Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon Think YouTube Sells
According to eMarketer, companies such as Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon are “flocking to YouTube.” For healthcare, CVS and Walgreens are among the top ad spenders on the digital channel.
YouTube is owned by Google, which means that search will continue to be video-oriented in the future. The only thing stopping YouTube may be its own success: New video competition from Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo will dilute future ad revenues and steal a few viewers.
YouTube’s shoppable ad platform that was rolled out last year is just beginning to attract advertisers with its ability to seamlessly blend video and advertising content. For example: if you’re watching a video about a new Nikon camera, a simple slide-across function allows you to see the new camera and prices, and you can click on the image to buy it.
YouTube is more than a place to post your videos, it is a strong advertising platform – especially for pre-roll and shoppable advertising ideas. For many, YouTube is just a place to populate with organizational videos. But the most important component to being found [through search] is not the video itself, but the title and description. It should take nearly as long to optimize the title and descriptions as it does to record the video.
Video is starting to become an ubiquitous advertising platform, but the YouTube channel is where most are turning to watch.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.