YouTube for Business-to-Business
Posted on 07. May, 2010 by David Kluskiewicz in Blog, video
YouTube can be an effective marketing tool, and not just for consumer products and cute videos of your pets. Says B-to-B magazine:
despite its consumer leaning, YouTube, which served up 11.9 billion videos in February, is also an excellent tool for b-to-b marketers—as long as they know the best ways to take advantage of the site.
There are scant opportunities to personally connect with prospects. And, few companies take the time to network, get involved with their communities, or take on leadership roles in their industries. Yet, virtually all of them say, “If people could just meet us or see our operation, they’d give us their business.” They’re right, most of the time. There’s rarely one distinguishing thing that makes one business better than another. It’s more likely that nuance or personality. That can come through in video.
YouTube, with all its imperfections, can provide an honest peek into a business miles away. A quick interview. A quick tour of a new process. Is it polished? That depends on your investment. Yes, there are talented people who can assemble a 3-minute video in a half a day, but most of us need to outline a script, prepare our people, set up some lighting and microphones and then thoughtfully edit down to something people would want to watch. It has to be informative, creative or clever. If you’re producing video, just to say that you’ve produced video, forget it.
If you’re just getting started, read Google’s guide: YouTube: Best Practices for the B2B Marketer.