Latest Gartner Hype Cycles for Digital Marketing: 2009-2024

 

Evaluating technology options for innovation in marketing - do you know your Hype Cycles?

If you're involved in marketing strategy development, you will be constantly making judgments and reviewing with colleagues which digital technology innovations are most relevant to your organization. The Gartner Hype Cycle, which is published each year is a good tool to use to find out about both newly emerging innovations and more established marketing technology that could be relevant.

In this article, we compare different examples of the well-established Gartner Hype Cycle tools which serve to highlight the adoption of new technology services within marketing technology.

Gartner publishes many different hype cycles reviewing the adoption curves for different types of technologies, but as a digital strategist, I am most interested in those focusing on digital marketing technologies. A summary of the report with the infographic is published annually and I have been monitoring them and sharing them for over 10 years in this post.  You can compare the newest to the latest at the end. The methodology is described later in the post.

Through the updates you can see how technology trends have changed as techniques like content marketing and personalization have moved along the Hype Cycle.

The latest digital marketing hype cycles

The 2024 Gartner Hype Cycle highlights three transformative trends in digital marketing: generative AI, privacy-focused technologies, and the rise of  'super apps':

We have been sharing Gartner's digital marketing hype cycles for over 10 years now, since their structure provide an efficient structure for reviewing the latest technology. Their latest 2024 includes Digital Twins of the customer which we listened to several marketers mentioning their value at a recent workshop.

Using digital twins of the customer (DToC) allows you to create accurate, dynamic models of individual customers or segments, which can support personalized marketing. By leveraging these virtual profiles, you can:

1.⁠ ⁠Enhance Personalization - Use real-time insights from DToC models to tailor content, product recommendations, and engagement strategies based on predicted customer behavior.

2.⁠ ⁠Optimize Customer Journeys - Adjust campaigns and user flows dynamically, ensuring customers are guided toward products or services that fit their preferences.

3.⁠ ⁠Predict Needs and Trends - Run simulations to anticipate future customer needs, adjust to market trends, and proactively address pain points, making your brand more responsive and relevant.

Integrating DToC into your strategy helps in delivering value by predicting and meeting customer needs more accurately and building more engaging, data-informed campaigns.

Although IBM has been promoting its DTOC for its enterprise customers for several years now, there are new technologies emerging which are more accessible to other businesses.

For example, Pathmonk is on example of MarTech that uses AI based on Digital Twins.

You can see it it in action and results by visiting their customer stories page.

Unlike traditional personalization, which often relies on predefined rules or segments, Pathmonk’s AI-powered solution continuously learns from real-time visitor behavior. It dynamically adapts the content and experiences shown without needing manual input or updates. This means every interaction is based on the latest data, making personalization smarter, more relevant, and more effective at converting visitors.

Gartner's 2023 Emerging Technologies hype cycle, showed the importance of Generative AI (as exemplified by the popularity ChatGPT).

This takes the familiar form of a hype cycle from emerging technologies on the left through to more established technologies for which the plateau on the right will be reached and some point in the future with the forecasts shown by the colour within the circle. More detail explaining the hype cycle concept is given later in this article.

My analysis of the 2022 digital marketing hype cycle

For me, the main takeaways from the latest hype cycle are:

1. Digital twin of a customer (DToC) is an interesting new concept introduced by Gartner this year. They define the DToC as:

"A digital twin of a customer (DToC) is a dynamic virtual representation of a customer that simulates and learns to emulate and anticipate behavior. Customers can be individuals,​ persona​s, groups of people or​ machines.​ DToC gives marketers a flexible approach to anticipating a customer’s state of mind".

You can see this is a tool used for modeling the impact of changes to targeting and proposition before implementation. So it seems to be a form of predictive analytics based on AI. Although it's an interesting concept, it is likely to remain a niche application since most businesses will be more concerned with introducing or improving personalization to introduce improve conversion.

If you want to learn more, sample vendors are given as Absolutdata; Arrayworks; Fetch.ai; Salesforce and Tanjo.

2. Multichannel Marketing Hubs (clouds) of which email automation and personalization are part are now a core technology platform for many businesses and this is confirmed since these have already reached the plateau along with Conversational marketing which previously featured, but has now been removed since these are now part of the mainstream. It's likely you have these in place, the question is, what is the maturity of the implementation, how well are they customized to improve targeting and response? Which brings us to...

