24. Generating Revenues from Your YouTube Videos

By this point in reading this book, you’re no doubt convinced of the value of adding YouTube videos to your online marketing mix. But how, exactly, can you turn those videos into cash? How can you monetize the YouTube channel?

Probably the most common way to realize the revenue-generating potential of a YouTube video is to use it to drive direct sales of your company’s products or services. The goal is to convert viewers into paying customers as quickly and as directly as possible.

Doing so requires a three-step process. First, you have to create a video with unique value, something that attracts viewers. Second, that video has to effectively (if subtly) promote your product and direct potential customers to your regular website. Last, your website has to offer your product or service for sale, enabling interested customers to finalize the purchase.

Let’s look at all three steps.

Create a Video with Value

Not to flog a deceased Equus caballus, but the first step in any marketing-related activity on YouTube is to create a video that viewers actually want to watch. As I hope you’ve already learned, there are three ways to do this:

• Create an entertaining video: People love to laugh.

• Create an informative video: People like to get the latest news.

• Create an educational video: People need to learn how to do certain things.

If your video neither entertains, informs, nor educates, people won’t watch it. That’s the bottom line.

In all three instances, note that your video is not an overt advertisement for what you’re selling. That’s something else YouTubers won’t watch: blatant commercials. They get enough commercials on regular television; they don’t want to waste their Internet bandwidth watching more of the same. This is why your video has to attract attention through its subject matter; a commercial message doesn’t have that type of valuable content.

So, work hard to produce a video that interests potential buyers of your product or service. Get inside your customers’ heads and find out what they want to see. It might be something entertaining, it might be a bit of valuable information, or it might be a useful step-by-step how-to. In any case, you have to start with compelling content; anything less and your entire marketing plan falls apart.

Direct Viewers to Your Website

When you produce a video designed to directly sell a product, you need to incorporate selling pointers throughout the video. Think of your video as one of those late-night infomercials; yes, they’re (sporadically) entertaining, but they also make it very easy for you to place an order.

How do you including selling pointers in your video? Here are some of the most common approaches:

• Include the URL of your website (or toll-free telephone number) upfront, in the title card for the video. The title card could also include the price of the product, any special offers, and other ordering instructions.

• Add a credits card at the end of the video, also with complete ordering instructions.

• Superimpose your website URL or phone number onscreen over the course of the video, such as the one shown in Figure 24.1 by Century 21 Redwood Realty (www.youtube.com/user/metroarlingtontv/).

Figure 24.1 A video with website URL and phone number superimposed onscreen.

• For longer videos, consider inserting a break somewhere in the middle that features a direct call to action by some onscreen personality—kind of like a PBS pledge break.

• Incorporate a subtle selling pitch in the script of the video, much the same way infomercial “hosts” plug their products as part of the onscreen presentation.

In other words, don’t be afraid to talk about purchasing your product, but don’t let the sales pitch get in the way of the content presentation. Suggest the sale, but subtly.

In addition, consider advertising your video, via YouTube’s Promoted Video plan, and then adding a Call-to-Action Overlay to the video. (Remember, only promoted videos can include the overlay.) Use the overlay to link directly to a landing page on your website, where you can conclude the deal.

Finally, don’t forget to include a sales pitch and ordering information in the video’s text description. Don’t make the viewer rewatch the entire video when he wants to place an order!

Close the Sale on Your Website

Now it’s time to close the sale, which, because you can’t sell directly from your YouTube page, you do on your own website. The URL you point to from your YouTube video should be a relatively hard-sell landing page. This means that you don’t point to a generic page on your site or even to your site’s home page; both approaches require unnecessary work on the part of the customer to place an order. Instead, link to a specific product page on your site, one that includes information about only the product shown in the video.

Why design a special landing page for viewers of your YouTube video? It’s simple: You want to make it as easy as possible for them to give you their money. If you just dump potential customers on your site’s home page, they could get lost. Or they might have trouble finding the product they want and give up. In any instance, you don’t want them randomly browsing your site; you want them immediately responding to your specific offer.

Landing pages are all about presenting a consistent image to potential customers. You wouldn’t get a lot of sales if someone clicked on an ad for blenders and landed on a page talking about your company’s vast international manufacturing capability. That sort of inconsistent message is a surefire way to get people to click back to someone else’s site.

For this reason, your product landing page should have the same look and feel of the video so that viewers sense the underlying connection. It doesn’t hurt to include a screenshot or two from the video, or even an embedded version of the video in the case the customer wants to rewatch it. The page should also include more detailed information about the product than was possible in the video, as well as more detailed product photos.

Some experts recommend a more stripped-down landing page, with links to additional information if the customer needs it. The thinking is that anyone clicking to this page has already been convinced to buy; you don’t want to introduce any element that might make her rethink her decision.

In any case, the most important element on the product landing page is the click-to-order button. Don’t make the customer do a lot of work; make it easy to click one button to initiate the order process.

When the customer clicks the order button, she can move to your site’s normal shopping cart or checkout section. For tracking purposes, make sure that you credit to your YouTube video any orders flowing from the specific product landing page.

The Big Picture

Given that you can’t sell products directly from your YouTube videos, there are ways to use those videos to generate revenues. For many sellers, the right approach is to direct customers from your video to a product landing page on your own website. This lets you convert viewers to purchasers—and you get to keep all the revenue! The key is to create a video that combines valuable content with a subtle selling message, much the way a good infomercial does; just make sure you include lots of pointers from your video (and its text description) to your website’s URL.

Of course, not all companies want or need their YouTube videos to generate direct revenue. The best company videos work to build the company’s brand and provide added promotion for the products and services the company sells. That’s the magic of YouTube; with every viewer, you broaden your customer base. And it all happens at a relatively low cost.

That combination of efficiency and effectiveness makes YouTube an ideal marketing channel for even the smallest companies. In fact, YouTube is a great equalizer; a little guy can easily compete with the big guys without going broke.

Just remember to think like the customer. Create videos that offer unique value—that entertain, inform, or educate. Viewers will flock to useful and entertaining videos, as long as there’s no hard sell involved. Offer value and sell subtly; that’s the key to YouTube business success!