YouTube marketing: a case study of organic reach via YouTube content
by Jess Fields, President, Precision Outreach – Updated June 28, 2023
YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine. It’s literally everywhere – the average consumer now spends almost 30 minutes a day on YouTube, and that’s nearly an hour for children and teenagers.
Businesses should not just acknowledge the value of marketing on this platform – they should embrace it. As we’ll show, even simple videos with little to no real YouTube marketing strategy can do incredibly well in a reasonable span of time.
Our case study: roofers gone viral, sort of
This case study is accidental. One of our former clients was looking to create some new video content, and we were looking to help them explain their products. There’s just one problem, which you might have guessed: roofing is not the world’s most exciting endeavor.
Further, the chosen topic, commercial roofing, was even more droll – to most folks, like watching paint dry. So here’s what we did, and honestly, we were shocked at how well it worked.
We filmed this video with an iPhone because the video wasn’t planned far in advance – it wasn’t complicated – of one of the roofing contractors giving a tour of a commercial roof installation (what’s called TPO, which is more or less a giant sheet synthetic material bolted to the top of a commercial structure). We described the video and put it up – nothing fancy or crazy, but we were clear that the video was about TPO installation.
Within about a year, the video had nearly 20,000 views – and in spite of the fact that we no longer work with that client, there’s no doubt it continues to drive commercial interest and business their way. That’s true for any YouTube video which isn’t removed – they’re evergreen. They work indefinitely. Think of it like “passive income” but in terms of traffic for your brand.
The video is still growing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it his 6-figure views in the next year or two. It just keeps going… that’s how it works. We’d film it today on our suite of 4K cameras with multiple angles, etc… well, maybe we wouldn’t? It depends on what the purpose is. Sometimes, imperfect can be best. It certainly smacks of authenticity, that’s for sure.
So that’s the incredible value of YouTube content. And it doesn’t have to be Hollywood production value – just relevant, described/titled reasonably well, and interesting to watch.
The unbelievable reach of popular YouTubers
North Carolina YouTube sensation Mr. Beast (real name Jimmy Donaldson) the biggest YouTuber in the English-speaking world, has over 160 million subscribers as of the writing of this article, and climbing every day. His most popular video, a real-life game show reenactment of the smash Korean TV hit “Squid Game,” has received over 450 million views. What started as a teenager doing challenges like watching stupid, repetitive videos for hours on end, or locking himself in a room with nothing to do, has become far more. Donaldson has used his YouTube fame to launch multiple other businesses, including delivery hamburgers and chocolate bars.
Ryan Kaji, a 10-year-old who the New York Times crowned “The Boy King of YouTube,” makes millions a year from multiple revenue streams including channel advertising and toys you can buy at Walmart. His channel, Ryan’s World, began when his parents put the adorable 2-year-old Ryan on camera playing with Lego Duplo. Ryan is now a preteen and has basically grown up on YouTube, with over 2,400 videos on his channel. Almost like the Truman Show…
Whatever you think of popular YouTubers, the reach they have in our culture is undeniable. Is it any wonder a survey from a few years back showed that about one-third of kids want to be YouTube stars when they grow up?
Why market on YouTube, more or less
Clearly, YouTube must be part of any growth and marketing strategy today. Its 2 billion monthly active users around the globe provide businesses of all types with an opportunity to connect with a vast, varied target market.
YouTube’s real power lies in its ability to facilitate direct, visual, and interactive communication between businesses and their customers. PYouTube allows businesses to showcase their products and services through tutorials, demos, testimonials or behind-the-scenes glimpses that create captivating content – such as tutorials or demos that create brand visibility as well as create trust with customers fostering relationship building and customer loyalty.
Customers feel more connected to businesses they can see and hear, even when they’re not physically present. Video is the medium that allows it to happen.
YouTube’s algorithm makes extending organic reach an invaluable opportunity for businesses. Videos which resonate with viewers often get shared further along, creating an endless cycle of viewer engagement and growth. Furthermore, Google often prioritizes YouTube videos when ranking search results – that all-powerful SEO everyone talks about.
