If you’ve been looking for ways to grab more of the DIY market for your home improvement products, check out the world of DIY tutorials offered on YouTube. One thing soon will become crystal clear: the value of YouTube videos for home improvement products.
There are many building materials companies who already have videos on YouTube. Those of you don’t use videos need to catch up as more people prefer to learn with video than by reading. For those of you who are already using video, there may be some tips to help you make your videos even better.
DIYers Flock to YouTube Videos
Casey Phillips, in Tennessee’s Times Free Press, recently published an eye-opening piece about just how valuable YouTube videos are to DIYers. You can access the article here.
Phillips cites several homeowners, including a 61-year-old retired mechanical engineer, who turn to YouTube to learn how to do a wide range of home repairs themselves to save money.
Just how big an audience is this? Phillips cites a recent study which revealed that “28 percent of adults turn to YouTube when tackling do-it-yourself endeavors. Online videos were the predominant home improvement resource respondents said they used, outpacing qualified friends and family (25 percent) or DIY stores and TV shows (12 percent).”
So the question is, how much is 28 percent? It turns out that the total DIY sales for home improvement centers, lumberyards, and hardware stores combined across the U.S. were a whopping $322.8 billion in 2014 according to Statistica. I did the math: 28 percent translates into about $90 billion last year in the U.S.
A Second Type of YouTube Audience
Phillips’ article talks about another type of audience that turns to YouTube DIY home improvement videos—but fails to make the repairs needed. That tells me that your videos might benefit in these ways:
- Keep your videos as crisp and simple as possible.
- Repeat key steps aloud.
- If something truly is a complex repair, warn viewers ahead of time that this type of repair may not be for everyone, but that your product excels at this type of repair.
Why a DIY video? I Sell Building Materials.
Lowes once asked itself that same question. The second largest home center in the U.S. answered its own question this compelling way in a Fast Company interview with CMO Tom Lamb: “When you walk into The Gap, you don’t need anyone telling you how to put on a pair of jeans. For Lowe’s, Lamb says the product isn’t the only point.
In our category, yes we do sell products but they’re components to a project and for us the ability to help the consumer envision and pull together ideas, select the products, and actually get all the way through the installation or assembly of the project, to a state of completion and enjoyment is really the deciding factor in our business.’”
Similarly to how I describe the benefits of content marketing online in this blog, by offering DIY videos on YouTube, you are positioning yourself as a home improvement expert—and customers like to buy from companies they believe to be trusted experts. As a bonus, you’ll be helping your new customers not just do it themselves, but do it right.
TrueView Makes YouTube a No-Brainer
If you still are harboring doubts about how YouTube DIY videos can help you sell more products, Google’s new YouTube feature known as TrueView makes the choice a no-brainer.
Here’s how. As Internet Retailer reports, TrueView lets you offer your product details inside your DIY video along with a link to your website where customers can buy your product. To be clear, although customers can’t buy your products directly from your DIY video, for the first time, there is a tool to show your products along with that link to where the customers can shop for them.
I asked Zach Williams of the digital marketing agency Venveo to pick out some companies he feels are doing a good job on YouTube.
Here Are Two Examples of Companies Making Good Use of YouTube
They have a ton of videos, they’re posting more all the time and they respond to people who post in the comments, which is not all the common on YouTube. They could use some help with organization and more how-to videos as well as a wider variety of less product-focused videos, but overall this is a solid list of videos.
Pfister Faucets
Their channel is awesome! They have a ton of videos, and have created a video persona “Doug”. He answers questions, demonstrating installation etc. He’s funny and rememberable. I actually wanted to just keep watching everything.
Here’s a great article if you want to see how Home Depot makes great use of video.
Building your materials market these days means accessing customers where the customers are—and they flock to YouTube in impressive numbers. With just a little effort, you can create a YouTube channel that will help potential new customers see you as a trusted expert. With the help of the new TrueView feature, that can translate into acquiring customers more easily than ever.
Contact us with questions or for assistance with expanding your online marketing and customer acquisition.
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