3. Tools to increase communications relevance through targeting. Tools to target such as Personalization engines and personification are now in the trough with personalization engines forecast to reach the plateau in 2-5 years. However, many would argue that in sectors such as retail, travel and financial services recommendations tools are already relevant.

4. Artificial Intelligence for marketing is in the 'trough of disillusionment'. This fits findings from our research on managing digital marketing amongst marketers which shows a relative lack of enthusiasm for adoption of AI and Machine Learning despite the number of vendors offering AI solutions. Our research also showed that many businesses are at a low-level of maturity in their digital marketing, with only the c10-20% of businesses who have the scale and skills to deploy AI currently using it. Surveying these larger organizations in 2021 Forrester found higher levels of adoption with 52% of marketers Gartner surveyed in 2021 using AI and ML, with another 38% in the planning or piloting stages with AI/ML. However, only 17% have deployed AI across all aspects of their marketing technology stacks. You can read more about the applications of AI in our infographic on 15 applications of AI for marketing.

5. Consumer consent and preference management technologies are often part of hubs/clouds/marketing automation, but are defined as a separate category by Gartner since they consider them a strategic investment with dedicated tools available for larger businesses.

6. Fewer new innovations than in previous years since the innovation trigger part of the marketing curve is sparse suggesting relatively few genuine new technologies are emerging. Indeed, I'm sure visual search has previously appeared here. It's not relevant to most businesses and I'm surprised that Augmented / Virtual Reality isn't highlighted on these curves since they are being adopted more widely. This suggests to me a maturity in tools has been reached and genuinely new techniques will be rare in future. This is suggested by our Digital marketing tools wheel (free download) which identifies 30 categories of technology.

To review which of the technologies are most relevant Gartner also share a visualisation to summarize the most relevant tools to consider as part of your marketing technology stack. The tools on the top left are most relevant here. For most small to mid-size organisations, those in the 'high benefit' row such as Hubs, ABM and Personalization are most relevant.

Understanding the stages of the Gartner Hype Cycle model for technology innovation

You may well be aware of the Gartner Technology Hype cycle concept since they have been published for over 10 years, but over time they have added a comprehensive range of hype cycles covering technology applications like e-commerce, CRM and ERP. Many of these are only available to subscribers, but Gartner does share some of the broader hype cycles through their blog/press releases and we share them here to raise awareness of these useful tools.

Here is the generic Gartner model of adoption of technology innovations showing adoption at different points in the product lifecycle.

It raises interesting questions for when businesses should adopt new technology:

Many of the early deployment 'Innovation Trigger' techniques are less relevant for marketers compared to those related to AI which is now at the 'Peak of Inflated expectations'. One that caught my eye is Conversational User Interfaces. This is a useful application for marketers to consider since it includes using marketing chatbot examples, which we have featured on our blog this year. It also includes voice interactions through the likes of Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana and Amazon Alexa/Echo.

Other technologies include marketing applications of machine learning which platforms like Google. Facebook, Amazon, IBM and Salesforce are deploying, with their mega budgets and research teams are working on integrating into their services. They include, for example, Augmented Reality, Cognitive Expert Advisors (described above as AI Chatbots), Smart Data discovery (of which Predictive Analytics is one approach) and IoT integration including the Connected Home.

For reference: comparing hype cycles through time

For those who are interested to review technology predictions against what actually happens in terms of popularity of deployment, here is a comparison for hype cycles from previous years that I have curated as I have updated this post. Note that some years Gartner only make the emerging technologies hype cycle available and not the marketing hype cycles.

2021 Digital marketing hype cycle

2021: The latest digital marketing Hype Cycle

For reference, this is the 2021 Digital Marketing Hype Cycle published by Gartner. If you're new to these Hype Cycles see the section later in this post explaining the stages of the Gartner Hype Cycle model for technology innovation.

This matrix shows that despite the hype of AI for marketing, mainstream adoption is a long time into the future. For current investment cycles, it's more important to review pans within the next 5 years and in particular the next two years including integrated marketing hubs and influencer marketing.

