The 4-Step-Strategy I use to BLOW UP YouTube Channels:

The 4-Step-Strategy I use to BLOW UP YouTube Channels:

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1. Research recurring video formats relevant to your channel (or that have performed well on your channel).
2. Search for packaging outliers related to that format (thumbnails and titles that work).
3. Create unique and recognisable packaging inspired by your findings from steps 1 & 2.
4. Publish - Analyse - Tweak - Repeat.

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I’ll explain this a bit more below, but if you want to work with me one-on-one to implement the above into your channel, you can book a Clarity Hour call here.

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The secret here isn't about replicating a successful format but establishing Brand Familiarity.

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Familiarity reduces the effort it takes to process and interpret what's in front of us, reducing choice friction and making it easier to say ‘YES!’ to a video and earn the click.

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Consistent and recognisable packaging can make the difference between a click and a swipe, especially if your audience has watched and enjoyed your content before.

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For example, the YouTube channel Fallow discovered that the title POV: Head Chef at a Top London Restaurant and a Point-of-View thumbnail style worked really well for getting their audience to click.

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They then took this a step further and replicated this format’s success by switching out Head Chef → Bartender and saw that this format also worked well for them!

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This format worked so well that almost all of their videos now lean into this style, making it easy for fans of the Fallow YouTube channel to recognise their videos and click. This is Brand Familiarity at work.

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You see this with many top creators. They analyse which elements within their packaging can increase brand familiarity and use it more often:

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• Mr. Beast: Consistent facial expression on the left-hand side with consistent colours.
• Sam The Cooking Guy: Same font and food layouts for his photos.
• Dan Koe: Same facial expression, text style, and black-and-white colouring.

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• LEMMiNO: Flat and colorful characters and object graphics.
• Ryan Trahan: Bold blue skies with the same contrasting colors.
• Athletic Interest: Same colored background and three-person thumbnail layout.

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Podcasts do this all the time, too!

This brings me to the idea of ‘Concept Channels’, which I’ll discuss in next week’s newsletter.

Have a great weekend! 👋

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My Favourite Things This Week

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Video I’m Watching…

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I Make $2.4M/Year With 6 YouTube Channels - This is the breakdown of how Charlie Chang runs 6 different YouTube channels AND a SaaS company that collectively bring in over $2.4M a year.

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Starter Story is a fantastic channel that has grown rapidly in the past year, and you can learn a lot from how they script and edit their hooks.

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Video I’m Watching…

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Apple - The House that Tim Cook Built (Full Documentary) - This is a very good documentary on Tim Cook. I really enjoyed this documentary style as these 30 minutes flew by with incredible storytelling. There’s a lot of learn from this video if you’re in the documentary/education niche.

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Channel I’m Following…

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xkcd’s What If? - This channel appeared on my homepage earlier this week, and I was blown away by its insane growth. There are only 11 videos that have achieved over 500k subscribers, with each video having over 1M views, except three videos.

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I'll discuss why this channel blew up in the next episode of my podcast Making It. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it!

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Thanks for reading, if you want to reach out to me, just send a tweet to @WhiffenYT.

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Jamie