YouTube is the most popular video-sharing website in the world, with over 1 billion active users each month. This is an incredible opportunity for any company, large or small, that wants to reach a new audience of potential customers, but that doesn’t mean you can throw up a video and wait for success. As with traditional television advertising and other marketing efforts, specific strategies will help your youtube marketing campaigns be more effective.

The first step in creating a successful YouTube marketing strategy is to focus on suitable videos. You want to post two types of videos on your YouTube channel: Promotional and unbranded educational videos.

If you are a more prominent company with a recognizable brand, the best strategy is to post promotional videos. These should be entertaining vlogs that resonate with your target audience and build brand awareness. If your brand only has one video, then that video should be the promotional one. For example, if you were a shoe company whose slogan was “shop shoes,” you would have a promotional video called “shoes.”

Suppose you’re a small business or start-up with no recognized brand, but whose products or services are unique and different from similar companies. In that case, the best strategy for you is to post unbranded educational videos. Educational videos are created to educate viewers on a specific topic in an entertaining format and will allow viewers to learn at their own pace while they enjoy the content. Since your videos will be unbranded, you must make them engaging and informative rather than another series of boring product demonstrations and commercials.

Once you have decided what video you want to post on your channel, the next step is determining how you want to promote the video. If YouTube is part of your more comprehensive marketing strategy, this decision will be almost automatic since it is a larger marketing plan component. For example, if your company has an upcoming investor day scheduled for a specific time frame, then all videos uploaded in the weeks before the event should be promotional videos. This strategy is no different than any other time you plan to do a large-scale marketing campaign and will allow your efforts to be focused on one specific period.

If YouTube is not part of your marketing strategy, this decision should be considered carefully. For example, if you don’t have a marketing team or budget, then it makes sense to post all of your videos as unbranded educational videos and leave it up to the viewers how they want to use them. However, suppose you’re already doing an incredible job of reaching new customers through traditional marketing channels such as e-mail, webinars, or social media posting. In that case, it might make sense to post all of your videos as promotional videos.