Do you have a YouTube marketing strategy for your business? If not, it’s time to seriously reconsider.

Believe it or not, YouTube is still one of the most unexploited and underestimated marketing communication channels for many businesses in Europe, especially in smaller countries like Switzerland. But evidence continues to support that YouTube does in fact drive business growth. In fact more marketers are becoming convinced of this. According to HubSpot, 48% of marketers plan to add the platform in their content strategy in 2018. What’s more, YouTube claims there are twice as many small- and medium-sized businesses advertising on the platform since 2016.

According to Business Insider, video ads have the highest clickthrough rate among all digital ad formats. Marketers who use video vouch that their revenue grew 49% faster than those who didn’t (Aberdeen, 2015). With YouTube as the largest video platform in the world, boasting more than 1.5 billion unique monthly users or one-third of all internet users, it makes sense to tap into this active audience and implement your own YouTube marketing strategy.

For a fraction of the cost, YouTube advertising delivers higher ROI (return on investment) than TV commercials in 77% of cases, according to a study by Google and 3rd Party Research. A YouTube ad has an average cost-per-view of only 10 to 30 cents.  But according to our experience, in Switzerland it can be as low as 4 cents per view, whereas TV ads can run thousands–and sometimes, even millions–of dollars. Not even the Super Bowl can justify this huge amount of money spent on what TDG senior analyst Alan Wolk calls “artefacts for historians.” A 2014 study revealed that 80% of Super Bowl ads didn’t result in increase in sales for companies.

What’s more, YouTube mobile advertising receives more attention than TV advertising (62% vs. 45%)and paid YouTube mobile advertising is 84% more likely to receive attention than TV advertising, according to a Google-commissioned Ipsos study.

With 34% of online retail purchases now happening on mobile devices, it is imperative that you reach mobile customers. Mobile serves as the “connective tissue” between the digital and physical world and it drives valuable actions.

In multiple separate studies, it was found that local mobile searches led 50% of respondents to visit stores within one day, 40% to a call, and 78% eventually resulted in offline purchases.Recent data published by the platform further states that 68% of YouTube users watched a video to help them arrive ata purchase decision, with 80% of these watching videos at the beginning of the buying process. And, in campaigns we have run in the last 4 years, more than 60% of video views come from portable devices. So the argument in favour of marketing to mobile users who also watch video is that much more compelling.

Thanks to smartphones and other mobile devices, consumers’ watching habits have changed from primetime to “my time”, “on demand”, and “all the time,” from sessions to “micro-moments.” This presents limitless opportunities for you to put your products, services, brand and company in front of audiences–even those of your competitors.

According to a Google report, 9 out of 10 smartphone users aren’t committed to a brand when they begin to search for information online. This means your business has a higher chance of not only being “seen” but also being chosen. By simply “showing up,” you can increase unaided brand awareness by 46% and get your product or company discovered by more than half, or 51%, of smartphone users.

Today’s purchase journey is fragmented into micro-moments that fall into four categories: Consumers want to be inspired and entertained, learn stuff, know how to do something, and decide what or where to buy. These micro-moments are the building blocks of engagement and, ultimately, conversion.

Engagement means creating meaningful dialogues with your audience over time by providing them with useful and relevant video content at their time of need. A 2014 research found that 73% of consumers consider regular and useful information from an advertiser as the most important attribute when selecting a brand. In a separate study, 51% of consumers bought from another company than the one they intended because it provided useful information.

When done correctly, YouTube marketing can take your business to a whole new level of growth and get you ahead of the competition.

So how do you plan on using video marketing to grow your business? How would a YouTube marketing strategy fit in with your overall business plan? Share your thoughts, opinions, or any questions in the comments below.