The answer is simple: not all videos are created equal. Different types of content have different content goals, and which is best for any given situation will largely depend on the outcome you’re pursuing.

From a digital marketing perspective, this means aligning your video content with your marketing/sales funnel (or flywheel), to help solve problems and add value for each stage of the buyer’s journey.

The good news? Hero, hub and hygiene content exists to do just that.

What is the hero, hub and hygiene content model?

The hero, hub and hygiene (or help) model is Google’s content creation strategy for YouTube, and video in general. It serves as a branded content framework within your overarching brand strategy – and while clearly a marketing tool, is no less useful for non-marketers planning and creating content.

The essence of the hero, hub and hygiene model is that in addition to the traditional hero content of television-style commercials, your online videos should also add value by inspiring, educating and entertaining your audience… And not just with ads. This is where hub and hygiene / help content come in.

But first, let’s revisit hero video content.

What is ‘hero’ content?

Hero videos are your brand’s big-budget ‘push’ messages you market to the masses, with hero marketing moments typically happening only a few times a year. Associated with industry tent-pole events and product launches, these videos are created to skyrocket audience growth while raising brand awareness. These are the videos that get shared on social, hit news headlines – and ultimately, go viral.

• Made-for-digital video ads
• Product launches e.g. iPhone
• Tent-pole event videos e.g. Super Bowl
• Other big marketing campaigns
• Live-streamed events
• Collaborations with influencers
  • e.g. including behind-the-scenes content
• Collaborations with influencers

Let’s take a look at the hero-style example video below.

What is ‘hub’ content?

Hub videos are the regularly-scheduled forms of content designed to establish loyal viewers who subscribe to your YouTube channel and return to watch videos regularly. This can be related to your target audience’s passions, rather than just your brand’s key pillars, and works best as episodic or formatted series-style videos (e.g. with release dates and host personalities). Hub content is also aligned with middle of the funnel (MOFU) marketing, so webinars and presentations are common.

Hub content examples:

• Episodic series e.g. vlogs
• Product content for vertical markets e.g. webinars
• Formatted series e.g. interviews

Let’s take a look at the hub-style example video below.

What is ‘hygiene’ content?

Hygiene / help videos are your brand’s basic ‘pull’ content, meaning they’re ‘always-on’ (i.e. long-term relevant) and discoverable via search. Hygiene videos are less polished, they ditch the sales pitch, and interestingly, they’re also where people struggle most – despite the lower production value and cost. Renamed ‘help’ videos because they do just that, a quick, easy way to capture user intent is by understanding what audiences are searching for that’s related to your brand or industry – then making videos that address those questions or pain points. This is where a little SEO knowledge goes a long way, as using search insights to focus on high-volume and low-competition search queries will be your fastest road to content success here.

Hygiene / help content examples:

• Frequent searches
• How-to videos
• Product tutorials
• FAQs
  • e.g. with customer service teams

Let’s take a look at the hygiene-style example video below.