25

Or maybe you’re not promoting anything at all. That is, you might be using
YouTube to provide customer support or technical support; that’s much different
from using YouTube to sell products or services. It’s also possible that you’re using
YouTube for strictly internal purposes, to support your employee base or for
employee training. Again, how you intend to use YouTube will determine the types
of videos you create.

What Is Your Message?

Assuming that you’re using YouTube to promote your company, brand, or
product/service, what message is it that you want to impart? Marketing is about
more than just offering a product for sale; it’s also about creating and conveying a
company/brand/product image—and that image is conveyed as part of a cohesive
marketing message.

Take, for example, the classic example of low-end versus high-end image. If you’re
selling a commodity product on price, the image you convey must resonate with a
price-sensitive audience. On the other hand, if you’re offering a high-end product to
a brand-savvy audience, you need to convey a classier image; it’s not about price, it’s
about appearance.

Beyond simple image, your YouTube videos need to carry the same or similar mes-
sage that you use in your other advertising media. This message is critical to every-
thing you do in your marketing efforts; it should grab your customers’ attention, tell
them how you can solve their problem/meet their needs, and convince them that
you offer the best of all available solutions.

That last point bears reinforcement. Not only should you tell potential customers what
it is you’re offering, you must tell them what it is about your company/brand/product
that differentiates you from your competitors. Answer the unspoken question,“why
us?”—or you risk losing the sale to a better-defined competitor. Emphasize what
makes you different, and what makes you better. You are selling yourself, after all.

In doing this, however, you should never forget that your message is about the cus-
tomer, not about you. The biggest mistake that companies make is to communicate
“what we do” instead of “what we do for you.” Customers want to hear what’s in it
for them, not what’s in it for you.

In addition, you must present your message in terms of benefits rather than fea-
tures. Never describe the 22 function buttons on your new electronic gizmo;
instead, describe how each button solves a particular customer want/need. Instead
of saying that your gizmo has memory recall, say that “memory recall lets you
remember key contacts at the touch of a single button.” Again, phrase your message
in terms of what you do for the customer—not in terms of what you or your prod-
uct does.