So, in this episode, Nate's given me permission to really try and poke holes
in this Leaf Strategy of his. And see... You know, if I can come up with some examples or some
cases where it really just hasn't worked. So, that's what we're going to be talking about
because by nature, Nate, I'm kind of a skeptical guy. If something is too good to be true,
I think it is. So, maybe for those people who don't know, summarize what the leaf strategy is.
-Well, I have a 5-ingredient formula. And the first ingredient is that leaf strategy. So,
I'll talk to the camera here just for a minute here just to explain what the Tree Analogy is.
So, picture a tree. It's a got a broad trunk that goes out to branches that then goes out to leaves.
And the trunk represents your core area of expertise. The branches represent the different
categories of your expertise. And the leaves, that represent the different questions that
people are asking you. And really, really specific questions. Now, with my leaf strategy, what I mean
is you don't make any videos on trunk topics. You don't make any branch topic videos. You only make
leaf topic videos. So, for example, if you were an expert on productivity, you don't just say,
"Devin's tips on increasing productivity." But you do keyword research and you find
the questions that really specific leaves. Like "How to increase productivity in the workplace?"
And I'm going to paraphrase because I'm not looking at it. But I found it like,
"How to increase productivity in a dental office", right? You find really specific
phrases like that that actually do get consistent search volume every single month.
And it really, really works to build an automatic marketing strategy into your videos. Because if
somebody goes to Google or YouTube and they type in that question, your video comes up because it's
exactly what they were searching for. They click on it. And they watch it all the way to the end
because that's what they're looking for, right? And the algorithm then sees that and says, "Wow,
that's impressive. They just watched the whole video." And it will then, the algorithm will start
to promote your video to more and more audiences. So, in a nutshell, that's the leaf strategy. -So,
the first example that I have that I'm curious about is what happens with a video... You're
following the leaf strategy... You know, so you've come up with this episode title. It's a long 8 to
10-word question. But the content isn't what it should be. So, what happens then? Because
the search engine will pick it up. But will it keep on the top of YouTube or in a visible spot?
-Well, you've hit on a good point. I mean, that's why I have 5 ingredients. It's like leaf strategy
is number 1. And ingredient number 2, 10 to 12 minutes in length. Ingredient number 3 average
view duration of 50%. So, you do have to create good content that's going to answer that question.
Right? So, if you do that keyword research and you're an expert in that area, you should be able
to keep people's attention because you have the answer to that question. If you don't... If that's
not really your area of expertise, you are going to struggle. So that the leaf strategy is sound
but there are 4 other ingredients that you have to include. -So, I don't see the huge channels. The
Mr. Beast of the world. You know, Mr. Beast hasn't ever made a video that's called "How To Increase
Productivity In a Dental Office". And obviously, that's not what his channel is all about. But
he doesn't follow this strategy. So, what's your reaction when I bring up a channel like Mr. Beast.
-Great point, great question. The outcome and the type of channel is drastically different. So, the
goal of Mr. Beast... And that channel is awesome. I love it and I study it. 53 million subscribers.
It's one of the most heavily viewed channels on all of YouTube. I think one of the top 3. But that
channel is all about fun and sensationalism. And the outcome that that channel wants is ad revenue
and sponsorships. Okay? They have sponsorships in their video. Where's that's not the focus
of the channels that I produce. The channels that I produce are to generate leads for businesses.
So, when the right type of business uses this strategy. And I mean like an influencer type
business like a coach, speaker, author, mentor. They have expertise, right? So, if I'm talking
about this leaf strategy or answering questions, these are the type of businesses that know the
answers to the question. Like Mr. Beast doesn't really answer a lot of people's questions. He just
gives away money. And that's pretty fun to watch. But here's the advantage to this type of business
because there are people all around the world like think about it... As a viewer right now,
right now, like right this very moment, there are people somewhere on planet earth searching
for you. They're searching for you on Google or YouTube right now. The problem is they don't know
that you exist. Okay? And what I mean by that is they are asking questions that you're the expert
at answering. But they just don't know you by name. Right? So, by following this leaf strategy,
those people who are searching for your expertise now find you on YouTube and see you as their hero,
right? You're there, you're answering their question. I mean, think about Paul Jenkins
when he first kind of had this... There was a comment from a lady in India. He made a
parenting video that this mother said, "I've been having problems with my son. I watch your video,
I tried it and it worked. Thanks." And you know, it's one person, one comment on a video. But
that Paul read that and he's like, "Wow, I just impacted a mother in India. I helped a mom be
better in India." That just...That opened his eyes. And when he shared it with me, I'm like,
"You know, that is what this is. We're finding your target audience all around the world.
