- In this video, we caught up with Roberto Blake
to talk everything YouTube branding,
why it matters so much, how you can use it to grow
on YouTube faster and simple steps
that you can follow to build your personal brand quickly.
(vibrant music)
Hey, it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video
where we help you amplify
your business and brand with video.
If you're new here, make sure you click
that subscribe button and all the links
to everything I mention in this video,
you can find linked in the description box below.
So let's jump into it.
YouTube branding is a critical element
of any successful channel.
But it's one that's often overlooked.
Just like branding a business,
adopting a strong consistent brand
in every area of your channel
and content can keep your viewers coming back
for more and more every week.
But why is branding such an important element
in YouTube strategy and how can you effectively brand
your YouTube channel and videos?
Well, we recently caught up with Roberto Blake
to talk everything YouTube and personal branding
and there's a ton of insights in here to help you take
your branding to a whole new level.
And while you're watching, let me know in the comments
what's your number one branding tip for YouTube?
Is it thumbnails, is it channel art,
is it the end cards?
Let me know in the comments.
(whooshing)
So I guess Roberto is gonna share
some of his amazing knowledge around branding
and branding your YouTube channel, so,
yeah, you're gonna jump into it.
- Yeah, well, you, me and Mike
were having this conversation earlier
and we've actually talked about this a lot.
Just like, you know, when we get together,
'cause all of us YouTube educators, we all get together.
And one of the things that I think a lot of creators,
big and small, don't do very well
is focus on what the overall branding
of their channel looks like.
And that sounds like a really fluffy term,
but I think with these five tips
we can put it into perspective.
So, number one is going to be having
a focus for your channel and making that clear,
both in terms of your communication style and visually.
Like, if you were going to say what this channel is about,
like what would you say about your channel?
- Well, it's about helping people, you know,
get better results with their videos and breaking down
the barriers so that they create their videos
without distractions and all the fears
of being on camera and tech and everything.
- You'll notice that that's a very clear
and specific value proposition.
There's no confusion here.
It would be really weird if all of a sudden
you started doing videos about skateboarding.
- Yep.
- So, one of the things you can do
is you can have a clear focus and message
for your channel, an overarching theme.
It's okay to do three or four different types
of content on your channel,
that's fine if they are related,
topical and have a clear, unifying theme.
- Definitely.
- So, I think that that is just a great example.
And I mean your channel does that very well.
You do YouTube tips, you do things on camera gear,
you do things on editing and software,
but it's all unified around the theme of video.
- Yeah, and that's so your viewers know what to expect.
It's easier to get them to subscribe
if they're gonna get consistent content
on a topic that they're interested in,
it's something that can obviously help them,
and that's exactly the same as with your channel, as well.
- Absolutely, and you can do that whether
you're doing business or online content, or entertainment.
One of like, you know, my favorite channels
is Lilly Singh, Super Woman.
It's very obvious that you're going to get comedy
and skits when you go to Lilly Singh's channel.
She doesn't really deviate from that,
so clear expectations are set.
The same thing with Philip DeFranco,
he has a very specific content that you can expect
and if it deviated from that,
that would cause brand confusion.
So you wanna avoid brand confusion.
So, let's go into tip number two with that,
I think that visuals help people avoid brand confusion.
- Definitely.
- I think that when people, like, see one of your videos
or one of my videos, it's very obvious that,
well, that's a Roberto Blake video,
or that is a Justin Brown Primal Video,
you know, YouTube piece of content.
I think that when people see Peter McKinnon's thumbnails
they know that it's Peter McKinnon.
Like, if you want to have success in YouTube,
one of the most important things you can do
is take your visual branding element seriously
and this encompasses not only your YouTube thumbnails,
but also things like your YouTube channel artwork,
things like your YouTube end cards,
other graphical elements, like lower thirds,
or even your profile pic.
- Definitely.
- These things help you stand out,
they make it clear to identify you
because at the end of the day a lot
of people are coming to the channel just for you,
so you wanna make that value clear that hey,
it's me, I didn't go anywhere and if, you know,
have some specific elements that are unique
to your channel, it means that if you're in a saturated
niche and genre, like gaming or beauty or tech,
if you have a very unique and specific style,
which I think really goes into tip number three,
standing out and having a unique style.
It's not enough to just have good looking thumbnails.
Like, if you're a Photoshop wizard or you have Canva,
or you use, like, templates like my stuff,
from the YouTube Starter Kit,
of course you can make really slick looking graphics,
but can you do that and then have
something that makes you stand out?
And that could be something with the way
that you do expressions on your thumbnails with your faces.
You know, if could be something as goofy or silly as that.
It could be doing like a miniature
cartoon character of yourself as, you know,
that like I've incorporated into my branding.
So, like, there are so many things you can do
just to make yourself unique and I really feel
like that will help you stand out.
You need strong visuals to get clicks.
It's not enough to just have good video content,
if the packaging for it is bad,
you can't get clicks on those thumbnails
and that's gonna tank your views, your watch time.
Everything that you want starts with a click
and that starts with a fantastic thumbnail
that's competitive in your niche.
- Definitely, I mean, yeah, you could spend
so much time on your actual video content,
but if no one's clicking to actually get on there,
then it's all wasted.