2020 Digital marketing hype cycle

Here is the chart from Gartner of the 2020 digital marketing hype cycle.

For comparison, this is the advertising hype cycle :

2019 digital marketing and advertising hype cycle

In August 2019 Gartner published their latest digital marketing and advertising Hype Cycle including their recommendations on 22 technologies marketers should focus on in the year ahead. Gartner's hype cycle for digital marketing is particularly useful for Smart Insights readers to consider their investments in marketing technology in the year(s) ahead.

You can see that of the technologies on the Innovation Trigger slope, many aren't expected to become mainstream for 5 to 10 years. Of those forecast to hit the mainstream within the next 2 to 5 years, the three most significant for marketers to consider are personification, real-time and conversational marketing.

Real-time marketing covers a range of established techniques such as marketing automation and personalization in response to customer behaviour, e.g. consumption of media, content or responding to messaging. It's likely that you're already using this if your business has high digital maturity. I think what is new here is a more unified approach to managing relevance across the customer lifecycle using common platforms such as marketing clouds and Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) which also feature in the Gartner hype cycle.

In their article, the personification of digital marketing they define personification as:

"Enabling marketers to deliver targeted digital experiences to individuals based on their inferred membership in a characteristic customer segment rather than on their personal identity".

Personification in digital marketing has been promoted by Gartner since 1995 since as an approach where improved relevance can be delivered by providing segment-based communications. This is distinct from 1:1 communications based on an individuals' identity where permission hasn't been gained. You can see this is closely related to personalization.

The review also highlights the growing interest in Artificial Intelligence which in their opinion, "AI continues to seduce marketers". They say that unrelenting vendor hype shows no sign of slowing, yet AI hype in marketing heavily outweighs actual adoption.

They define the use of AI for marketing as follows and also highlight Conversational Marketing as a significant trend from their hype cycle.

• AI for marketing comprises systems that change behaviors without being explicitly programmed based on data collected, usage analysis and other observations for marketing use cases. Unprecedented insight, intuition and scale fueled by AI will help marketers deliver relevant experiences to prospects and customers with increasing effectiveness and efficiency.

• Conversational marketing technologies enable interactions between companies and customers that mimic human dialogue and do so at scale. This category is near the Peak of Inflated Expectations phase.

It's good to see the latter included since in previous years I commented that Conversational UI doesn't feature prominently. Conversational marketing is more commonly known as 'chatbots', but I think it's useful to generalize it, because it has wider implications for replacing other forms of communication such as Messaging Apps gradually replacing email marketing and the use of interactive live support on-site such as the Intercom service we use and similar services like Drift which are developing chatbots which can be used for B2B and B2C. Smart speaker use is also included within the category.

Other on-the-rise technologies on the 'Innovation Trigger' part of the hype cycle to consider for investment include:

• Blockchain for advertising
• Consent management (closely related to identity management)
• Visual search for marketing
• Real-Time Marketing [Personalization, not real-time PR]
• Personification
• Augmented and Virtual Reality marketing
• Header bidding (Programmatic) and Programmatic TV buying
• Customer journey analytics
• Conversational Marketing
• Multichannel marketing hubs
• Multichannel marketing hubs

Personally, I disagree that AR and VR are on the rise and I would place them as heading swiftly into the 'trough of disillusionment'.

2018 digital marketing hype cycle (Source)

2017 emerging technologies hype cycle

2016 emerging technologies hypecycle

The Digital Marketing hype cycle for 2015

This report showcased some really interesting trends. Wearables are currently ascending the peak of inflated expectations, and with all the hype around them, they could have quite a long fall into the trough of disillusionment. Mobile advertising is now headed straight for the plateau of productivity, which is where it will rightfully sit given most web traffic now comes from mobile.

The 2015 Hype Cycle report identified 5 mega-trends that will play out over the next few years. These were:

•  1: Digital Business Moves Toward the Peak of Inflated Expectations
•  2: IoT, Mobility and Smart Machines Rapidly Approach the Peak
•  3: Digital Marketing and Digital Workplace Quickly Move Up
•  4: Analytics Are at the Peak
•  5: Big Data and Cloud Make Big Moves Toward the Trough of Disillusionment

Let's see how these compare to the 3 mega-trends predicted by 2014's report:

• Brain-Computer interface
• Virtual Reality
• Virtual Personal Assistants and Smart Advisors 

Brain-computer interfaces still seem a while away for most of us, but there has been big strides in the interfaces, especially for controlling robotic limbs for people who have lost their legs or arms. VR was also a big trend of 2015, as was virtual personal assistants, with Facebook launching 'M' in beta, and Siri, Google now and Cortana all battling for market share.

