It can be a hard truth to accept. YouTube audiences have short attention spans. Even though you make entertaining and valuable content, you will still miss subscribers and views – unless you do one thing. What is that one thing? You need to develop and nurture your YouTube brand.
Why Do You Need to Brand Your YouTube Channel
To increase views and subscribers and, later, sponsorship revenue and live streaming opportunities. Branding makes it easier for viewers to find and identify your content. The easier you make it for visitors to quickly find and identify your content, the more likely they are to discover your content and subscribe.
How Do You Brand a YouTube Channel?
The good news is that developing and nurturing your YouTube Channel brand does not have to be complicated. Here are seven tips that will help you grow and protect any YouTube Channel Brand:
1. Choose a protectable name
2. Use a stylized channel banner
3. Make a channel trailer
4. Use consistent, custom thumbnails and profile pictures
5. Use a video bumper with a name and/or logo
6. Organize your content into playlists
7. Use the correct trademark symbol
8. Consult a trademark professional
1. Choose a Protectable Name for a YouTube Channel
Picking names that cannot be trademarked is the #1 mistake YouTubers make when naming their channels. By picking unprotectable names, many YouTubers discover too late that their brands are at risk.
The hallmark of a trademark is that it is a “source identifier” for a product. On YouTube, the product is content and the sources are content creators. So, on YouTube, avoid names that describe the subject matter of your videos. For example, a YouTube channel about hiking should not be named “The Hiking Channel.” A channel about vintage cars should not be named “Vintage Cars.”
Read more about how to pick a strong trademark here.
2. Make a Customized YouTube Channel Banner
A YouTube Banner is the large banner that goes across the top of your channel page. A banner visually communicates a channel’s brand and personality.
Channel banners are prime real estate. They can do much more than just show off logos and graphics. Use yours to start educating your viewers on what kind of channel you are, how often you upload, and share helpful links. This will help viewers understand what to expect from your content and the value your channel presents.
Remember that your banner is the first impression that visitors get when they visit your channel home page. So, use an image that represents your channel.
Tip: You can brand your banner by either including your logo or creating a unique image in the same color palette that you use in your other marketing material. Your channel art should be attractive and consistent with your brand. Canva is a great resource for making banners.
3. Make and Enable a YouTube Channel Trailer
A trailer is a video that appears when someone visits your channel. In many ways, it is like a personal greeting to visitors to your channel. A Channel Trailer helps people quickly learn about your YouTube channel. This trailer is automatically displayed at the top of a YouTube Channel Page for non-subscribed visitors.
A channel trailer is an opportunity to almost personally shake the hand of every viewer who comes to your YouTube channel, capture their attention, explain your cause, and earn their attention.
Remember that a majority of your visitors will only visit your channel home page once, YouTube statistics show. So, create a short video keeping first-time visitors in mind. A simple formula to follow would be to introduce yourself, explain your channel, describe the type of content you upload, and how often you upload.
While there’s no perfect length for a trailer, YouTube recommends keeping your channel trailer “short.” YouTube marketing experts recommend that you limit the length of your trailer to 30-60 seconds.
Enabling a YouTube channel trailer takes just four steps.
- Sign in to YouTube Studio.
- From the left menu, select Customization. Layout.
- Under Video spotlight, click ADD and select a video for your channel trailer.
- Click Publish.
4. Use Consistent, Custom Thumbnails and Profile Pictures
YouTube is about more than just video content. Images play an important role. Consistent, custom thumbnails essentially stamp your content with your brand and help viewers find your content in search and suggested results. High-quality profile pictures, because they appear in more places than any other channel element, are indispensable.
Profile picture: Your YouTube profile picture makes the first impression people will have on YouTube, which may determine whether or not people click on your channel.
If you are a company, consider using your logo or an image with your business name on it. If you are a vlogger, you can use your headshot. Just make sure that you use the same logo/headshot on your other social media channels and your website to maintain brand consistency.
Thumbnail: The thumbnail is what YouTubers will see when your content is suggested to them. So, obviously, it matters. Also, keep in mind that the better it looks, the more people will click on your video and watch it.
5. Use a Bumper with a Name and/or Logo
This one may seem like overkill but remember that a new viewer will not be familiar with your channel and its content. Even a simple 5-second bumper can be effective, and this practice has become widespread. Don’t be shy – plug away!
6. Organize Your Content into Playlists.
Playlists are a group of related YouTube videos grouped by topic or theme. When a user watches a playlist, the other videos in that playlist automatically play.
Playlists are important, and a lot of YouTubers don’t take advantage of this feature. Some of the benefits include:
- giving a potential subscriber a look into the types of videos you create without having to watch them.
- making it easy to curate your content into different categories, which makes it easier for visitors to find the right content for them.
- increased watch time because playlists automatically play all of the videos in that playlist.
- improved video SEO because playlists can rank for keywords that your audience searches for on YouTube.
Tip: make a “best of” playlist.
7. Use the Correct Trademark Symbols With Your Channel Name, Logo and Catchphrase
Trademarks convey scale a gravitas by showing that you take your channel seriously. Using the correct symbol is essential. For a Federally registered trademark, you should use the ® symbol.
Learn all about trademark symbols and how to use them here.
8. Consult a Trademark Professional
We have a simple, 5 step process we use to help our clients secure their trademarks. If you’re interested in protecting your YouTube Channel name, we invite you to book a free brand protection strategy session with us here.
For more than twenty years, Michael Kondoudis has been the go-to trademarking expert for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Michael is a USPTO-licensed trademark and patent attorney, educator, speaker, and author of the Amazon best-seller: Going From Business Owner to Brand Owner. He is also an authority trusted by national news media on major trademark stories.
Fun Facts: Michael is a member of the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court and an actual rocket scientist (B.S. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Indiana University 1994).