So you wanna definitely do everything
you can to get that click.
- People spend like eight hours on a YouTube video
and two minutes on a thumbnail
and then wonder what they're doing wrong
and why no one's watching and that's a big deal.
- And I know, we started out the same.
It was you taking a screenshot from your end video
instead of taking or posing for a photo,
pulling a silly face or pointing at something,
like give yourself some options.
Do that at the end of filming so
that you've got something to use.
- So for me, I actually did staged photo shoots of myself,
and would cut myself out of backgrounds.
If I'm doing product reviews, the same thing,
or shoot stuff with my hand, with a phone,
or whatever it is, and then I like have hundreds,
if not thousands of dollars worth of stock photo assets
and so I make all this custom stuff.
Not everyone can do that and that's why for me,
I was like, I have to find a system
for other people because my tutorials
on Photoshop are great, but not everyone has
that time or money to invest,
so I came up with the YouTube Starter Kit
and I put together like well over 150 assets
that people could use to make great thumbnails.
And then there's enough there that with their own photos
and like their own color schemes
that they can make them unique enough.
And I keep adding variety to that.
What I would tell you to do is look at Photoshop tutorials.
Like, there's plenty of them on YouTube, I've done some.
There's actually a really good one
from Cutie Pie, the biggest YouTuber.
And he actually had a background in design.
He was gonna work at an ad agency before he became
a YouTuber, it just worked out that way.
- There you go, yeah.
So yes, things like that, it's like another thing
that could be adding to that overwhelm of YouTube.
Now I've gotta get good thumbnails, but how do I do that?
Well, products like Roberto's or some of the tutorials
that are out there, as Roberto just said,
we're gonna link in the cards in the description,
but definitely check them out
'cause they will help you out, for sure.
- Absolutely, and then I have two more quick tips
for you guys for branding for your YouTube channel.
One of the other things that I think is really important
is to have consistent messaging in the videos themselves.
I think also having rituals built
into your content and have structure and format
so that feels like your video every time is great.
You guys know that I start my videos out with,
you know, helping you create something awesome today.
Like that is a ritual that's built in.
Branding-wise, even my shirts,
which is, yeah, a merchandise plug,
but it also is something that people
are familiar with and guess what?
It makes it easier for me to film
'cause I can just always go to the closet.
There's like 20 of these and I just put 'em on.
- Yeah, what am I gonna wear?
Well, it doesn't matter 'cause, yeah--
- Exactly, so it really just helps with like a style
and that could be your clothes,
your aesthetic, so, I really feel like customizing
the feel of your videos, both in the structure,
the catch phrases, building that in,
building in jokes with your audience.
Those are really important to branding
your content and making it feel like you.
- Yeah, and it's like creating that home base.
Like, if your viewers feel at home watching your content,
like it's a TV series or, you know,
like people binge watch like House of Cards
or any of those shows, right?
They like the style, the feeling of watching those shows.
You can do exactly the same with your YouTube content.
Keep it consistent formula,
consistent flow throughout your videos
and they'll keep coming back.
And obviously it's all interlinked,
like if they can easily spot your thumbnail
because the branding is the same as your cover.
Like, it's just creating that user experience
where they're just attracted to your content
and they wanna keep coming back.
- Absolutely.
Then the last part is a really clutch pro tip
and I feel like it's you have
to extend the brand beyond YouTube.
I think that there has to be some consistency
between what you have on YouTube,
your other social media platforms and your own website.
You should have your own home where you,
like, you know, take people back
to at some point or if people are trying
to look you up or they wanna work with you,
this is great for working with brands themselves
as far as like sponsorship and things of that nature.
So I think having that consistent brand
beyond your YouTube channel and knowing that,
hey, what I see on YouTube is consistent
with what I see on social media
or on your website or if you're sending me
a promo kit or a press kit or anything like that
as an interview or for a sponsor deal.
I think all of those things tie together
and having that consistency is key.
- Yeah, so that's the same colors, the same fonts,
the same like look and feel and polish
and level of detail across everything.
It makes a huge difference.
There's no point in going all out on one
and then having the rest look really, really bad
'cause it's that mixed messaging.
So, I love it, thank you very much for connecting--
- Yeah, absolutely, thank you so much for having me, man.
- I know, it's awesome.
And the links to everything are gonna be
in the description below.
- Guys, if you don't know,
Justin Brown is like one of my favorite video producers
and educators on YouTube.
So I'm just really excited to be on the channel.
- He's saying that 'cause I'm standing right here.
(laughing) - No.
- So a massive thank you to Roberto for joining us
on the channel and for sharing those insights with us.
If you're not already subscribed to Roberto's channel,
then make sure you head over to his channel
and click that subscribe button
because you won't be disappointed.
If there's not already a link on screen,
it will appear in a few seconds.
But I do wanna mention that thumbnails
are one of the most critical elements of branding.
It's the first thing people see in their search feed
or just when they're browsing on YouTube.
And YouTube itself actually tracks impressions
on those thumbnails.
So you really need to maximize your clicks.
Check out the video linked on screen now
for our top three tips to properly brand your thumbnails,
and I'll see ya soon.