The Digital marketing Hype cycle for 2014

The emerging technologies trend report is the best known Gartner hype cycle but is in fact, one of many hype cycles covering activities from Big Data to e-commerce.  Also, this year Gartner has released this report specifically on Digital Marketing which will be of particular interest to Smart Insights readers.

Gartner Hype Cycles for technology and marketing in 2013

For reference and comparison to previous years., we have included the Gartner technology maturity adoption curves from previous years. In July 2013 Gartner released their Digital Marketing Hype Cycle - you can see some interesting commentary in this Slideshare kindly recommended by Jon Clements in the comments to this post and we added this in December since it's sure to be of interest to Smart Insights readers.  We cover many of these in our 2014 digital marketing trends post. Digital marketing specialists may be surprised to see some established techniques such as content marketing, attribution, responsive design and mobile analytics only at the innovation trigger stage although some of these are reaching the peak of the hype cycle.

In August 2013, Gartner followed with its Latest 2013 Hype Cycle of emerging technologies. If you don't know it, this is one of the best ways to find out about the upcoming technologies which may affect digital marketing.

Marketers who follow new technology will not be surprised to see Big Data nearing the Peak of Inflated Expectations along with wearable technology. Scary-sounding new technologies to watch include the Brain-computer interface, Human Augmentation, and Neurobusiness.

For reference, we also have the 2010 and 2009 models from when I first wrote this post. It's interesting that those rising up the "peak of inflated expectations" currently those looking most relevant for marketing are Video search, Augmented Reality, IP TV are not mainstream still, probably consigned to the "Trough of Disillusionment".

Gartner Hype Cycle 2009

Here is my summary of the 5 stages of diffusion of innovation used by Gartner - it can be useful for explaining to colleagues your strategy when you have adopted a "wait and see" approach because you don't want to waste time implementing a solution that never gets out of the "trough of disillusionment". Alternately, in digital marketing, many smaller, nimble companies have gained an edge amongst early adopters of an approach such as social media or Web 2.0.

1 Technology Trigger - The first phase of a hype cycle is the "technology trigger" or breakthrough, product launch or other events that generates significant press and interest.

2 Peak of Inflated Expectations - In the next phase, a frenzy of publicity typically generates over-enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations. There may be some successful applications of technology, but there are typically more failures.

3 Trough of Disillusionment - Technologies enter the "trough of disillusionment" because they fail to meet expectations and quickly become unfashionable. Consequently, the press usually abandons the topic and the technology.

4 Slope of Enlightenment - Although the press may have stopped covering the technology, some businesses continue through the "slope of enlightenment" and experiment to understand the benefits and practical application of the technology.

5 Plateau of Productivity - A technology reaches the "plateau of productivity" as the benefits of it become widely demonstrated and accepted. The technology becomes increasingly stable and evolves in the second and third generations. The final height of the plateau varies according to whether the technology is broadly applicable or benefits only a niche market.

Selecting alternatives for marketing innovation

Selecting amongst hundreds of alternative projects is a challenge I commonly hear when talking to digital strategists. One approach I have developed when consulting, to help with this, is the matrix below which we describe along with other alternatives in our guide and template to justifying digital marketing investments. Of course, this structured approach won't fit the culture of all organizations, but even a simple unscored version of this is useful within a workshop to help discuss the relative merits of different digital projects.

https://tinyurl.com/3b628883

The 5 Stages Of Developing A Digital Marketing Strategy

 

A successful digital marketing strategy can be divided into five key stages: planning, reaching, acting, converting, and engaging. These stages guide businesses through a structured approach to maximizing their online presence and achieving long-term goals.

1. Plan

The first step involves research and strategic planning. Businesses assess their current position, target audience, and competitors. They set clear objectives, define key performance indicators (KPIs), and choose the right digital channels. The plan should align with business goals and ensure that all efforts are measurable. A thorough understanding of the market and audience sets a strong foundation for success.

