McIntosh Marketing Blog

YouTube is missing a huge marketing opportunity with no category for Business & Finance.  It is hard to believe that the categories of  Education and Travel & Events could be in more demand, particularly into today’s economic environ. YouTube needs to offer at least a category of small business resources. Additionally such a category would direct entrepreneurs to find opportunities to learn new and more effective ways of doing or even starting a business, as well as helping consumers to find access to products that they could purchase, that would in turn help them with their financial needs or questions.

On the other hand, social bookmarking and news site Digg has recognized this need by providing such a category on their website.

I am sure that the amount of potential market that YouTube is not taking advantage of is enormous. Imagine how many businesses, banks, insurance agencies and those with money and knowledge could be put to work to build a network for opportunity and pay YouTube dearly to do so. Sounds like an opportunity to take advantage of for someone.

Now available at TestTube (Youtube’s place to test new features), you can now edit your Youtube videos on their website!

You don’t have to install anything – just go to their site and you can:

• Combine multiple videos into one longer video
• You can trim the beginning or end of it.
• Add soundtracks
• Create new videos and publish them to YouTube without having to upload anything

For example, I have a client right now that created a video where you can hear someone off camera counting down, “3,2,1” at the beginning. With this new utility, that can easily be trimmed off without installing any software. Wow.

This wacky video explains it pretty well:

Madison Avenue must be reeling at the fast changes within our media world. How could they have predicted the sheer transformation of how YouTube, social media and the worldwide dominance of the celebrity mentality would shape how we market.

Nike just released a new advert that say’s so much about the changes of not only how world revolves, but how we interact with each other. Moreover, this advert from Nike indicates to businesses on how the majority of marketing has yet to really caught up with those fast-paced changes. The Nike advert that they just released, featuring soccer phenom Ronaldo, is not only a strong message in itself, but a commentary of where we are at as a global community.

Let’s look at the critical aspects of this advert from Nike:

• The advert is three minutes long, not 30 or 60 seconds. This is because YouTube has extended our ability and expectations from a video and an advert. Nike is not buying a traditional TV spot; they are telling a story and letting viral marketing run its course.
• The video shows how addicted we are to sports, but how much it is a part of our lives and even the ability to gain power, affect markets and transform the pride of an entire nation with sports. True sports heros are national treasures and icons, just as Ancient Greece revered their gods.
• Featuring in that video is how YouTube videos are not only watched, but how then drive new jargon, dances and even how we communicate, establish reality and that we understand each other, knowing we belong to the same “tribe.”
• The new slogan, “Write Your Future” captures the desire to determine our future in these uncertain times. Just like Nike captured a generation with “Just Do It”, they have now found three new words to embed the minds of a new generation looking for empowerment, even if vicariously through a brand and a hallowed sports figure. It offers hope and that one can do something about it without looking for government entitlement.

Nike has struck marketing gold once again, showing that like any art form one can capture and articulate a new feeling through a strong brand and simple message.

If you are up on marketing and sales management, then there is no introduction needed for either Seth Godin or Tom Peters. Both are not only accomplished authors with millions of followers, but both are as well committed to educating others on how to excel in marketing, blogging and social media. They both understand the advantages of blogging and the future of blogging

Blogging has been a huge tool for both these icons of modern marketing. Note the importance that Tom Peters gives blogging as a marketing medium. Note from Seth Godin how to get better at it. There is much truth in what they say in just a few minutes on this YouTube video. Don’t watch it; watch it over and over. Assimilate this information into your mind and into your marketing planning and scheme. And watch your profits grow.

You just have to love how mainstream media is now utilizing online buzz to generate their own stories. Moreover, Ellen Degeneres recently demonstrated to all of us a powerful way to spin that buzz, even becoming a part of that craze.

It was just a matter of time before someone called Greyson Chance, a veritable overnight success on YouTube, due to his amazing cover of “Paparazzi” by international phenom, Lady Gaga. That really isn’t the story of this blog. While the young performer was featured on Ellen’s show, and even getting to speak via phone to Lady Gaga herself, the real success on the spin is how Ellen featured herself in the video while Greyson Chance did a shortened version on Ellen’s show.

Knowing that this video would as well go viral far above anything Ellen could ever dream of, Ellen and her producers made sure that Ellen stood next to Greyson Chance during his electrifying performance. Five hundred thousand hit later, and now Ellen is empowering her brand and relevance to the social media crowd.

Lesson: News is happening all around you in your industry, town and other circles of influence. With some creativity and some good taste, you could find yourself easily riding the wave of the success of another.

The Big Three has meant for decades, “GM, Ford and Chrysler”. But with their problems comes the next evolution of that term, particularly when talking about web marketing, SEO and SEM.

The Big Three in the internet marketing world is Facebook, Google and YouTube. Make it big with these three media giants and you will make it big in business. Let’s be real. Facebook is social media, Google is how you find almost anything and YouTube is the new TV. Hopefully you are gearing your mind-set, your marketing budget and how you interface with the world’s newest Big Three.

Even though Kodak did not invent the camera, they sure did have generations believing so. Special times became known as the “Kodak Moment.” Now with the proliferation of video technology and accessibility, Kodak film is long dead and now we live in a YouTube world.

In speaking with people, you get the idea that most assume that YouTube invented online video. Like Kodak before, their brand is now synonymous with online video. They didn’t invent it, they have dominated that position in the mind of the consumer. And now it is time for business people and entrepreneurs to utilize YouTube’s brand dominance and reach to position themselves above their competition.

You see, we are still in the infant stages of the usage of the technology, not the technology itself. A recent study found that the average YouTube user watched 98 videos just in the month of March 2010. These YouTube videos represent a fundamental change in how we get news, become entertained and make decisions with whom to do business with. And believe it or not, it builds credibility. It can even make you a on-line celebrity.

Now while your ambitions may never be to land in US Magazine, it nonetheless represents a powerful medium to reach people, and withing a very short period of time educate and excite your potential market. Don’t show me a picture of your lunch special, show me how you make it. Start your own on-like cooking show.

While so many companies want me to download a PDF file, they should be sending me to their YouTube TV channel, describing it, involving me and demonstrating their passion for what they do. People want to connect, feel attached to something and that really is what is at the core of any brand: A valuable relationship.

Become a YouTube media expert for your brand and watch more and more people connect with your brand like never before.

Without question the most requested information is how Google Adwords actually works.

Ah, if it was just that easy.

There is no question that your product or service can reach new, higher realms of sales and profits through intelligent use of Google Adwords. And on the other hand, you can lose a lot of money with very little ROI with mishandling it. The reason for this is that most people throw good money at bad marketing. They simply do not do their homework and thus lose money.

Here is a video that may clarify the issue a bit:

It is always nice to have a video explain things. As you may have heard, Google now offers Google Buzz. This simple video gives you a introduction to what it is and how it works to help you:

McIntosh Marketing is an expert in using Google Buzz, as well as other social media, to help you drive traffic to your web site and thus generate word of mouth, referrals and more sales.

It may be very simple, but it is very instructional to Womens Brandon Flowers Jersey the power of social media.

simple