Spark Notes: "YouTube Strategy Workshop" with Benji Travis & Sunny Lenarduzzi
Growing your business through social media and YouTube included isn’t just a ‘post’, and then you’ll blow up overnight… well not for many of us that is. Today we tuned into the LIVE ‘YouTube Strategy Workshop’ stream hosted by Thinkific with Benji Travis and Sunny Lenarduzzi. Both entrepreneurs started from the bottom and now are at their peak making 7 figures in sales in their businesses. If you missed the 2.5 hour workshop then take a look at our spark notes!
Here are the spark notes of their Vancouver Workshop + our biggest takeaways:
Benji - “The 7 C’s”
Courage
Clarity
Channel
Content
Community
Cash
Consistency
Benji went straight to the point when addressing the 7 C’s… "What is stopping you from starting your YouTube channel?”
Courage - "Is editing stopping you?"
- Press Record and Stop Overthinking
Clarity - "What is your end goal?"
Simple Napkin Plan (A plan that can fit on a Napkin)
- Narrow down to what you want to focus on. What is your channel all about? What topics are you focusing on. If it’s too broad and vague you’re going to be all over the place.
- Fine-tune your vision
Channel - You are building a BRAND
You never get a second chance once your video is up. Even your thumbnail is part of your brand and how you design it. Eg. If we took a look at Vanessa Lau’s Youtube page all of her thumbnails are straight to the point and have a certain look to them. From just a glance at her thumbnail, we can tell who she is, what she’s going to be talking about, and that her style is going to be direct.
- Your banner and thumbnails are your prime real estate to showcase you and your brand.
Benji’s Tip: VidIQ.com/influence
- This app allows you to see and know what others are using for tags, their tag rankings and keywords they use.
Content - 'Content is the Heart of YouTube’
- YouTube is the 2nd biggest search engine. (First is Google and YouTube is owned by Google)
- 'Content is king' and nothing happens unless you upload!
“You build your business by building relationships” - Benji Travis
Ask yourself: "Who am I targeting?”, “How can I provide this person something?" - Give your audience value for watching and following you
Next is... what is my niche? Are there already 1000 people making a video on this?
Community - 'Community is the Soul of YouTube'
- Engagement is Key - Respond to your audience! This point is so important no matter if its related to social media, YouTube, or even your restaurant and storefront business.
- CARE - Listen, Reply, Surprise & Wow. ‘Surprise & Wow"‘ can be sending the person a video response eg. Twitter - send a video response.
“The Relationship is the foundation for opportunity.” - Benji Travis
Cash - Think of the bigger picture
- Your videos and posts are the opportunity to promote your business!
Consistency - Consistency births the opportunity
- Try uploading 1 video a week for 52 weeks.
- Try planning out your videos and social media content.
Tip: Batching - Committing a weekend to produce a series of videos.
- "Create smart systems that help you stay consistent."
"YouTube is a marathon, not a sprint" - Benji Travis
Sunny - “Content to Customers”
Want to start making $$ off the content you’re producing?
- People need to know who you are & what you can offer
- Reality when someone is on YouTube: Nobody cares about you… they care about the answer to their question. Because at the end of the day YouTube is a search engine and people are looking for an answer to their question.
The H.O.T Script Formula (to help optimize each video)
Hook, Outcome, Testimonial, Sequential Steps, Engagement
In your videos/content, you should include:
1. Teach "A + B = C"
2. Result - "I've used this strategy and now my website leads have been through the roof."
3. Proof/Client testimonial - "I took Andrea's tips & advice and now I've gained 1000 new followers."
2X Call to Action
1. Conversion call to action (get customers)
- Send your subscribers/followers somewhere
2. Engagement call to action (increase ranking)
- Ask questions throughout your video to increase engagement and comments - then take time to engage and answer the comments
Content to Customers
1. Watch Time
You want to engage your followers/subscribers throughout the entire video for them to watch the entire video
2. Viewer Retention
Higher Retention = Higher Reward/Return
Remember:
- Avoid the 'why' just get into the action steps
- Research before you record
- Build your audience with value first
“Be in the headspace of providing VALUE to your subscribers, followers, and potential clients” - Sunny Lenarduzzi
A great example Sunny used that we loved was when she compared your content "The Oprah effect". For some it could be “The Bachelor Effect”, “The Ellen Effect”, and so forth, but it all comes down to consistency. You know your favourite TV show is going to air at X o’clock and you trust that they will air when they say they’re going to air. The show has now built a following, community and a fan base.
"If you show up for people, people show up for you" - Sunny Lenarduzzi
We learned in a span of two hours of the YouTube workshop and we hope our spark notes helped you and motivated you to start producing more content to drive sales in your business! Feel free to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter here or click here to read our most recent blog posts!