2. Reach

This stage focuses on creating awareness and driving traffic to your website or social media platforms. It involves using SEO, content marketing, paid ads, and social media to attract potential customers. The goal is to increase visibility and bring new visitors to your digital properties. It’s crucial to use the right channels where your audience is most active to effectively reach them.

3. Act

Once users are on your site, the focus shifts to engaging them. This includes encouraging interaction, such as reading blogs, signing up for newsletters, or following on social media. Effective content and clear calls-to-action help guide visitors toward conversion points. Engagement at this stage builds trust and leads them deeper into the marketing funnel.

4. Convert

This is the stage where visitors turn into customers. Conversion can include purchasing a product, signing up for a service, or completing any business goal. Conversion optimization tactics, such as user-friendly design, effective landing pages, and clear CTAs, are essential.

5. Engage

Post-purchase engagement focuses on retention and loyalty. Businesses build long-term relationships through personalized communication, email marketing, and customer service. Satisfied customers can become repeat buyers and brand advocates, contributing to sustained business growth.

Via: https://tinyurl.com/kn7ars8a

How to promote YouTube videos for free: 18 tips for more views and subscribers

 

Marijana Kay

Thinking of introducing YouTube into your creator marketing strategy?

You’ll need to learn how to promote YouTube videos and grow your subscriber base.

In this guide, we share a complete strategy for promoting your YouTube channel and videos for free, along with 18 tips and examples from creators like you.

YouTube video promotion: 3 quick benefits

YouTube lets you share your expertise as a creator, engage with your target audience, and grow your subscribers.

But if you don’t promote your content, it’ll be challenging for your audience to discover it.

Here are some benefits associated with promoting YouTube videos:

• Drive traffic back to your products and services: You can make money on YouTube in dozens of ways. For example, increase views to your website or landing pages, promote your email list, and sell or promote products.
• Reach a global audience: With almost 2.5 billion monthly active users, YouTube is the world’s second-biggest social platform (after Facebook) and second-largest search engine (after Google).
• Increase views and rank higher: Promoting YouTube videos means that the view count will increase, which helps YouTube’s algorithm work in your favor and show your videos to your ideal audience or people searching for terms related to your content.

Tips to optimize your YouTube videos (aka YouTube SEO)

Just like you can optimize your website and blog posts to increase rankings in search engine result pages (SERP), you can also use search optimization strategies for YouTube videos.

For example, include the right keywords in video titles, descriptions, and tags to increase your videos’ visibility in YouTube searches.

1. Research keywords and search intent

To find the right keywords, type your topic into YouTube’s search bar.

Then, click through any relevant suggestions and review the videos that rank.

Consider:

• What keywords do they use?
• How many views does the content get?
• Does the keyword relate to your business and its products or services?
• How have they optimized their video and channel

Example of keyword research from YouTube’s suggestions

Alternatively, there are two tools for finding the best YouTube keywords:

• VidIQ is a Chrome extension that analyzes any channel or video of your choice. It will show you why certain videos rank well, their watch time and growth over time, as well as practical tips to get your videos to show up in search, related videos, recommended videos, and more.
• TubeBuddy is a well-known tool in YouTuber circles that lets you research keywords, A/B test your titles and thumbnails, and simplify your tasks for YouTube growth.

Remember to consider the keyword’s search intent, which means you need to consider the audience’s mindset when they search for a video.

For example, if someone searches for “slow cooker chicken recipes,” they want ideas and step-by-step instructions for their slow cooker, not instructions on how to use it or a list of its benefits.

Now you have a list of potential keywords, it’s time to segment them into primary and secondary groups.

A primary keyword (sometimes known as a focus keyword) is usually a term with a high search volume and is a competitive term to rank for.

For example, if you’re a baker, a primary keyword might be “sourdough bread”.

A secondary keyword is a supplementary keyword that supports your primary keyword. For example, “sourdough sandwich bread” or “gluten free sourdough bread”.

Example of Mapped Out Money’s focus keyword

Nick True runs Mapped Out Money, a YouTube channel about personal finance and independence that features easy-to-follow videos on the tool You Need a Budget.

