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How to grow your channel with YouTube marketing

Posted October 27, 2021
Written by Jenn Pereira

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Are you looking to increase your YouTube subscriber count and generate more views and potentially increase sales? Using the right YouTube marketing strategies can easily help your YouTube channel’s performance. Take your YouTube marketing game to the next level with this guide to growing your YouTube channel. 

YT channel in 2021 with YouTube marketing CC thumbnail

Read on to explore these 10 YouTube marketing strategies to help grow your YouTube channel.  

What is YouTube marketing?

So what exactly is YouTube marketing? To put it simply, YouTube marketing is when you promote your business or product on YouTube’s platform by uploading valuable video content on your company’s YouTube channel or using YouTube ads. 

YouTube marketing allows business owners and content creators to deliver beneficial content for viewers to easily access and share, increasing brand presence.

What is YouTube marketing?

Why is YouTube marketing so important?

YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, following close behind Google. With 2 billion people logging in every month, YouTube users say that videos helo 68% of them make a purchase decision. The number of SMBs advertising on YouTube has doubled over the last  2 years, so there’s no surprise that more and more companies are including YouTube as a part of their marketing strategy. 

How to grow your YouTube channel

Entertaining, informative, and eye-catching video content is the secret to successful YouTube marketing. So how can you promote your YouTube videos and effectively advertise your channel? 

Take a look at some of our top YouTube marketing strategies

1. Generate a strong concept for your brand account

With thousands of brands promoting their products with YouTube marketing, you need to keep your YouTube channel and videos recognizable with your personalized Brand kit. Whether it’s through consistent YouTube intros, a personalized YouTube banner, or YouTube tags, your specific company branding will connect with your target audience and build customer trust. 

You can also consider making two separate YouTube channels—one to publish your long-form content and another to publish only YouTube Shorts. It's easy to make a YouTube Short with the Create button in app or using Clipchamp on your desktop. Deliver clean, consistent videos that are memorable for all the right reasons with Clipchamp’s free online video editor. Simply set your brand fonts, colors, and logos, then easily apply them to any video. 

YouTube channel description

When you’re creating your brand’s YouTube channel description, make sure to tell your viewers what they can expect from you, when you will be uploading video content, and what genre your videos will be. A YouTube channel description reflects your brand’s identity, so you must stay on brand and be as informative as possible for new subscribers. 

Vogue’s YouTube channel description shares with viewers exactly what they need to know and expect from their channel. 

YouTube channel description

Source: Vogue YouTube 

YouTube channel art and banners 

YouTube art and banners are a visual description of your brand and product image. Your designs will portray your brand’s personality, any key messages, and empowering tag lines. Feel free to change your banner and use a Youtube banner maker when desired to keep your brand up to date, promote your latest videos, or giveaways.

As you can see, Vogue’s YouTube channel banner is promoting their latest video upload of 73* Questions with Adele. 

YouTube channel art and banners 

Source: Vogue YouTube 

YouTube channel trailer

Make a memorable first impression and capture the attention of your audience straight away with a YouTube channel trailer. The short video is YouTube homepage, creating a sense of a teaser-style video. Feel free to add funny clips, most viewed segments, or your latest channel campaign. Don’t forget to add a description! 

YouTube channel intro

A captivating YouTube intro, also known as a YouTube title sequence, should draw in your viewer’s attention straight away, set the mood of your entire YouTube channel and always include a memorable or relatable catchy tune. 

2. Search for high-traffic keywords with less competition

Keyword research enables your brand to find words and phrases that consumers look for when searching online content. They’re an essential part of your YouTube channel as it helps the path to YouTube marketing success. 

Competitor YouTube analytics can also help determine what the most searched word for your genre is, what’s relevant to your channel, and what isn’t. Alternatively, you can type in keywords into YouTube’s search bar header and browse what keywords are being suggested that relate to your channel.

Once you have formed a keyword list, build them into phrases or what we call “long-tail keywords” that have low search competition levels. Usually, these phrases contain 3 - 4 words that point to your content. Use your long-tail keywords in video descriptions, and anywhere that you’re able to write text like thumbnails, translations, titles, links, and tags. The more times you include the same keywords, the better chance you have to be seen. 

3. YouTube SEO and optimization

Just like Google, YouTube is a search engine and is driven mostly by searches. Optimize your YouTube channel and video content to increase their rankings within YouTube’s algorithm. 

