You Tube

This week I spent some time researching using You Tube in your marketing plan.  I'll admit that I have always seen You Tube as a site full of videos that individuals create, not so much as a serious marketing tool.  It turns out to be a quite impressive way to market and it is much, much larger than I thought it would be.  I found a video of Andy Stack, the Product Manager at You Tube which I found very useful in gathering tips on what you should and should not do.  He suggests things such as creating content, not commercial therefore brands and retailers need to develop a content strategy, not necessarily an advertising strategy.  He also stresses the importance of having an entire social media strategy built around the launch of the You Tube video.  I also like how he points out that each video has the potential to be a conversation.

After I did my research, I looked around You Tube and found a few videos that I thought had good design and ideas behind them. 

Disney

A few years ago, in celebration of the Magic Kingdom's birthday, Disney decided to give a new meaning to the phrase "it's a small world after all."  They introduced a series of videos using tilt-shift photography making everything in the video appear to be miniature.  It is an example of an amazing use of technology.  This was my favorite video that I discovered.  I thought it was a clever idea.  All of the videos were from sunrise to sunset and had no words, only music.  I felt this was more powerful than having words.  The only message I got was "celebrate."  It was one of the coolest videos I have ever seen.

Pampered Chef

Next I looked at a direct selling company that my wife used to sell for, The Pampered Chef.  They have a series of great videos on You Tube where one can learn baking and cooking how to's and conveniently the tips and tricks lead you to needing their product. There is even a video with a lesson on using a can opener.  I feel like this is a great way to become a constant source that people will seek out and spread your videos.  I like that the videos can be informative and people can learn something from them whether or not they are buying Pampered Chef products.  The introduction video below kept my attention by the way I had to keep reading what was appearing on the screen.  There was a good mix of narration and nonverbal messages. 

Orion Telescopes 

I am a huge space nerd so I was excited to find so many wonderful videos from Orion Telescopes.  I own an Orion and I love it.  The videos that they have on You Tube are so very detail oriented as far as explaining what on a particular model is and how it is different from a different model.  The videos were simple enough for a beginner to understand yet interesting enough for a more advanced user to understand and appreciate.  I enjoyed the landscape in each video and I thought that the narrator was effective.  This may not be a large, mainstream product but Orion has done a wonderful job presenting its products in video format to capture those who may be searching for telescopes.