How To Explode Small Business Sales With Youtube Advertising

Marketing a small business with YouTube advertising may result in the biggest bang for the buck of any marketing tactic you use to build your brand, to influence the voices that will influence your potential customers, and to present your product or service information to a broad audience. But there is a huge amount of hype in circulation about the value and popularity of the various social media, including YouTube.

Many small business owners and entrepreneurs have been misinformed about YouTube. Advertising on this medium has only recently increased because of misunderstandings. There are three pieces of misinformation we can correct:

1. If you listen to the champions of social media, you are likely to believe that all social media have experienced explosive growth and there is every reason to expect that this will continue into the future. This is not true. The truth is that the popularity of social media is declining. This does not mean you should ignore social media. It means you should plan what you will do and where you will promote your business. For example, the Business Journals reported last year that 75% of all Americans have viewed an online video.

2. Twitter is the most important of the social media. This, also, is false. First, according to a recent study by Marketing Profs, LLC (The State of Social Media, 2009), most businesses with Twitter accounts actually have 100 followers or less. It is primarily the media - who are the ones talking about the popularity of Twitter - who have the staggering numbers of followers.

3. Facebook was the leader in social media - last year. Its place has been taken by YouTube. In addition, video clips offer you far more flexibility in topics, format, entertainment value and other aspects of your social media presence.

Marketing a small business with YouTube advertising makes a great deal of sense for small businesses for several reasons.

First, unlike television advertising, you do not need to pay for a time slot or rely on only the people who are watching when your ad runs. Posting a video for YouTube advertising is free. What is more, once posted, it is always available for people to see. Whenever someone executes a search for one of the keywords you attach to your video, it is accessible. Think of YouTube advertising as the ad that never sleeps.

Second, unlike most advertising venues, YouTube advertising is always on and can go viral at any moment. Think back for a moment to what YouTube did for Susan Boyle last year! A video that goes viral could be seen by 800 million people around the world!

Third, it does not have to cost a fortune to place an ad on YouTube. You do not need to rent a studio, hire professional actors, have a professionally-written script, and use the industry's best equipment. Many of the most popular videos used in YouTube advertising were filmed using a web-cam or a personal video camera.

Fourth, your video for YouTube advertising actually should not be a typical commercial. People do not go to YouTube to view TV commercials. If they leave the room, tune them out or edit them out when watching TV, why would they be interested in them on the Internet? The more creative, entertaining, surprising, informative and/or relevant the video the greater will be its interest in YouTube advertising.

One of the most popular YouTube ads was a video of a man trying to mix very strange things in a blender (with a clearly visible brand name). After laughing at the crazy combinations attempted and the hilarious results, viewers saw the man finally mix the right ingredients to create a perfect drink. This was followed by an announcement that the video was presented by the manufacturer of the blender.

YouTube advertising can cost you almost nothing - just make your video and post it to the site. Just be sure to add a creative and entertaining flair. Be sure there is a clear call to action. Later, if you have the budget to invest, you might want to consider some of the paid advertising programs offered by YouTube.

What can you expect to achieve? Of the people who used YouTube advertising for PR purposes, 29.1% said it worked great, while another 49.3% said it worked a little (according to the MarketingProfs Fall 2009 Survey). Of businesses that posted a video for YouTube advertising and used the analytics from the site to profile the people who viewed the video, 28.8% said it worked great and 35.6% said it worked a little.

Producing a video that is engaging, entertaining, relevant to your product or service, and personal to prospective customers can be very effective YouTube advertising. It can help you build your brand, associate your products or services with a particular group and achieve your PR goals. With a little luck, your YouTube advertising video could go viral and you could win the small business marketing sweepstakes.