And it really, really works." And so, really, to round up the answer to this question
is when you build a following like this of people who trust you, who admire you,
when they need your help, they go to your website and they buy your services. Right? And so, that's
a huge success. And so, comparing it to like Mr. Beast channel, that's not their goal. -So, Nate,
you've been following this strategy for 7-ish years? Am I right about that? Have you ever
come across a time when a client of yours follow the strategy and didn't succeed? Didn't see
results? -Yeah. And I'll speak to that. And I also want to talk to the point of like going back, 7-8
years ago, I didn't have a dun for your service where I can hold people's hand and like make
sure that they follow every single step. But I've put on retreats. I'd rent out a cabin for 3-days
and put on these great events where I would train and people at the end would say, "Man,
this was great." Make sure you let me know about your next one. But they never really
implemented it. So, it wasn't until 6 and a half years ago where I first...
This was with the Kris Krohn channel. We partnered on a channel.
And basically made sure that we follow this formula. And that's when it really took off.
Well, after that, that's when I started taking on more and more done for your clients. So,
after that point, have I had any that haven't succeeded? Well, what is exciting to report,
I have had a few clients that made it about between 2 and 3 months in and then just decided
it wasn't for them. And they quit and didn't work. And their channel hasn't grown since.
Whether it's been one year or 3 years. But every single client that has gone a full year
is still using the strategy and still succeeding on YouTube. So, I mean, maybe that's the
disadvantage to this strategy, is it takes time to build momentum. You know, I talk a lot about
that four-month mark. That four-month point. And I've talked a lot of my channels have had a spike.
Well, Noelle Randall's channel, we got to that 4-month mark and we didn't have a spike. Now,
on her case, she was pretty happy because she was gaining a lot of leads on her channel already.
But we didn't have expected spike. What we did have is a pivot. We saw like... Instead of going
flat like this, we then pivoted. And then week after week, it kept getting more. And we had
a spike at the 7-month mark. That has blown away every other spike I've seen in any other channel.
So, it does look different from one channel to the next. But every channel that's followed
the strategy... I can go back in and look like... When you say, "What channel has
failed?" And there's one channel that comes to my mind. And I won't throw her under the bus.
But she changed the leaf titles. And her... I guess ingredient number 3... I wasn't pointing at
the right finger. She had an average view duration that was really low. I don't remember the exact
number. But it was might have been like 90 seconds or something like that. She was giving away...
Her content was amazing. Like it really was. I would watch her videos like,
"Why are these videos struggling?" Because this content is so good. And then I kind of
acknowledge, "Oh, wow!" In the beginning, she kind of gave away the secret. She gave away the answer
instead of creating curiosity or explaining why it's important for people to keep watching.
Because if people would start and keep watching, they really would've understood.
And so, in her case, I went to her and I said, "You know, there's something that we can tweak
there." But by that point, she's like, "You know, I just don't think this strategy is for me."
So, I feel like... In that case, I really don't think it was the strategy didn't work for her.
I think that I probably didn't do my part to teach her well enough in the beginning. Like,
to give her the proper expectations or quality control of her material. I don't know. -At what
point can you deviate from this strategy? -Well, that's a great point. When you have momentum,
like you get to a point where you've got 100,000 or couple hundred thousand subscribers.
You can definitely deviate from this strategy. When you have a small channel, let's say,
1,000 or less subscribers. Okay? that's pretty small. You could've have an amazing video that
you put out. Let's say Steven Spielberg helped you produce this episode. So, you know that it's
awesome. But you put it on YouTube. You don't have a subscriber base to watch it. You don't have any
built-in strategy to bring in traffic. Unless you put advertising dollars behind it. I mean,
that's what Hollywood does. They don't have a built-in leaf strategy for their videos.
So, they market it. And they send their actors on tours, to the "Tonight shows" or whatever. But in
our case, we're not going to advertise and promote these videos. We don't have a subscriber base.
So, we use this leaf strategy so that we have a built-in audience for every episode. But overtime,
your channel grows and you get a loyal fan base. You know, a good percentage of your subscribers
are really loyal fans. And whatever video you create, they will watch. It's at that point that
you can create the more Mr. Beast content. Or any type of content that's just really entertaining.
Again, you wanted it to match your brand. You want it to be lead-generating. But you don't
have to be as nit-picky as I suggest you be in the beginning about the leaf strategy. So,
give it a year or 2. -Well, I mean that's all I've got. I really can't think of anything else.
You've convinced me. I mean, obviously. I mean, something that most people don't know about this
is Nate told me about this strategy 7 years ago. 6 and a half years ago, 5 years ago, 4 years
ago. And he was saying, "Hey, Devon. You really should take a look at this. Because we're getting
some really exciting results." And I was like, "Oh, yeah. Good for you, Nate." And eventually,
I was totally convinced and I was like, "Alright, Nate. What can I do to come on and help you with
this?" Because I'm really excited about it. And you know, I think everybody should be excited
about it. -Now, I have a free gift for you. I created a keyword research minicourse. Basically,
you can set aside all the overwhelmed that you might think when you think of the SEO or keyword
research. In that keyword research minicourse, I show you a tool that you can use really simply
to find these leaf topics so you can get started on the right foot on your YouTube channel. So,
go ahead and click the link below and you can have access to that minicourse for free.