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What We Can Learn About Marketing From The Top Videos Of 2012 On YouTube

 

YouTube just announced their top videos of 2012, and as I’m going through the list and re-watching some of the beaten to death vids, I realized that there are actually some great lessons to be learned from Korean crooners and teenage phone call hopefuls. If you’re looking to create a marketing video for your startup, and I hope you are, look to these YouTube sensations for a little advice.

 

1. Calculate and plan your video – Gangnam style

The first time I saw PSY’s Gangnam Style, I thought, “Wow, if that’s not the most made-to-go-viral-and-be-viewed-a-billion-times video I’ve ever seen, I don’t know what is.” The lesson here is our boy PSY had a catchy song, a silly dance, and scantily-clad Asian girls in his video – calculated, planned and ready to take YouTube and the world by storm. He succeeded.

 

 

 

 

When you’re planning out your marketing video strategy, you want to make sure all the elements are in place. That means budget, schedule and, most importantly, the message you want to send is carefully calculated and planned out, pre-production. This will help save you time and money so you can spend more of it learning Gangnam Style’s pony dance.

 

2. Pull on customers’ heartstrings – KONY 2012 style

When you’re creating a marketing video, you want to connect with customers in a way that is personal, a way that they can feel a value higher than just a product description. If you were one of the 95 million people that watched the KONY 2012 video, then you know what a powerful impact it made on people. It told a story, albeit a sad one, that moved people so much that it became the biggest viral video of all time. The message was so strong, people wanted to share.

 

 

 

 

Now granted, if you’re creating a video for your online tax consulting business, your video may not move your customers to tears (unless they’re tears of boredom), but the idea is that the more personal your video, the likelier your customers will connect with your product or service and the better chances you have of retaining them. Ah, customer retention. Sounds so sexy, doesn’t it?

 

3. Get your video to the right people – Call Me Maybe style

Carly Rae Jepsen was just another Canadian tween popstar-wannabe, until her little 2011 jingle “Call Me Maybe” fell on the ears of our boy Justin Bieber. One tweet later, and Carly was catapulted to pop stardom, with her video becoming one of the most parodied, viewed and guilty-pleasured of all time.

 

 

 

 

Your painstaking pre-planning and heartstring-pulling will all be in vain if your marketing video isn’t directed towards the right people. It’s important to know your audience, target them locally and analyze the stats, i.e. what keeps them watching and how are they searching for your video. For more tips on video marketing, click here.

 

Alright, people. Jump on the marketing video bandwagon and make sure you take these tips from our fave YouTube characters. Otherwise, your Call Me Maybe video parody has a better chance of reaching your customers than your business does. Justin Bieber would not be proud.

 

Photo Credits

YouTube | KONY 2012 Facebook | YouTube | Gangnam Style Facebook

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