Simon Dutta

YouTube marketing is becoming all the more important as each day passes.  Not only do we know that people tend to favour watching a video over reading pages of text, but search engines are also beginning to place websites that have video content higher up in the rankings than those without.

This means that if you don’t have any YouTube marketing videos up and running yet, the time to start making one is now.  You don’t have to be a world class film producer in order to make a YouTube marketing video.  With the right tools on hand, you will be able to make an impressive YouTube marketing video that will definitely start to increase not only traffic to your website or blog, but you can also expect to see higher conversion rates.

So let’s start with the basics.  You need a camera.  But you don’t need a great camera with all of the extra little gadgets attached.  You can get a quality camera that is perfect for YouTube marketing videos for well under £400.  The standard 12 megapixels will work fabulously with whatever YouTube marketing endeavour you’re planning.

Next, you will need a microphone.  Yes, your camera comes with a microphone, but these are usually horrible when it comes to quality.  The best kind of microphone that you can purchase for your YouTube marketing campaign is a lavalier microphone. These microphones can be affixed to any person’s clothing, which also makes them great for interviews (if that’s in your plans).  Otherwise, a standard microphone that you can purchase for £15 or so will do just fine.

Next on the list: lighting.  You just want to make sure that you have sufficient lighting so that those who are on the other side of the computer screen and watching your YouTube marketing video will be able to see what’s happening.  You can splurge a bit and go for a 2-light kit, or you can just ensure that there is enough overall lighting in the room (you may want to consider filming during daylight hours).

Lastly, you will need some editing software (trust us, no one has a perfect YouTube marketing video after one go).  If you have a Mac computer, you can easily download free editing software, such as iMovie.  If you are a PC user, there is Roxio Creator – and Adobe offers their “Premiere” software which will allow you to completely tailor any YouTube marketing video that you create.

ABOUT: Simon Dutta has 20+ years’ executive marketing and business development experience spanning 18 countries and 24 industry sectors within start-ups, SMEs and multi-£billion blue-chips. His particular expertise lies in driving revenue growth by: (1) developing products that the market actually wants; and (2) executing customer acquisition and retention strategies that actually work. Simon is a Certified Internet Marketer, Chartered Marketer, and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  He also sits on the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Regional Board (West Midlands).