Lauren Bateman argues that YouTube creators should stop chasing viral views and instead create content that targets and converts an ideal audience. She uses client anecdotes and her own guitar-channel experience (targeting absolute beginners over 50) to show that lower-view videos can produce high-value outcomes (email signups, course sales). Key tactics: speak directly to a niche, include clear calls-to-action (link to free crash course or paid course), and build a community rather than pursuing vanity metrics; expect virality (if it happens) after ~2–3 years.
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Did you know that there are millions of YouTube creators who go broke on trying to go viral? In fact, there are millions of YouTube channels that only have like one or two uploads to them. And the reason is everyone is so focused on this going viral factor, getting the millions of subscribers, getting the millions of views. But I'm going to tell you here in this video is that there's actually a better way to go about utilizing YouTube that doesn't require you to have millions of views. And I'm going to tell you about that you right now. So listen, I'm not going to knock getting millions of views. Hey, if you can do that, that's awesome. You'll get tons of visibility. I have some videos over on my guitar channel that have gotten millions of views. It's great for growing your brand, it's great for growing your subscribership. But the thing is, most of those people aren't buyers, alright? I'd rather get a video that has, you know, 10 views and all 10 of those people go and buy something for me that's more valuable than, than a million views over on YouTube. And I think it's, it's very tricky. And I got caught up in it too because we get caught up in these vanity metrics of like, oh, my videos are only getting 100 views or 10 views. Let me tell you a story. I had a client very recently, we were working on his YouTube content. He's like, you know, I kind of want to go in this direction. I'm like, let's try it. So he was releasing some videos and they were doing really well. They were starting to get like thousands of views. And I'm like, that's awesome. But then he released this video and he is like, this video didn't do as well. I think it only got like 200 or 300 views. But he's like, I sold two high ticket courses from this video. So basically he only got a couple hundred views, but he made thousands of dollars off of two people who watched that video and said, I want more of this. So as a creator, that's more important than millions of views. I know. I have over half a million subscribers now. Trust me, I'd rather have 25,000 SUBSCRIB and have every single one of those people buy something from me. And I know the big numbers make us feel good about ourselves. Okay? It really is a scorecard, you know, it tells you how well your content is doing. But I always tell clients when I'm working with them, you know, think of YouTube as a giant fishing pond. Okay? This is what I tell my clients, like pretend you're gonna go fishing. And if you go fishing, you got to use the right bait. So if you want to, you know, catch a bass, you got to use the right lure to catch a bass. Or if you're catching swordfish or whatever, it's the same thing. On YouTube, you are trying to find your ideal client. You have to put content out that allows them to say, hey, this person's for me. And I'd rather you get 100 views on a video but maybe get three or four sales from that video versus get millions of views on a viral video and get nothing. I had someone who is a friend, he, he released a reel and I think he got 3 million views. And he was like, the thing that stinks about me getting those 3 million views is he's like, one, I wasn't even in the video. It was one of those like joke meme type things. He's like, one, I wasn't in the video and two, it did nothing to help me or grow my brand. So while he had a video that I think did over 2 or 3 million views very quickly, he said it did absolutely nothing to help him or grow his business. And that's the point. I want to drive home here today. So when you're putting out content. So for me over on my guitar channel, I, I really focus on absolute beginners, particularly those over the age of 50. So I put out a lot of content that's about learning guitar. Over 50, can you play guitar with arthritis? Are you too old to learn to play guitar? Okay, these are the first four chords you should be learning on guitar. I'm constantly putting out content that is in line with the goals and needs of my ideal client. Alright, so while some of those videos might get less views, they're hitting home with my client because they're listening to this and they're hearing me say, hey, I specialize in helping absolute beginners, particularly those over the age of 50. And they're going, oh my God, that's me. Like, I just picked up the guitar, I'm over 50. And then that makes them pay attention to the video more. And then I talk about other tips and tricks and they're like, wow, this person is speaking to me, let me go find them. And that's the goal of YouTube. The goal of YouTube is, is not to get millions and millions and millions of views. And again, while I'll say that's really, you know, it's great if you do that in the right way, and it does grow your brand. But the goal is to get people to find you, interact with your brand. Leave YouTube, which YouTube hates, but we want them to leave YouTube and go find us somewhere else. So I want people to get off of YouTube, go to laurenbateman.com and find my guitar course and sign up for my guitar course. Whether it's the free crash course, which doesn't cost them any money, it costs them an email or my full course, okay. Which is like $300. And that should be your goal as a creator. It shouldn't be. I'm going to put out this video with the intent of getting millions and millions of views. I'm going to put out this video with the intent that even if I just have 20 people watch that video, I might get a sale from it. Okay? Because in the beginning when you're starting YouTube, most of your videos are going to get like 10 views, 20 views, 30 views, maybe 50 if you're lucky. It takes time to get up to that hundred or a couple hundred view range. But when you do, you want to make sure the content you're putting out solves a problem or it hits a pain point that your audience has and that you tell them, hey, if this helped you go over to my website or go to the link in the description below and grab my free whatever or go check out my course. We want to keep telling people that we have something, okay? Just like for YouTube, my creator, Launchpad website has a free YouTube crash course now. Okay? We did it with the guitar crash course. And now I'm doing a YouTube crash course. Because I realize that there's people who want to get started with YouTube who don't want to go and spend $500 right out of the bat, okay? They just want to learn some information, get started with YouTube, get to know me, get to know my brand. And they're not willing to put money on the line, but they're willing to give me an email. And what that does is it allows me to start interacting with that person, brings them into my world. It gives me an opportunity to build a relationship with the customer. And I that is way more important than going viral. And I think this is a huge thing that creators are missing. You want to create a community. You want to create a community between you and your customers. Now, some of those people will never buy from you, but people buy from people they know and people they like. So I would rather you have, you know, 200, 300, 400 people in a little community that you interact with a lot. Thank you. Than get millions of subscribers on YouTube. Okay? Now if you can leverage those millions of subscribers or, you know, views appropriately, awesome, all the power to you. But in the beginning, most people aren't getting millions of views. So stop focusing. If you're just Getting started on YouTube, stop focusing on going viral. It's probably not going to happen for two to three years anyway. Most successful YouTubers that I've talked to, they said about somewhere in the two to three year range and that's what happened to me too. One of their videos goes viral, alright, but it takes two to three years to get there. So if you're just getting started on YouTube, you got a while to go. But don't waste your time on trying to make videos that go viral. Put the time and effort into making content that truly speaks to your audience so that one, you can get an email from them, or two, maybe they'll go buy a course from you because they find this helpful. They're like, wow, Lauren was so helpful in that video. I want to go over to her website and buy her course. Because like, if this is the free stuff, the paid stuff has got to be awesome. Or sometimes people go over and they sign up for the free crash course because they're like, I just want to see what it's like. And then they see what it's like and they're like, I love this. And then they go buy the course. Okay? So that is our goal with YouTube, getting people off the platform and over to our website. And if you want to see why I work with clients to sell courses on YouTube versus just depending on YouTube advertising, go watch that video over there. You're going to be shocked at the difference between how much money I make on AdSense and how much money I make selling courses.
