The Strategic Marketing Method to Building Your Brand on Youtube

April 11th, 2019 by Brennan Schexnaydre

In true Search Influence fashion, I am going to start this blog post the same way we typically start our weekly company meetings, with a quote:

“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it in himself.” – Galileo

Though Galileo provided us with this insightful quote, Frances Bacon formulated one of the most important tools to aid in this self-discovery, the scientific method.

Now, Let’s Get Started…

Neil DeGrasse Tyson science meme

There is a method to the madness! What if I told you that to build your brand on YouTube, all you need to know is the scientific method that you learned in 5th grade? You may ask yourself, what exactly are the six steps of the scientific method and how the heck does this relate to digital marketing? For a little refresher, I have listed the steps to get us started:

  1. Ask a question
  2. Do background research
  3. Construct a hypothesis
  4. Test your hypothesis
  5. Analyze the data and draw a conclusion
  6. Share your results

STEP 1: Ask a Question

In the first step, you are going to want to think of multiple questions around the reasoning your experiment. I highly recommend taking the time to write this out, whether it’s with a pen and paper or on your computer. Like any great scientist, you should be documenting all of your brainstorming, research, strategies, and data.

  • What is your niche?
  • What is the problem you want to solve?
  • What is your area of expertise?
  • Who do you want to target?
  • Why are you choosing to focus on this niche?

The last question is key because there is never going to be the same level of commitment if you aren’t choosing something you are truly passionate about.

STEP 2: Do Background Research

Now that we have sorted through all of those questions and have a clearer idea of the direction we want to take, it’s time to start our background research.

We need to look at what our competitors are doing. Our competitors will be the brands or people that are doing something similar to what we have chosen as our niche. When analyzing them, we should ask the following questions:

  • How do they engage?
  • Which formats do they use?
  • What is their content strategy?
  • Is what they’re doing working?
  • What is your market missing?
  • What can you do differently from them?

Once again, this last question is the key to your success! What can you do differently that will set you apart from your competitors?

STEP 3: Construct a Hypothesis

Now the fun part (and my personal favorite)! We need to construct a hypothesis, or, in marketing terms, create a strategy. We will want to use our research from Step 2 to construct keywords, content, and visual styles that will work with your target audience while utilizing the competitive advantage you identified in Step 2. In this step, you will also want to determine your overall strategy to remain consistent. This is going to include your posting schedule, engagement plan, and who (brands or people) you would like to collaborate with in the future.

An important part of this step is determining the metrics that matter, what we like to call “SMART Goals.” What are the metrics you should measure to prove the success of your strategy?  This will include constructing a timeline of when you would like to check in on these SMART Goals of your strategy.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson meme about bracing yourself for digital marketing knowledge

STEP 4: Test Your Hypothesis

Testing your hypothesis is when the party really gets started. It’s time to experiment. You are going to implement your strategy. You will take the creative strategies you planned out in Step 3 and put them into action.

STEP 5: Analyze the Data and Draw a Conclusion

Using the timeline determined in Step 3, analyze the data and draw a conclusion. Look at those metrics that matter. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is your strategy helping you achieve your goals?
  • Did you determine the right goals to track in Step 3?

STEP 6: Share Your Results

Now, unfortunately, I can’t say that this is the final step because “sharing your results” means you will now use your conclusions to decide on optimizations for your strategy. You’ll know if you’ve achieved your goals or if certain aspects need to be revisited when you analyze the data in the previous step.

Scientists share their results to provide insightful information that can be used as research for future experiments. Experiments aren’t meant to be done once. This process should be repeated and repeated to study and improve your marketing strategy.

Once you’ve got your results, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Should you restrategize your brand?
  • Did you choose the right market?
  • Should you restrategize your execution?
  • What parts of your plan are working?

And the final question to ask yourself after reading this post is… are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Luckily, the marketing experts at Search Influence got straight A’s in 5th grade. If you need help developing an effective marketing strategy for your business or building brand awareness on YouTube or any other social media platform, start a conversation with one of our strategists today.

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