How To Build A YouTube Marketing Funnel That Wins Customers

You’ve got the marketing strategy. You’ve got the scroll-stopping video content. All that’s left is to build a YouTube marketing funnel that actually works.

A funnel is the journey users take from “never heard” of your brand, to becoming a loyal customer. Focusing on YouTube just makes sense. They have an active audience of 2 billion people and Google reports that 70% of users have made a purchase after seeing a product on YouTube.

This article will show you how to tap into this market. We’re going to cover how to create a fully optimized YouTube marketing funnel from scratch. To make things super simple, we’ll take you through the whole process step by step.

So, why us? Because we’re Viddyoze, and video is our thing. Not only have we set up a successful YouTube channel, but we’ve helped thousands of businesses do the same using our ground-breaking video animation software and content marketing.

Here’s how you can do the same and drive more sales for your business.

In simple terms, a YouTube marketing strategy is all about:

1. Attracting YouTube viewers to your channel
2. Driving those watchers to your website
3. Convincing them to give you their contact details
4. Then nurturing them into paying customers

To successfully execute this, you need to serve content that ups the ante during each new phase of the funnel. You need to begin by building trust and then slowly introducing more sales-focused content.

Here’s how to build one for YouTube that converts.

This is the very beginning of your relationship with potential customers. At this point, they don’t know who you are, but it’s very likely they have a problem they need help with.

Right now, you need to earn trust. The best way to connect with new viewers is to give away premium TOFU content (top of funnel) for free. This content must be interesting and useful to your audience.

For example, educational videos work great here. We’re talking about tutorials (how to videos) that solve the problem (or part of the problem) your idea consumer has. Ultimately, you want to position yourself as the authority and forge a level of trust.

Next, your first major step is to create your own YouTube channel. We’re not going to go into the nuts and bolts of that here (you can find out how to create a channel in this article), but it’s vital if you want to build a YouTube funnel that converts.

Once you’ve got your channel set up, the next step is to start posting videos. The reasoning here is simple: the more YouTube videos you create, the more consumers you will attract into your funnel – it’s a numbers game.

Social Media Examiner reports that the most successful channels post at least one video a week (3 or more, if possible). For most businesses, creating this much quality content is almost impossible, so we created Viddyoze to make it possible.

With our easy-to-use software, you can create all kinds of YouTube content for your target audience, including: testimonial videos, product videos, explainer videos, FAQ videos, how-to videos, tutorials, and much more.

Getting started couldn’t be simpler. All you need to do is sign up for our app, choose a template from our library, customize it with your brand and messaging, then download and post.

Research from Neil Patel shows that you can increase sales by up to 59% by posting more videos on YouTube. Viddyoze gives you the tools to improve your content output, watch time, and lead generation. Subscribe now and supercharge your YouTube channel today.

Creating content that gets people into your YouTube video funnel has never been easier.

SEO isn’t just for Google. In fact, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the planet. That means each and every video you post should be optimized so that it’s easier to find.

Not only does good YouTube SEO drive traffic to your YouTube channel, but it generates video views, improves watch time, and helps build brand awareness. Three things you need to make sure people enter your funnel.

So first things first: the keywords. No matter the platform, this is how all internet searches begin. Your YouTube content must feature the words and search terms that your audience is looking for. The better your SEO, the more views your video receives.

To create a list of terms, you can run your topic (for example, we might run “video marketing”) through a keyword research tool to expand your list. There are free tools, such as Keyword Surfer and AnswerThePublic, and paid software that offers some basic services free, for example, Ahrefs and SemRush.

In the end, you should aim for a list of between 5 to 10 words or terms. Once you have these, include them in your YouTube content in the following places:

• The title – your main keyword and potentially one secondary keyword
• The video descriptions – the copy that explains what the video is about
• The Youtube tags – a categorization function built into the platform

If you’ve just created your YouTube channel, it can be slow going at first. But don’t be discouraged by low-volume search terms to begin with. It’s better to have 30 interested people find and watch your videos through the YouTube search engine every month, than 300 who land there looking for something else.

For more detailed advice on YouTube SEO, check out this expert guide.

Paid advertising is the other proven method you can use to drive people into your YouTube content marketing funnel. To generate leads, we recommend running YouTube ads on the platform itself, as well as on other social media networks, such as Facebook, and Instagram.

Firstly, create an audience based on your target market and look to target based on age, location, gender, and interests. Once you obtain more customers (and learn more about them), you can make the targeting more specific.

Next, calculate how much you’re willing to pay to acquire each customer. This is the price you pay for every transaction you make, and unlike cost per click, it gives you a better picture of how well your ads are performing.

