YouTube is probably the single most effective marketing tool for anyone who has a product or service connected to extreme sports. Don’t believe me? Check out the examples below:

Devin Graham, my old roommate and the guy who shot the original Bad Breath Test for Orabrush, released this video two days ago. It is a promo that he did for JetLev (a ridiculously awesome water jet pack). The video will hit a quarter million views tonight and I expect it to end up with well over a million views. I want to see them do a documentary style video on the story of JetLev (like the one Devin did for Orabrush).  At $100K a pop, you might think that the YouTube audience is not the JetLev target demographic, but I believe JetLev is comparable to SegWay and it will be most used as a rental for tourists. YouTube is the perfect crowd.

GoPro gets it. They are releasing a couple of videos a week. Not only are their videos naturally viral in nature, but they are promoting them with ads as well, raking in tens of thousands of subscribers to their YouTube channel. They could get even more subscribers if they just asked for them, but GoPro is still blowing away their competitor Contour who doesn’t get YouTube.

Guns and Gear, a hack guns dealer in Georgia, started a YouTube channel one year ago. A white trash guy, with a foe Russian accent, profanes as he blasts targets with high-powered assault rifles. I am not a fan, but someone loves it because their videos have been viewed 62 million times and they are the fastest growing YouTube channel in the past 30 days. That kind of growth fills me with envy.

This is one of my favorite videos this month. Tempest Freerunning Academy just released this video to promote their new parkour training gym. I have watched the video at least 4 times.

Moral of the story: if you have a business in extreme sports without a YouTube strategy, then it is time to invest.