Did you know that there are more than 51 million YouTube channels? That’s the number of other YouTube creators you’re up against. Staying ahead in such a highly saturated landscape is undoubtedly a formidable challenge.

But with a strategic marketing approach, you can successfully promote your YouTube channel, expand its reach and attract more viewers. Are you ready to explore these ideas? Let’s go. 

10 marketing strategies to promote your YouTube channel 

1. Focus on building a strong brand

If you are a YouTuber who’s in no way affiliated with a business, you would still need to have a brand for your YouTube channel. 

• When you have a strong brand, it shows how invested you are in your channel. And this gives your audience a reason to invest time in you, to take your channel more seriously. 
• Of course, with strong branding comes better recognition. 
• Also, a unique brand identity can help you differentiate yourself from other YouTube creators.

So, what does it take to build a strong brand for your YouTube channel? 

• Start with a relevant channel name that’s also unique and easier to remember 
• Create a logo for your channel – you can then incorporate this into your other channel graphics like profile picture, banner image, thumbnails, intro, and more. 
• Put together a solid brand style guide defining the kind of colors and other visual elements to shape your channel. This helps create your channel’s unique visual identity. 

KIMP Tip: The above steps only work when there is a noticeable consistency in your designs. In other words, your designs should all work together in sculpting your brand rather than sending out different signals. This consistency becomes much more doable when you are working with the same team for all these graphics. But how do you manage that when you are on a tight budget? Go with a cost-effective option, like an unlimited design subscription. 

2. Use your YouTube banner effectively 

Your YouTube channel’s banner is what most visitors notice first when they visit your channel. It’s that first virtual handshake to welcome them. So, make it count. 

And yes, your channel’s banner is also the most critical piece of your channel branding puzzle. From the colors to fonts you use in your banner to the overall emotions in the design, every little thing impacts the mood of your channel. So, use your YouTube banner effectively. 

The banner can also be a reflection of the content you share. While your channel’s niche is pretty evident from the video titles on your page, your banner helps establish the unique aspects of your content. Additionally, the banner is also a good way to draw attention to your CTA like directing customers to your other social media pages for example. 

The Like Nastya YouTube channel has a banner that establishes the color scheme and visual theme of the channel. It makes a great first impression and also manages to communicate the idea that the target audience here is kids. 

3. Take your YouTube thumbnails seriously 

Another instantly noticeable element that can make or break a visitor’s impression of your channel is the thumbnails in your videos. 

If you do not have standard thumbnails your channel’s identity looks weak. If the thumbnails are all pretty random, then you do not make much of an impact on the visitor. And finally, if the content in your videos and the respective thumbnails are not connected, your videos feel like clickbait and you will have visitors backing off from your channel.

All of these should be avoided when you are trying to promote your YouTube channel and win the hearts of your audience. To avoid this, work on a branded template for your video thumbnails. You could also create separate templates for various playlists or series in order to streamline your content. 

Here is a snapshot from KIMP’s YouTube page. Notice how the use of thumbnails that look consistent with the banner image helps create a cohesive identity. 

Want to work on such a cohesive brand identity for your YouTube channel? Get in touch with the KIMP team today! 

4. Use other social media platforms to increase the visibility of your channel 

The above steps are all about laying a strong foundation so that when you bring more visitors to your brand, they will have something exciting waiting for them. After all, it’s all about first impressions in this digital age and you would want to have an aesthetically elegant channel ready to make a lasting first impression. 

Once you have these steps sorted, then comes the expansion of your channel’s visibility. For this,  you can use other social media platforms to your advantage. 

Cross-promotion works when you are trying to promote your YouTube channel because different platforms have different strategies. Some of them click instantly while others might take a long time. Accordingly, if you do not seem to get more traffic to your YouTube channel but your Instagram profile manages to do well, then you can direct traffic from there to your YouTube channel. 

Additionally, by being present on multiple social media channels you are opening up more communication channels for your audience to get in touch with you. For example, your YouTube subscribers might find it more convenient to directly message you on Instagram for feedback, etc. And with Instagram introducing features like Broadcast Channel, keeping your audience engaged and creating a community become so much simpler. 

While you enjoy all these benefits, you also get to leverage your popularity on one platform to build more audience on another and therefore also be able to tap into the monetization strategies on these different platforms. 

Once you create your account on different social media platforms, remember to interlink them. On YouTube, you have the option to add links to the respective pages on the banner section as you can see in the below example.  

5. Prioritize email marketing 

We spoke about using other social media platforms to engage your audience. One other very effective strategy for this will be email marketing. Yes, the old-school way to promote your YouTube channel! 

For starters, a robust email marketing strategy makes your YouTube channel look more professional and therefore helps build trust in your audience. And this goes a long way in retaining your existing audience base. 

Additionally, you also get to tackle targeted promotions when you have a well-organized email list. It also helps you keep your subscribers informed of any new videos you upload. 