Nick doubled down on YNAB-specific keywords to help grow his channel exponentially.

Check out how Nick True grew his 10,000+ email list with YouTube.

Nick True’s targeted YouTube keywords. Image via Mapped Out Money on YouTube.

2. Write catchy YouTube video titles

Use your primary keyword in your video title. Focus on making it different from other videos and including additional details that set yours apart.

For example, if your keyword is “how to learn French”, you could name your video ‘How to learn French: easy 1-hour weekly routine for beginners’.

By placing the primary keyword toward the front of your video title, you clearly signal to YouTube’s algorithm what your video is about.

Make sure your YouTube video titles are clear and concise and match the content of the video. Otherwise, viewers will quickly click off your video, which can impact your ability to rank in YouTube search results.

Example of Nourish Move Love’s video titles

Get inspired by Lindsey Bomgren, the creator behind the Nourish Move Love YouTube channel, where she shares free home workouts.

She sticks to a formula that works: an indicator of the workout length along with the equipment needed and the body part the workout targets.

Lindsey Bomgren’s consistent, catchy video titles. Image via Nourish Move Love on YouTube.

3. Add informative descriptions and backlinks

A well-written video description can boost your rankings in YouTube’s search results for your focus keyword.

Like the title, including relevant details about the content of your videos in your descriptions is key to helping your videos rank. The longer and more detailed your description is, the more information YouTube has about your content, and the more people will be able to find it.

In the description, you can add links back to your website, blog posts, landing pages, email lists, social channels, or even other relevant YouTube videos, which helps keep audiences engaged with your brand.

You can even include time stamps to help audiences skip ahead to a segment most applicable to them instead of running the risk they can’t find what they’re looking for and click off your video.

Example of Creator Wizard’s video description

Justin Moore runs Creator Wizard, where he teaches about the business of being an influencer.

Check out this video description. First, he explains what the video is about in a few sentences, and he lists key sections of the video further down the description. He also added links to the gear he uses—something his audience of creators and influencers benefits from.

Check out how Justin Moore had a $40K course launch with Kit.

Justin Moore’s video descriptions are detailed without any clutter. Image via Creator Wizard on YouTube.

4. Include video tags

Tags are additional information you can add to your video to help viewers find your content. They’re not visible on the video page, but they play a role in your video’s SEO.

Add tags that are the most relevant and descriptive for your video—this will help YouTube understand what it’s about and show it to the right people.

To view any video’s tags, right-click anywhere on its page and click View Page Source. When you see the source code, open the search bar (with CTRL + F or command + F) and type ‘keywords’ to locate the tags.

How to check video tags on YouTube. Image via Brian Lagerstrom on YouTube.

Example of how to view Jay Clouse’s video tags

Want to see this in practice? Check out Jay Clouse of Creator Science.

On one of his videos, looking at the page source reveals he uses video tags like podcast, creator, creative elements (which is his podcast name), Jay Clouse, business podcast, creator podcast, creator economy, and creator business—all appealing to his target audience of creators.

Check out how Jay Clouse uses automations to generate $15K in two months.

The Creator Wizard video tags. Image via Creator Wizard on YouTube.

5. Take advantage of YouTube’s hashtags

Hashtags on YouTube show up at the top of the video description and work the same way as elsewhere online—clicking on it leads you to other videos with the same hashtag. That’s why hashtags are worth adding to every YouTube video you publish.

Think of hashtags as another way to make it easier for your ideal audience to find your content and a useful way to categorize your videos. Make sure you only use quality hashtags and not more than a handful.

Take some time to research the hashtags you want to use and make sure they’re not linked to spammy, low-quality, or unrelated video content.

Example of wAmy’s video hashtags

Take it from Amy Wang, the creator behind the wAmy YouTube channel focused on holistic academic advice.

In her efficient studying video, Amy used hashtags #gpa, #grades, and #studytips—all of them simple, yet specific.

Amy Wang’s video tags. Image via wAmy on YouTube.

6. Design a standout thumbnail image

You can add a thumbnail image to every video you publish. It shows up next to your video’s title and your channel name and adds more context to your potential viewers. YouTube will generate a thumbnail image for you automatically, but as soon as your account is verified, you can upload a custom thumbnail.