Essentially, this is a case of defining what you can afford to spend on each person while still making a profit. It’s important you stick to this figure. We recommend aiming for a minimum of 3:1 return on your ad spend.

Finally, test, test, and test. It’s unlikely you’ll find the perfect ad straight away, so you’ll need to mix things up as you go along to figure out what works best. Some things you can test include:

• Length of ad: short, medium and long
• Creative: serious or funny, animated or person-led, etc
• Subtitles: with and without

The middle of the funnel part is where you drive home your worth as a brand and product. You’ve made contact with your target market, you’ve established your expertise with great informative content and warmed up your leads, now it’s time to take things to the next level.

The ultimate goal here is to grab the email address of your YouTube watchers. To do this, we need to move them off YouTube and onto your website. This means setting up a purpose-built landing page with a sign-up form.

The only information you need to capture here is their first name and email address, so limit your form to these fields. Forms with fewer fields are proven to have better conversion rates than longer ones.

Next, your landing page needs to include an offer which people can redeem in exchange for their email address. This is called a lead magnet, which we’re going to explain more about later.

But remember, most people will only give you their email address if you offer them something valuable in return – for example, a free video tutorial or a discount code – so be sure to make it clear what the user will receive.

But before we get to lead magnets and how they work, you’ll need to ensure all your content is fully optimized to get those leads where they need to be.

The challenge here is funneling people from your YouTube channel page to an optimized landing page on your own website.

Here are 4 best practices you should follow to ensure that people transition to your site:

2.1.1 Call Your Viewers To Action Within The Video

KissMetric found that a video call to action (CTA) drove 380% more clicks than a regular sidebar CTA on the same page.

Clearly, it’s a no-brainer to have one in your videos. For this stage of the funnel, you need to focus on your lead magnet. So be sure to tell those watching YouTube what it is, how it will benefit them, and how they can get it.

2.1.2 Add Links In Your Description

Adding links to your description is a time tested YouTube lead generation strategy. To get this right, make sure to reference your lead magnet in the video, and tell watchers they can access it by hitting the link in the description.

We recommend adding links to your lead magnet landing page in all of your video descriptions.

2.1.3 Use YouTube Cards

These tiny “cards” appear mid-video in the right-hand corner of the screen and can be used to link to a landing page, blog post, or video.

To use cards effectively, build the CTA into your videos and draw attention to where the card will be within your content. Explain to people the benefit of your lead magnet and why they should access it right now!

2.1.4 Add Your Lead Magnet To Your Endscreens

Similar to the in-video YouTube card, you can add a larger card to the end of your video.

Endscreens are an absolute must. If someone has sat through your entire video, then that’s a qualified lead. They’ve shown interest in what you have to say, use this opportunity to tell them where to go next.

After optimizing your YouTube channel to move people to your website, the next step is to ensure those people take action once they get to your site. That’s where lead magnets come in.

A lead magnet is something that you give away for free in exchange for the person’s contact details. As we mentioned earlier, create a landing page with a quick and easy form to access the lead magnet. This landing page is where you want to funnel all of your YouTube traffic.

There’s only one hard-rule here: the content you offer must be free. Other than that, it’s up to you what you offer. No one knows your perfect customer like you do, right?

To help you get the ball rolling, we’ve put together a list of MOFU content (middle of funnel) marketing ideas to help drive leads from YouTube to your preferred landing page.

2.2.1 Exclusive Video Content

Multiple studies have shown that videos are the most popular type of MOFU content on the internet, so why not give people more of what they want? That’s why they’re on YouTube in the first place, after all.

Exclusive “gated” content is a great way to capture customer data. Think video case studies, exclusive interviews with industry thought leaders, and customer testimonials.

If you’re a SaaS business (like us), a demo tutorial is a great way to tempt leads to go with your product over a competitor.

2.2.2 Early Access To Events Or Presales

The idea of getting a product or service before everyone else is a very powerful marketing tool.

As people sign up for your presale, you’ll get an idea of order numbers ahead of your launch. Once you go live, the sales will fly in the door.

This is especially useful if you’re just starting out in business, as it gives you the chance to collect precious feedback from your presale customers.

2.2.3 eBooks

Written content still has a big part to play in lead attraction, and the eBook is a stone-cold classic.

Typically, eBooks work best for B2B businesses, especially for businesses providing solution-based services, such as recruitment, IT, marketing, and so on. They should focus on a common issue within your niche.

What’s great about an eBook, is that it can be used elsewhere, for example, in your email and social media marketing efforts.

