One of the greatest dilemmas of a business owner is how to showcase your products or services to potential customers for as little money as possible.
You’ve spent countless hours on developing the best products or services but need a platform that engages an audience long enough to learn about your brand.
It’s possible that you’ve heard that video marketing is one of the most effective trends for businesses going forward, but how can you implement a strategy that makes sense for your business? Using YouTube can be an easy and cost-effective option that, if used properly, can introduce your brand and its products to new audiences.
Create product-based videos
Videos are a great platform to show customers how to use your products in everyday situations. A recent study showed 69% of consumers prefer to watch a short video to learn more about a company’s products or services. Show viewers what your products look like in “real life.’ Demonstrate how your services can improve their workflow.
These videos don’t need to be long but should show viewers why they need your product in their lives and how they can effectively use them.
Showcase your expertise
Consumers are much more likely to purchase from a brand they trust as an expert in a particular industry. YouTube is a great platform to explain your brand’s products and their benefits in an easily digestible medium, as mentioned above. You can dive even deeper by explaining how much time and research went into the development of those products, which can establish your brand’s expertise.
Poise yourself as a thought leader in your industry through tips and highlighting upcoming trends. Not only will this be engaging content for your target audience, but it will also build your audience’s trust in your knowledge and ultimately your products.
Choose your keywords wisely
YouTube is a part of the Google family which means if you are strategic about the keywords used in your titles and descriptions, you can introduce your brand to people across the world.
Behind Google, YouTube is actually the world’s second largest search engine - meaning that marketing your business on the video platform will quite literally open a world of opportunity for you. This means that you must approach the packaging of your videos very intentionally. Consider these three questions as you title and write your descriptions:
- What is the most concise way to communicate the subject of the video? YouTube only allows 100 characters in its titles. The first 45 characters are even more important because that’s what shows up on the homepage and in search results. Each character is precious and must only be spent on the most important information. You can use a character counter like this one to make sure you stay within the limits.
- How can I invoke curiosity from potential viewers? Create some intrigue. If you are trying to answer a question or problem a potential viewer may face, don’t answer the question in the title. By doing so, you’ve taken away their incentive to watch the video.
- What phrases would my target audience search? Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. What problems would drive them to a search engine and how can your business solve them?
Connect with your audience in real time
YouTube gives you the opportunity to connect with your audience in real time through live streaming. You can host live webinars, interviews with people of interest and workshops.
The key to making an engaging live streaming event is interaction with your audience. Not only is this a more personable method of communication, but it also gives you an opportunity to answer your audience’s questions in real time. You can also ask them questions and receive live feedback by prompting them to comment in the chat.
If YouTube’s algorithm notices that your audience is engaged, it will reward you by showing your video to more people who aren’t subscribed to your channel. While going live can be intimidating, it is an effective tool that can introduce your brand to new viewers while also giving them an opportunity to interact with you and your brand in real time.
Bottom Line: Keep it simple
Now that you’ve been equipped with a few ideas of how to leverage YouTube’s influential platform to grow your business, let me remind you of a classic rule of thumb. Keep It Simple, Stupid. Okay. You’re not stupid, but don’t overthink it. Start out simple and learn how the platform can best serve your audience.
Make your call to actions compelling and test, test, test. See which video formats elicit the largest response from your audience and repeat. YouTube is a powerful tool when used well. If you invest the time to figure out how this platform can best serve your audience, it will help grow your business in ways you didn’t even know were possible.
Have questions about how to further support a YouTube channel? Contact us for more resources.