Youtube’s algorithm determines how your videos will place, but once you optimize your videos, it can improve your brand awareness and traffic more views. YouTube’s SEO focuses on how well your video is ranked in a category and the number of views the video has. It also measures the rate of growth in views, and where the views are coming from.

YouTube's algorithm chooses videos that are relevant to these viewers and will cater to the needs of the broader audience. So using relevant keywords will power up your YouTube SEO.

You can give your YouTube SEO a push using YouTube chapters. Here's a guide on how to add Chapters to YouTube videos.

Step 3. Add timestamps to the video Description box

4. Create longer videos

High-retention videos can increase your watch time on YouTube, so making a video that is longer than 10 minutes is ideal for the YouTube algorithm. 

Many creators assume shorter videos tend to generate more views, but data taken by Backlinko suggests longer videos have a better performance rate. The more views, comments, and shares a video have, the higher the video will rank on YouTube’s algorithm. 

You can also publish this content on YouTube alternatives to amplify revenue from your content. Learn more about gated publishers like Floatplane which you can learn more about here. You can also read about Patreon which is a publishing site where video creators can build community.

5. Create eye-catching YouTube video thumbnails

Top-performing videos on YouTube all have one thing in common—a unique YouTube thumbnail that stands out to viewers when they’re endlessly scrolling. Eye-catching YouTube video thumbnails send a positive message to your consumers and entice them to click or tap on your video. Thumbnails are like mini billboards that capture your audience’s attention, so you want to make them as fun and exciting as possible. 

5. Create eye-catching YouTube video thumbnails

6. Include CTAs in YouTube videos

Content creators and business owners should always include a CTA to any video content. Whether it’s text within your outro or YouTube cards, CTA’s will boost the number of views to your website, other videos, and even increase sales or subscriptions. 

We suggest placing CTAs at the beginning and end of your video content. So what should you include? Promote CTAs like where to subscribe, encourage likes, comments, other videos, and tell your audience to follow your brand on other social media platforms. 

7. Organize YouTube videos into playlists

Just like a music playlist, Youtube videos are best viewed when organized according to your content themes. By creating playlists, viewers can easily create their own playlists and navigate your content in no time. Playlists can also increase the exposure and views of the video as they are easily accessible. 

To create YouTube video playlists, find videos on your channel that you would like to group in the same categories. All you have to do is click on the Add to button at the bottom right of the video, then select Create new playlist. Don’t forget to name your playlists, including keywords. You can select from three different privacy settings, Public, Private, or Unlisted.

7. Organize YouTube videos into playlists

Source: BuzzFeed Celeb

8. Collaborate with an influencer

Consumers are leaning towards their favorite social media influencers to make their purchasing decisions. So taking the opportunity to work with an influencer might just be the exposure your YouTube channel and business needs. We’ve come to realize that influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Securing the right partnership and creating an awesome video marketing campaign can increase your YouTube presence and brand awareness in no time. 

Hailey Bieber’s YouTube video with fellow influencers and YouTube sensation Emma Chamberlain is a great representation of how to promote your brand, product, or service with the power of influencer marketing. Hailey and Emma take part in a challenge video, entertaining the audience and subtly promoting their sponsor, Current.

8. Collaborate with an influencer

Source: Hailey Rhode Bieber YouTube

9. Based your video content on your target audience preferences

Your content might be relevant, but if it’s not reliable, you don’t receive the views you were hoping for. Your content should always be communicated creatively and have the intent to interest your target audience and particular demographics. 

A great way to see if your content is reliable is to check out the comments section of your videos, or by creating YouTube polls. You might find clues as to what relates to your viewers or what entertains them. It’s important that you know who you’re engaging with so you can plan and create better, quality content that can grow your channel.

10. Stick to a schedule

An upload or video content schedule is one of the most important ways to keep your subscribers engaged and forever growing. Consumers want to be able to rely on your content, be excited for uploading days, and know your brand is consistent. A schedule not only shows dedication to your fans but also shows your passion for your brand. 

If you’re finding it hard to keep up with a schedule, consider batch-creating video content in advance. 

Try these YouTube marketing tips today!

Ready to optimize your YouTube channel? Explore the editable YouTube video templates and sound effects curated by Clipchamp. Generate brand awareness, new leads, and keep subscribers entertained with our top 10 YouTube marketing strategies. 

Never miss another upload by creating engaging YouTube videos with Clipchamp’s free online video editor. 

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