Finally, you can gain a lot of insight via analytics YouTube provides. All Google products do a fine job of providing statistics on your user/viewer base, and YouTube is no different. YouTube analytics provide businesses with invaluable insight into audience behavior and preferences, helping them refine strategies and target marketing efforts more precisely.
Should you hire YouTube marketers?
Hiring YouTube marketers might make sense for a lot of businesses, but we shoudl add an important caveat: YouTube alone is not enough. That’s right – even the best YouTube marketing agency doesn’t have all the answers to build a real, complete digital marketing strategy. You might scoff – “surely no one just focuses on YouTube” – but you’d be stunned at how many comms folks try to convince their clients that YouTube is the golden goose, and you need nothing else.
Without going down the rabbit hole of lying marketers, for which there’s no shortage of copy to write, we will acknowledge the importance of YouTube marketing services – as part of a broader strategy. Here’s what that looks like, in a few quick bites:
Video Conceptualization: great YouTube strategy, heck great any marketing strategy, begins with concept planning. You can’t just throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see if it sticks, at least not before knowing what you’re throwing! Planning YouTube videos is less about exactly the type of content, the “script” if you have one, or the shots – and much more about understanding what you want to achieve.
This is where a YouTube marketer comes into play: figuring out the elements which make videos go viral, such as a captivating narrative, emotive script, compelling visuals. Don’t forget the call to action! If you are with a marketing agency doing other work with your company, hopefully they understand your brand and “why” well enough to incorporate more than just broad strokes into the final production. People can sense inauthentic content from a mile away. But when you get the idea right, and you mean it, wow – the results can be incredible.
Video Production: With a concept in place, production is the next stage. Video production doesn’t have to be complex, but it should be professional – even an iPhone (as we used for the roofer) can be a great tool in the right hands. Of courStorytelling always trumps video quality, but you still want serviceable video. A good YouTube marketer has professionals who get professional quality videos which both reflect your brand identity while satisfying YouTube standards for engaging content creation.
Video Editing: Editing is another essential factor that determines a video’s success, keeping viewers’ interest throughout and encouraging them to share it with their network. You know a video is terrible if it never jump cuts or shows another scene – the old “vlog” style videos can be engaging to some, but most YouTubers now (such as Mr. Beast) have mastered the art of short takes. Experienced YouTube marketers do the same, ensuring videos are interesting, move along with good pace, and drive a message.
Content Dissemination: At the core of any effective YouTube marketing strategy lies content dissemination. Your videos might be high-quality and captivating, but without reaching their audience at an appropriate time they won’t have much of an effect. Effective content marketing involves choosing the right time to release videos, engaging in comment discussion threads, and continuously monitoring performance for continuous improvements in video performance. Some of it is always going to be “luck of the draw,” but you can make yourself luckier by putting best practices into place upfront.
The bottom line
Deciding to hire a YouTube marketer can be seen as an investment with great returns; their knowledge of YouTube’s landscape coupled with their abilities in conceptualization, production and editing engaging videos will enable small businesses to stand out in an oversaturated digital market. Furthermore, YouTube marketers understand organic reach allowing your business to tap into more customers which bolster your growth trajectory and ensure long-term sustainability of customer relations.
We love marketing via YouTube here at Precision Outreach, and can do both onsite and offsite video production for our clients. Often, it’s one of the main products we pitch as part of a marketing strategy – it’s just too important to miss.
If you’re interested in taking your YouTube marketing strategy to another level, reach out! We’d love to chat.
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Contact
Use this contact form to send us a message. We’ll get back to you ASAP. Or, you may schedule 30 minutes of our time with the scheduling app to the right.
Schedule
You can schedule 15 or 30 minutes at no cost to talk with us about your needs below. We’re available 6 days per week at a time convenient for you. This is, by far, the most convenient (and helpful) way for us to see if we can help you out. By prior agreement or for existing clients, you may also book 1-hour meetings and phone consultations.