How To Make $1.8 Million With $4,500 of Content Marketing

12/26/2012 3 min read Written by Roman Kniahynyckyj

This is no Christmas miracle, fellow inbound marketing elves. It's the honest to goodness truth. It's a tale of excellent, humorous content that addressed a consumer pain point while going viral. It's the story of a dollar and a dream.

Dollar Shave Club, which mails razor blades to your door, produced a campy viral video that gained them 25,000 customers a week after posting the video. That's a pretty good ROI on a video that cost $4,500 to make. Naturally, not all videos can go viral or are even created with the hopes of going viral. If you are,however, looking to craft a video that shares your story with millions, it's useful consider what Dollar Shave Club did well:

They showed a better way - have you priced razor blade replacement cartridges lately? They're not cheap, they have needless "space-age" technology, and you have to remember to regularly buy them. There is a better way, right? Of course there is. For anywhere between $3 to $9 dollars a month, Dollar Shave club will mail you quality razors. You never have to worry about buying blades again and you will always have sharp blades. It's SaaS - Shaving as a Service, if you will. Never underestimate actually solving a problem for consumers and finding a better (and less expensive) way for them to do things.

They got to the point - Dollar Shave Club's video was a minute and a half long. They shared their value proposition quickly. No need to waste a consumer's time. Tell them what you're offering and why it's better or different than your competitor. If you can't do that - then maybe you have a crappy product. Don't kid yourself or your potential customers.

They were funny and unexpected -  A bear, a curse word, and a machete all played a part in a video for razor blades. Just because your company offers accounting software doesn't mean you can't use kittens, babies, or donkeys to tell a valuable story.

They made money, lots of money - if the 25,000 customers Dollar Shave Club attracted the week after their video went viral signed up to receive their mid-range razors ($6 per month) that would equate to $1.8 million of revenue for those customers over the course of a year. All from a $4,500 video. And Dollar Shave Club can nurture that customer relationship every month when they send out their blades.

Even if your goal isn't to create a viral video, there are some valuable lessons to be learned from Dollar Shave Club's video approach.



 
By: Roman Kniahynyckyj

Roman has been helping clients develop and implement revenue enhancing inbound marketing strategies since 2009. Prior to becoming an inbound marketer, Roman was a management consultant with Ernst & Young, Booz Allen Hamilton, BearingPoint, and KPMG. Roman's relentless focus on client satisfaction and client results has garnered accolades from many clients and teams.

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