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64 P a r t I Marketing Your Business Online with YouTube

Defining YouTube’s Role in Your Marketing Strategy

Some marketing activities are pretty direct such as direct mail, of course, but also
email marketing, online and offline advertising, and the like. These methods are all
fairly hard sell in their approach.

YouTube marketing, on the other hand, is all about subtlety. That is, people don’t watch
YouTube videos that are overtly promotional in nature. For that reason, you can’t
upload an existing television commercial and expect to garner an online audience;
people have too many other options to watch a commercial online, on their own time.

To that end, you need to produce videos that offer true value to your intended audi-
ence. This softer sell defines YouTube’s role in your marketing strategy.

This soft sell comes in the form of the information or instruction you provide.
Perhaps that’s a video newscast where you talk about industry news or technical
developments; perhaps it’s a how-to video that shows people how to use your prod-
uct to do something useful. In any case, viewers watch the video because it provides
valuable information; what they retain is a sense of your brand or company as a
source of authority on the topic at hand.

Now, you might consider this sort of subtle sell an insidious form of corporate
propaganda, and you’d be right. You’re edging your way into the customer’s life,
hoping he’ll associate your brand with the useful information he’s received via your
videos. WidgetCo provided value to me; WidgetCo is good; I want to make my next
purchase from WidgetCo. That’s much different from a paid advertisement, and
ultimately more effective; you get deep into your audience’s subconscious and plant
your brand message in a very subtle yet long-lasting fashion.

The key is to use YouTube videos to supplement the promotional message you
impart in other online and offline media. You don’t use videos to broadcast blatant
advertisements; instead, you build on your promotional message with the practical
information you broadcast to the YouTube audience.

And here’s another thing. By giving a face to your company or brand, YouTube
videos can help personalize your company and develop a direct connection to your
customer base. It’s not an anonymous promotional message from an ad or press
release, it’s John Smith talking to you in person about something that interests you.
This type of personal communication is particularly effective, and needs to be a
part of your web marketing mix.

Formulating Your New Marketing Mix

Given the more subtle role that YouTube plays in your marketing strategy, where
exactly does YouTube fit within your overall marketing mix?