2.2.4 Email Training Courses

Email training courses are super popular right now. The idea is simple: a potential lead subscribes to a course, which they receive in installments over the week.

Shopify is a great example of this. Once a prospective customer signs up for their mailing list, they receive a video tutorial that explains exactly how to build a digital shop front.

You can extend this with multiple videos, where a subscriber receives a new training module each day of the week.

2.2.5 Templates Or Checklists

Templates and checklists can be super useful resources if marketed in the right way.

Take Viddyoze, for example. Our business is animated templates. It’s why people come to us in the first place and we make thousands of them. So, when people sign up for our app (a different type of lead magnet), we incentivize them with free templates.

Now, that’s a very specific example, but it can work with checklists, too. Run an IT firm? Provide a cyber security checklist for a business website. Personal trainer? Try a post-workout recovery checklist.

2.2.6 Quizzes

Because who doesn’t love a quiz? This timeless internet classic might sound a little dated, but in reality, they’re still an effective way of capturing data in the customer journey. In fact, 80% of marketers say that interactive content, like quizzes, help them stand out from their competition (Outgrow).

All you have to do is come up with an interesting angle, promote the hell out of your quiz on YouTube, and set up your quiz so that the user must input their email to get the results.

One other thing to note here. You’ll need to ensure that the quiz is industry-themed so that you get the right kind of qualified leads.

Congratulations, you’ve made it to the final stage. This is what we call the “business end” of the funnel. Or, to put it a better way, where the money is made.

By this point, your leads are super-qualified. That means they’re interested in your brand, and they have all the information they need to make a decision about their purchase. Now, it’s time to convert those leads into paying customers with hard-sell tactics.

Any final doubts should be addressed here through your content. In our experience, the best way to achieve this is with a focused email campaign. In fact, research from Custora E-Commerce Pulse shows that email is the third-highest channel for transactions after paid search and organic traffic.

Here’s how you do it.

An email series is the perfect way to nurture your leads and turn them into conversions.

So, how does it work?

Once a lead submits their contact details, in order to receive your lead magnet, you follow up with a series of pre-written, automated emails nudging them towards a transaction.

The sequence should promote your products and further your relationship with the lead. For the best results, all emails must be personalized (LinkedIn stats show that personalized emails generate 6 times more revenue on average), and you should look to send one email everyday with a two-week publishing schedule.

So, what should you include in these emails?

The first one is easy enough. Open your sequence with a “Thank you and welcome” email. After that, focus on your products and services with a mix of benefits and prompts to buy.

We recommend the following as a guide:

• Half of your emails should contain advice-based content, with a specific focus on your products (for example, a tutorial video)
• Half of your emails should contain entertaining content with a clear hard sell (for example, a product video)

Be sure to end each email by letting the recipient know that there will be another email the next day, with a short preview of the content.

To save time and budget, it’s best to use an automation service to send out your emails, such as Mailchimp, Active Campaign, Sendloop, and Drip.

Finally, if your lead doesn’t convert after the two-week email period, move them to your weekly or monthly newsletter instead.

To close the deal, your emails need to contain some seriously good offers. Using a combination of entertainment and sales, here are a few BOFU content (bottom of funnel) ideas to get those leads over the line.

3.2.1 Book A Free Consultation Call

A classic sales tactic, a free consultation call can help build a stronger relationship with your customers.

With Calendly, you can automate the whole process by sending out your available timeslots for the call. This type of conversion tactic adds a personal touch and works well for smaller, B2B businesses.

3.2.2 One Week Trials

What better way to show how good your product is than with a free trial? This is perfect for software companies, or subscription services, such as NOW TV, Apple TV+, and SoundCloud Go.

At the end of the trial, be sure to follow up with a hard sell email for a full sign up.

3.2.3 Webinars And Product Demonstrations

If your YouTube funnel is a huge success, it might not be possible to speak to every single lead with a callback.

Instead, organize a webinar or product demonstration and bring all you leads together in one go. This way, you can save time and close multiple leads at the same time.

3.2.4 Coupons And Discounts

Old school but effective, discounts are a proven way to drive sales. In fact, 57% of US online shoppers surveyed by Marketing Prof said that without a discount given to them, they wouldn’t have made their purchase at all.

How much should you offer then? Research from SendOwl found that discounts of 20%,35% and 50% were the most popular.

With so many active users, YouTube is a must for any marketer.

The beauty of a fully automated marketing funnel like this one is that it never stops working. It just keeps ticking over in the background, pulling in leads, converting sales, and creating loyal customers.

With Viddyoze, you’ll never run out of content for your YouTube channel. Create different video types in minutes.

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