Using YouTube to Market Your Creator Business - YouTube

Even though YouTube has been around for almost  20 years and has more than 2.5 billion users,  

there’s still huge opportunity here when  it comes to marketing your online business.  

I know a number of creators who  for one reason or another either  

haven’t started their channel or  don’t make content consistently.

If that’s you, stay tuned.

Ahead, I’m hopefully going to  convince you to get started  

by sharing 5 ways you can use YouTube to bring  more value to your brand or online business.

Hey folks, I’m Ben and on this channel I help  creators make better videos and in this video,  

we’re going to get into 5 ways you could be  using YouTube as a super marketing machine  

for your business. Let’s dive into number 1.

First up, building brand awareness 

This is probably the most practical use of  YouTube for online businesses. At its core,  

YouTube is a search engine where people go  to learn, stay informed, and be entertained.

Videos that answer questions and provide  value for people in your target audience  

can make a great first impression for your  brand. This is a long-term top of funnel  

strategy designed to build awareness over  time. Later, you can turn that awareness  

into action as you lead people down the sales  funnel. More on that later in this video.

The key to making the most of this  strategy is to post relevant content  

around a specific topic, consistently. That  means choosing an audience, making content  

around a specific topic that’s relevant to that  audience, that they’re actually looking for,  

and posting once a week if you can  or with at least some consistency.

There are lots of other things you can do to get  more visibility for your channel and your brand,  

but those three things make  up an essential foundation.

Next, use YouTube to build reciprocity In Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence,”  

he talks about the rule of reciprocity.  This is an unspoken societal rule that  

when we receive something of value, we return  that value in some way. Like sending a thank  

you card for a wedding gift, or offering  to bring dessert when invited for dinner.

Another framework for understanding reciprocity  is a concept entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck talks  

about in his book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.  The simple version is before you throw your  

right hook, or try to make a sale, you take  some jabs, or offer no-strings-attached value.

When people have received  consistent value from you,  

they’re more likely to buy your products  out of a desire to reciprocate that value.

YouTube is a powerful way to facilitate this  

because video allows you to pack tons of value  into a relatively short amount of time. It’s  

also more engaging and makes it easier for your  audience to feel a personal connection to you.

YouTube can help you build a community 

One of the best kinds of audiences you can build  around your brand and products is a community.  

A community of people who enjoy your content  and products can be a powerful marketing force.

There are lots of ways to build and host a  community on your own. In fact, may I suggest  

Podia, which has a free plan where you can build  a community for free. Outside of that, social  

media platforms can be tools that let you build  sub-communities and YouTube is one of the best.

As you post more consistently,  there are people in your audience  

who will make watching and commenting on  your videos part of their regular routine.  

Over time, audience members will deepen  their connection with you and one another,  

especially if you make a point of  asking for comments, like I’m about to.

If you haven’t started a YouTube  channel or aren’t posting consistently,  

what’s holding you back? Tell  me about it in the comments.

Interact live with your audience One of the best community building  

activities is live interaction, and what  better way to do this online than with a  

YouTube live stream. YouTube makes it  easy to live stream to your audience  

and includes a chat window where you  can encourage questions and discussions.

People love tuning into a live  stream and getting a shoutout,  

and the questions and comments you  receive during your live stream  

can give you insights to help you make better  content and products for your audience.

You might just turn on the camera and go live with  an AMA session. You could use live streaming as  

an opportunity to record a weekly podcast  with live audience interaction. You could  

even use live streaming to make important  announcements or to launch a new product.

And if you don’t feel comfortable talking live  on camera, you can still have a live experience  

with your audience by pre-recording your video  and setting it to premiere. Followers of your  

channel can watch and chat with you live as  your video is playing for the first time.

YouTube can cover your whole sales funnel You can create YouTube content that covers each  

stage of the buyer’s journey–awareness, interest,  

decision, and action. I’ll share the kind of  YouTube content that works for each stage and why.

Awareness 

No strings attached educational content  works great for building awareness.  

Posting this type of content regularly gets your  videos into search results and recommended videos,  

exposing more people to your brand  so they start to recognize you.

Interest Buyers in this stage are looking for a solution  

to their problem. Videos that work well include  educational content that positions your product as  

a solution, but in a way that still provides value  whether or not they end up buying your product.

Decision 

Comparison videos are great for helping  customers decide whether or not a product  

is for them. It takes a lot of time and effort to  go through the features of individual products.  

If you provide a fair comparison and make it  clear who your product is for and what makes  

it stand out from competitors, you can make  it easier for your audience to choose you.

Another type of content that  works well here is product demos.  

Giving people a behind-the-scenes  look at how your product works  

or what is included in your product helps  customers decide whether it’s right for  

them. Bonus points if you can do the walk-through  as a collaboration with an existing customer.

Speaking of existing customers, when it comes to  convincing viewers to take action, testimonials  

are one of the most effective types of content.  When people can see themselves in someone else’s  

experience it connects them to your product in a  way that just listing benefits and features can’t.

Action 

The final stage of the buyer's  journey is all about getting customers  

to take action. A type of content that works  really well is a promotional video that also  

adds value to the viewing experience. Try  to find a way to make the video interesting,  

entertaining, or creative in a way that leaves  the viewer feeling delighted after they watch it.

Also, make sure your call to action is very clear.  

You want the viewer to know exactly what  next step to take after watching the video.

Bonus: Get into YouTube Shorts

YouTube is a big fan of their  “Shorts” video content. They’ve  

put a lot of energy behind getting  creators to use the “Shorts” feature  

which means there’s a good chance that  your discoverability could be higher there.

The approach to making Shorts is  very different from the approach  

to making regular long-form content. What I  recommend is watching shorts, Instagram reels,  

or TickTock videos to get a better sense  of what kinds of short videos perform well.  

Then you can apply that  style to your shorts content.

If you don’t have the bandwidth to make  a completely different type of video, you  

can repurpose your existing content by clipping  out short segments to turn into YouTube shorts.

If you can’t tell, I’m a big believer in using  YouTube to grow your audience and sell your  

products. Again, if you’re having trouble getting  started, let me know why in the comments. I’d  

love to make more videos to address and  maybe help solve some of those problems.

If you liked this video, there’s much more to  come. Subscribe and hit the notification bell  

so you don’t miss any future videos. Thanks  for watching and I’ll see you next time.