With hundreds of big creators monopolizing YouTube, starting a channel from scratch and beating YouTube’s notoriously tricky algorithm is no small feat. Take it from Ben Schoeffler, a content creator who’s learned a few tricks for bypassing the algorithm with email marketing.

YouTube doesn't provide the names of your subscribers. So while it may sound counterintuitive, going off YouTube is often the only way to grow your channel and build a relationship with your otherwise mysterious audience.

In this episode, Melissa and Ben discuss why creators should build an audience off-platform, how to grow that audience through email marketing, and how YouTubers can monetize their email list. So stay tuned and don’t let YouTube stop you from owning the audience you built.

“If most people are not focused on YouTube like I am, and they’re probably not going to YouTube multiple times a day like I am, the only way they’re going to find your videos is if you reach out and tell them about it. And so, that’s why, it kind of goes full circle here, your email list is important and building up on other platforms is also really important.” ~ @BenSchoeffler

Main Takeaways

[09:39] Having an email list is key to bypassing the YouTube algorithm. And owning that audience also allows you to monetize outside of YouTube.
[14:30] Don’t immediately focus on monetization. Focus on audience-building and consistency and learning the process of content creation. Start gathering email addresses before you even have a product. So by the time you launch or monetize anything, you already have an audience to sell to and you’ve probably asked them what they would be interested in purchasing.
[26:36] Including videos isn’t great for email deliverability, but what’s really detrimental is when you include images that link to a domain that has a bad reputation with email providers.
[31:01] Don’t guess what your audience wants or is willing to pay for. Ask them! It’s so important to have a strong relationship with your subscribers and that two-way relationship can really only happen via email.

Links

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing.

Stay in touch

Careful with That Teakettle Minicast! - 9 June 2008