I used to think YouTube was for kids.
I was wrong.
I’ve produced 16 episodes for Built to Sell Radio, and this week will mark the second time I’ve heard of an entrepreneur using YouTube as their primary marketing tool.
The Story of James Ashford
Back in April, we heard from Yorkshire-based James Ashford, who founded GoProposal, a software application that helped accountants deliver proposals faster. With a small start-up budget, Ashford needed to find an inexpensive way to market his company. Ashford couldn’t afford to buy advertising, so he decided to create a daily video about selling on social media.
The YouTube channel took off, and Ashford started to attract leads from each video he created. Using YouTube as their primary marketing tool, GoProposal quickly grew to £1 million in turnover, which is when they began receiving inquiries from acquirers. In October 2021, Ashford accepted an eight-figure acquisition offer from Sage.
Ashford’s example was enough to make me believe in creating video content, but then along came Jeremy Nagel.
The Story of Jeremy Nagel
Nagel was a consultant helping companies leverage the CRM platform Zoho when he decided to start a YouTube channel. Nagel’s channel offered tips for Zoho customers and grew to 1,600 subscribers.
As his content grew in popularity amongst Zoho users, so did his status in the ecosystem. Nagel’s videos ultimately caught the attention of Zoho management, who approached Nagel about creating a plugin that would allow Zoho users to text their customers from the platform. Despite only dedicating a few days a week to the application, the feature quickly became one of the top five most popular tools in the Zoho marketplace. Soon after, Nagel received a LinkedIn message from MessageMedia with an acquisition offer he could not refuse.
Sharing your expertise through video creates a human connection between you and the viewer. The more you can humanize your brand, the more trust you earn with a follower, and the more likely they will act when you offer a recommendation.
So what is the best way to utilize YouTube?
3 Ways to Succeed with YouTube
- Niche Way Down: Both Ashford and Nagel focused on helping a hyper-niche market. For example, instead of sharing selling tips for all businesses, Ashford decided to focus on only helping accountants. Nagel took things a step further and created videos just for users of the Zoho application. Rather than succumb to the temptation of creating content for a better-known CRM platform like Salesforce.com, Nagel stuck to his niche.
- Serve First, Sell Second: Instead of selling anything at the start, both Ashford and Nagel created videos that helped their audience solve real problems. Both channels became dependable sources of content.
- Post Regularly: It’s tempting to believe the fairy tale story of the post that goes viral, but that may happen once in a lifetime, if you’re lucky. Instead, focus on posting consistently over time. Nagel chose to post weekly, while Ashford posted a new video daily. In both cases, their audiences knew when a new video would be released, further cementing their statuses within their niche.
P.S. We practice what we preach here at Built to Sell Radio. For the past three months, we’ve begun producing two to three weekly videos on our YouTube channel and have seen some fantastic results. Not only have we increased our subscribers by over 240% but we’ve also seen an increase in traffic to our site and more podcast listeners. To check out our YouTube channel, head over to https://www.youtube.com/c/BuilttoSellRadio
