Bam! Wham! Kersplat! Did you hear that cacophony of noise? It is the shotgun fire and the falling of the old way of marketing. That old way of marketing is dead — or on the resuscitator and gasping for its last breath.

Relationship marketing is what rules today. If you still think you can win the hearts and minds of people by shoving a bunch of stuff at them, you belong back in the 1950s with black-and-white television. Welcome to the new way of marketing where Consumer Generated Marketing (CGM) is the way to do it.

YouTube is an example of how social networking and connecting with people work today. It is a social networking style where people from around the planet put videos online. Sure, a lot of it is boring and even amateurish, but there is a lot of good, relevant information that every enterprising entrepreneur needs to watch.

YouTube is a great way to test your ideas. In the past you had to pay lots of money for expensive testing systems. You had to do fancy A-B splits and a bunch of other things. Not that these are wrong. Today you can do those types of tests more quickly and much cheaper on a medium like YouTube than ever before. YouTube needs to be an integral part of any small business marketing.

How to Use YouTube for Marketing

Here are some ways you can use YouTube to attract new customers. This is one of the best ways to build relationship marketing for your company. I’ve been using it seriously for more than a year now and have seen solid business results (read, more sales!). I’ve also gained some ideas that can help you in your marketing.

• Talk about relevant topics to your market. This could be something highly specific to an important group of people — your customers. Make sure you provide something they don’t already know. Don’t just give a book report of stuff everyone has heard. Make it unique. Tell your stories. Be creative and innovative in your approach.
• Make it fun (or even funny). We like to laugh. The best communicators are those that weave their message in with fun and laughter where appropriate. This will retain eyeballs and loyal followers of your YouTube channel.
• Use good production quality in your video.  A poorly shot video can distract from a powerful message. You don’t have to compete with Steven Spielberg in your video production, but make it professional. The biggest area to focus on is your audio. Use a camcorder with an external microphone. That will raise the quality of sound and the quality of your video in the most important area.
• Target key words for your audience.  When you send your video to YouTube, focus on the natural, key words that are part of your video message. Focus on those terms that will help people search to address their needs.
• Check comments to learn what people are saying. This is good feedback. However, don’t rely on it extensively. Sometimes the remarks are of zero relevance and posted by some anonymous hack who isn’t and never will be your customer. Focus on those who are likely to be your customers and make relevant comments (pros and cons).

YouTube is a marketer’s dream for low-cost production, vast information dissemination and fast, relevant feedback. It is a powerful tool for relationship marketing and building a loyal list of customers. As you work with it and explore the possibilities, you’ll discover more ways to make it work for you. The old way of “push” marketing is not as effective. Use the power of “pull” marketing to attract the right kind of buyers to your site.

Bonus Tip: Use videos in your blog to blend the power of both text and video. Written text is good for clarity and in-depth explanation. Video is great for communicating rich visuals, sound and emotion. Put these two together for your relationship marketing and see the difference!