What Is The Purpose Of Your YouTube Videos?

What Is The Purpose Of Your YouTube Videos?

Let’s start with the most basic strategic issues for any marketing professional:

• What is the purpose of your YouTube videos?

• What is your goal?

• Why do you want to market via YouTube?

The wrong answer to the last question is “because everyone’s doing it.” Equally wrong are “because it’s the latest thing,”“because my competitors are doing it,” and “because it’s neat.”

As a marketing professional, you can’t base your marketing strategy on the latest trends and technologies or on the behaviors of other marketers.

You have to pick and choose the media you use based on their strategic importance to your company and brand; you have to pick media that serves your purpose and achieves your stated results.

It’s possible that there is no strategic reason for you to market on YouTube.

Perhaps you run a local contracting business and you have a very loyal and satisfied customer base, enough to fill your schedule for years to come. In this instance, you might have nothing to gain by putting up a video on YouTube.

On the other hand, maybe you do have something to gain from producing a series of YouTube videos.

Even if you don’t want or need to attract new customers, you might be able to serve your existing customers better by incorporating YouTube into your media mix.

Perhaps you can create a video demonstrating some of the options you have available for your customers, using YouTube as a kind of extended video catalog.

Or maybe you can reinforce your new customers’ choices by uploading testimonials from customers who have been pleased with your company.

Possibly you can use YouTube as after-sale support by showing customers how to maintain the work you create for them.

The point is that you need to determine up front what you want to achieve and how YouTube can help you achieve that.

Don’t automatically assume that YouTube is just for attracting new customers or selling individual products, there are a number of ways that you can use YouTube for both pre-sale promotion and after-sale support.

Figure out your goals ahead of time, and then build your plan around those goals.

And, as I said, if YouTube doesn’t help you achieve those goals, that’s okay; you should never shoehorn a particular medium into your plans just because everybody else thinks you ought to.

Who Is Your Customer?

Another factor in determining how YouTube fits into your plans is the customers you’re trying to reach.

Just who do you sell to and why?

Forget them over time. Sometimes stating the obvious is the most important thing you can do.

All your marketing should revolve around the customer, so it’s imperative that you know who that customer is and what he wants.

Work through the following check-list to determine just who you should be focusing on:

• How old is your target customer?

• What does your customer like to do in his or her spare time?

• How does your customer describe himself or herself?

• How does your customer prefer to receive information: via newspaper, television, radio, or the Internet?

• Is your customer male or female?

• Is your customer single or married?

• What is your customer’s average yearly income?

• Where does your customer live?

• Where does your customer shop?

• What websites does your customer frequent?

• How does your customer access the Internet—via a computer or mobile device, and over what speed of connection?

• What products does your customer currently use?

• Is your target customer a current client or someone who is not yet using your product?

• Does your customer know about your company or product?

• If so, what does your customer think about your company and product—what image does he have of you?

These are just a few of the things you need to know about your target customer.

The more you know, of course, the better you can serve the customer’s wants and needs.

Related: YouTube Video Optimization Tips

The less you know, the more you’re guessing in the dark and guessing in the dark is a very ineffective and inefficient way to create a marketing plan.

Of course, another set of important questions to ask, in terms of incorporating YouTube into your marketing mix, concerns YouTube itself.

Does your customer visit the YouTube site?

If so, how often?

• Why does he visit the site?

• What does he think of YouTube?

• What types of videos does he like to watch?

• How does he feel about “commercial” videos on YouTube?

If your customer is a heavy YouTube viewer, and if he’s open to commercial messages among his entertainment, YouTube holds promise as a marketing vehicle for your company.

On the other hand, if your customer never visits YouTube, or is diametrically opposed to commercial messages intruding on his entertainment, you really shouldn’t include YouTube in your marketing mix.

After all, you don’t want to advertise in places where your customer isn’t.

Good luck!

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