Eventually, when you expand your channel and brand, take the step toward building a community, or even introduce a merchandise line your email marketing channel can be of tremendous value. 

6. Focus on building a community 

Your channel’s niche is one thing that defines what your channel is about but then there is also your core message. Just like establishing the values and messaging for a brand, you should come up with a solid message, a defined set of values for your channel. These help in defining the personality of your channel and give your audience a reason to connect with you. 

Because relationships built on shared values are the key to building strong communities. And on social media platforms like YouTube, a content creator’s success depends a lot on community building. 

For example, YouTube creator Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, is particularly known for his “Let’s Play” videos where he plays video games and creates a virtual experience for his audience. Over the years his popularity has expanded beyond the gaming world. He has a strong community of gamers invested in his channel. 

To further strengthen his brand and his community, he also has a PewDiePie merchandise store. 

Merchandise marketing is one of the most effective ways to build and maintain a community. So, creating a strong brand and investing in merchandise marketing can be great steps toward increasing your YouTube channel’s popularity. 

Need help designing your branded merchandise? Get KIMP! 

7. Embrace trends 

We are talking about social media dominance and hence keeping up with trends is an obvious component of your marketing strategy. So, if there is a trending meme or a topic that everyone on social media seems to be discussing, you need to join the discussion. This step is important to be heard, to be seen, and also to engage your audience.  

But how do you keep up with trends without violating your YouTube channel’s aesthetics and messaging? There are a few ways to do it:

• Create Shorts that incorporate the viral social media trend while also adding your channel’s unique flavor.
• Use your other social media platforms to talk about the trend. 
• Create YouTube Stories based on the trend without disturbing your regular video feed. 

These ideas are also handy when you have to post holiday wishes and other topical content that you think will help initiate conversations with your existing audience on YouTube. 

8. Do not ignore Shorts 

YouTube’s answer to the popularity of short-form videos on TikTok and Instagram has been a big hit. YouTube shorts has over 30 billion daily views and the number has been increasing steadily. YouTube has also been regularly adding several new features to Shorts. 

For example, recently, the option to tag products in Shorts was announced. This can be quite handy when you are working with brands as influencers. 

Even when you are not collaborating or using these additional features, Shorts can be a great way to strengthen your brand’s visibility. You can create short-form variations of your standard videos and use them as traffic drivers for the original videos. Give a glimpse of what you cover and build anticipation with your Shorts and then you will have a lot of fresh traffic coming your way. 

Another way to use Shorts is to share bloopers or behind-the-scenes videos. These strengthen the rapport you share with your audience and drive more engagement. 

For example, on a popular YouTube channel named Ryan’s World, you’ll find a lot of detailed explainer videos and more for kids. 

In the Shorts section of this channel, however, you’ll find quick videos where Ryan tries out cool Instagram filters or talks about trending topics. 

9. Host challenges

There is one that can help you build viewer retention and bring new subscribers and that is hosting challenges. Online challenges to promote your YouTube channel foster interactivity and nurture interest in your channel. At the same time, when you come up with creative ideas for the challenge and also include a relevant recognition or reward at the end, there are chances for the challenge to go viral. 

By hosting challenges you also manage to showcase the strength of your community. As a result, you can attract the attention of other creators for collaboration or brands for sponsorship. 

Besides all these evident benefits challenges to promote your YouTube channel also help you draw user-generated content which is one of the greatest assets for a YouTube creator. 

10. Invest in paid ads 

From making purchase decisions to learning new things, there are various reasons why users head to YouTube. And they are always on the lookout for fresh content and are open to exploring new creators. All it takes is to appear in front of them at the right time. One of the most effective tools that can help you in this is paid advertising. 

Paid ads including social media ads and Google Ads are often seen as promotional assets for brands. But even a YouTube creator might find them to be very beneficial in aiding the growth of their channel. 

All this is because:

• Paid ads help in targeted reach and therefore you can reach out to relevant leads. This means that there is a better chance of conversion since your content is delivered to people who might be genuinely interested in your channel. 
• Ads also make your channel appear more authoritative and therefore help with the brand image of your channel. 

While reaping all these benefits you also get to explore the ad analytics to understand the reception your channel gets and to gain insights on what you can do better to grow your channel. In addition to this, you gain a better perspective on your target audience based on how they interact with these ads. 

KIMP – the one-stop shop for all the graphics you need to promote your YouTube channel

As a YouTube creator, you always have your hands full. From coming up with ideas for your content to creating them and figuring out the best ways to promote them, a lot goes into maintaining a YouTube channel. On top of this you also have to constantly be on the lookout for trends reach out to brands for collaborations and more. 

In every single step, you will notice that quality graphics changes everything. While there are a lot of DIY design tools available in the market today, having a professional design team to help you makes a big difference. And what if this is a designated design team that works on your design requirements every single day and you also have the freedom to go back and make as many changes to your design as you like? If all that sounds like a good plan to grow your YouTube channel, sign up for a KIMP subscription! 

Register now and start your 7-day free trial.