Using youtube to market?

[Peter Bowen]

Match your medium to your market. If your customers use youtube then market there - if they don't then you're wasting your time

Cheers

pete

[Mattpoet]

I wouldn't totally discount using youtube as an advertising tool. Sure it can be hit or miss but if you get something that has the right tags attached then you'd be surprised how many people will stumble over your video. Admitedlly it isn't certain and it's not worth investing much money in a Youtube campaign but if it works it can be a very effective and cheap marketing tool. Some of my videos have been seen by thousands and it has led to some very interesting leads.

[PintoPotts]

Well, I have taken the plunge - the local college have taken the project on with the brief of an informative 'how to' or 'what to do' type video that would appeal to You Tube viewers.

Will be very interesting to see what they come up with!

[ab2007]

Originally Posted by Matt H

Thing with doing this, is that unless you do something very original and clever that makes people talk and pass the link on to their friends, then it is likely that your video will end up lost amongst the thousands of other videos.

YouTube works, much cheaper than going on TV. Here's a good example of a viral on YouTube that's had a lot of hits because people liked it and linked. Incidentally the target is mature and upscale, not the YouTube yoof you'd imagine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYDohoobOw

[MK Printing]

Youtube is an amazing way to advertise.

I have seen loads of people use youtube any other video sites to get massive amounts of traffic to websites and promote themselves in a great way.

Here is an example of an American guy called Steve G Jones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btTtuIlyyjo he is a hypnotherapist and he puts on loads and loads of clips about hypnotherapy. He always advertises his site and because of the clips it makes him look like a leading professional.

Now is he any better than your local hypnotherapist (you know what I mean), probably not but he has adverts working 24/7 for him building customer confidence.

I will be using youtube and other similar sites to promote my new business a lot.

Matt

[guerrilla]

In my opinion youtube is good for making people aware of a new product being released or increasing brand awareness.

Being a small company with limited production budget I haven't used youtube to market but I have done similar viral marketing which works on similar principles.

We had the contract to build a website and market a world cup song (i'm not saying which one) on a really tight budget. We ceated a funny flash video and a flash game on the site and made a box on the page that people could type their friends emails into to link them to the game or animation. The email got circulated around the usual office crowd and within a week we were receiving 4,000 hits a day with £0 spent on advertising.

Another thing this reminds me of is an american based design company called jib jab who were among the first companies to hone in on viral marketing through flash animation. They released a series of funny animations and received publicity worldwide.

In short i find that when doing these things with a low budget it works best to do something topical in your related sector that will get an instant reaction.

If anyone out there is interested in finding more about costings of projects like this then I suggest talking to your web design company. If they don't specialise in this area then you could always send me a PM (Shameless plug I know.. hope its allowed ).

[CatherineL]

I'm thinking of trying Youtube. I think it may work for a business which operates in a small area, as many people look up the area they live on YouTube. Whether it is possible to get qualified traffic who will buy your product or services is another matter. I suppose it will depend on what they are offering, and whether your video is interesting enough that they will tell their friends about it.

My main problem is trying to persuade the staff to actually appear in the video - nobody is very keen at all. Will let you know how I get on.

[GotVideo?]

Originally Posted by TeamGopher

Have any of you used youtube to market your business? If so can you show me what you did and what you thought of the results?

Video is the way to go, as my avatar name indicates. But just ensure that your product or business is in line with the YouTube environment. If you had a game product or something that is great for the every day consumer, then it's fine. Otherwise, your youtube video or marketing is right next to a Viagra video or even worse, something not suitable and offensive.

[sayhi]

i think it depends what type of business you are running. if you are in the entertainment business for example, then youtube will probably work well for your purposes. good luck