10 top small business uses of YouTube videos – Page 2 of 2 – StartupSmart
6. The Khan Academy
Online video can provide the basis for a business in itself. In February, Craig Silverstein, who is credited as being instrumental in building Google’s search engine, defected to Khan Academy, an education platform that uses web videos to teach children.
Silverstein’s move was a vote of confidence for the concept of building a venture around online video, something that Khan Academy has fully embraced. The organisation has video channels on YouTube explaining everything from algebra to organic chemistry.
7. Surface Screen
The simplest, and arguably most effective, way of driving sales through online video is via a product or service demonstration.
Aussie brand Surface Screen has put video front and centre of its website, succinctly showing how its product – which protects surfaces such as leather and textiles from spills and dirt – works.
“We’re growing pretty rapidly, with over 65,000 YouTube views… Recently, we’ve had bloggers reposting our videos and providing a commentary on the products, which has been tops,” says Christian Le Loux , founder of Sydney-based tech company Fourteen92, which owns the Surface Screen trade mark.
8. Heart Fitness Center
It wasn’t so long ago that every celebrity worth their salt was releasing a fitness DVD. This gravy-free train has slowed in recent years, however, as the public realised they can get their video workouts for free via the web.
This shift has benefited businesses in the health and nutrition sectors, which are able to dispense nuggets of advice while driving customers to their products. For example, the US-based Heart Fitness Center regularly runs “Workout Wednesdays” videos.
9. You Suck at Photoshop
In 2005, ad execs Troy Hitch and Matt Bledsoe quit their jobs to start-up creative agency Big Fat Institute.
Rather than taking the traditional approach to wooing clients, they launched a series of YouTube videos entitled “You Suck at Photoshop”. Narrated by the misanthropic, and fictional, Photoshop expert Donnie Hoyle, the comedic series has attracted more than eight million views on YouTube and won numerous Webby Awards.
Using video in this light-hearted way had tangible business benefits for Hitch and Bledsoe – they went on to create My Damn Channel, which provides a platform for others who want to replicate Donnie’s success.
10. Do the Flip
OK, so a flashmob isn’t exactly a ‘how to’ kind of affair. And the whole genre has become a little tired.
But this dancing explosion on Bondi Beach in 2009 delivered a genuine surprise to sunbakers and provided the makers of the new Flip camera acres of free news print as the media lapped it up.
Whether your business wants to be embodied by a gyrating man in red Speedos is another matter, of course.