Use text, colors, illustrations, and layers to get your video to stand out and maximize your click-through rates. Thumbnails play a huge role in how viewers perceive your content, so it’s worth iterating and experimenting until you find a style that works.

Example of Femke Design’s video thumbnail

Femke van Schoonhoven runs Femke Design—an educational hub and YouTube channel for designers.

Her thumbnails follow a consistent color palette, almost always feature her face, and grab attention with text and design elements emphasizing the video’s topic.

Check out how Femke Design grew her 25,000+ subscriber email list with YouTube.

Femke’s attention-grabbing YouTube thumbnails. Image via Femke Design on YouTube.

Tips to optimize your channel’s profile

The better you optimize your channel with keywords, description, and branding, the easier it will be for YouTube to recommend it to potential viewers.

Not just that: consistent branding will help your subscribers get used to your content and spot it anywhere. You know how you can recognize your favorite brand of sneakers even without seeing the logo? The same philosophy applies here.

7. Add all the important channel information

Give YouTube and your channel visitors as much clear information as possible about you and your goal behind the channel. Fill out your complete profile, including:

• Branding elements: profile picture (your headshot or logo), banner image (for the top of your channel page), watermark (for the in the right-hand corner of the video player)
• Basic info: your name, handle, channel description, external links to your website and other social profiles, contact information
• Featured sections: the layout of your channel with up to 12 sections like Shorts, playlists, live streams, or videos on specific topics

YouTube channel customization options

Example of Pat Flynn’s YouTube channel

Take inspiration from Pat Flynn, a seasoned educator in the online entrepreneurship world.

His YouTube channel is divided into categories like starting a podcast, making money online, starting a business, affiliate marketing, and more, making it easy to consume the exact content a viewer needs.

Pat Flynn’s channel sections. Image via Pat Flynn on YouTube.

8. Upload an attention-grabbing channel trailer

Just like trailers for movies and TV shows, your channel trailer is a chance to hook viewers and encourage them to subscribe. It’s another way, on top of your channel description, to tell viewers about your business, who you are, and what your channel is all about.

Keep it short, sweet, and high-paced—the goal is to grab attention within the first few seconds and get right to the point.

Example of David Perell’s channel trailer

David Perell, a writing and creativity creator, catches attention with a one-minute-long channel trailer.

The video starts with a short intro sentence and jumps right into fast-paced storytelling that matches his usual video style, which helps him attract the exact viewers he wants.

Check out how David Perell continually grows his newsletter by thousands of new subscribers.

David Perell’s channel trailer. Image via David Perell on YouTube.

Tips on promoting your videos and channel on YouTube

The ultimate goal of promoting your YouTube videos through the platform itself is to drive engagement.

And the foundation to making that happen lies in deeply understanding what your audience craves. It’s the key to giving your viewers what they need—and keeping them around.

9. Create a posting schedule and stick with it

Viewers love a predictable posting schedule from their favorite YouTube creators—and so does YouTube.

By sticking to a schedule, you maximize your audience’s chance to see (and engage with) your new videos. Teasing a video every week or every two weeks is also a great way to build anticipation with your subscribers.

To decide how often you want to publish videos, consider what’s realistic for your business. It can take some time to create quality videos, so factor in time for planning, production, and editing.

A great way to ensure you’re publishing consistently is to create YouTube videos in batches. This way, you do all the heavy lifting ahead of time and schedule your videos with YouTube’s scheduling feature. This way, you get to upload content ahead of time and publish them when your audience is most often online.

Example of Ali Abdaal’s publishing schedule

Ali Abdaal is among the most followed productivity experts online.

To be honest, we’re not surprised—he has published around 900 (!) YouTube videos over eight years and never misses a beat.

Ali Abdaal’s consistent YouTube publishing schedule. Image via Ali Abdaal on YouTube.

10. Put together playlists and video series

One of the best ways to increase your channel’s watch time is to create playlists and video series that keep your viewers hooked.

What can your playlists be about? You can use them to bring videos with similar styles or topics together—think product reviews, routines, or vlogs. You can also create a strategic video series with episodes, tackling a topic per episode and bring those together in a playlist.

This makes it easier for your viewers to find similar videos and keep watching your content for longer.

Example of Matt Ragland’s YouTube playlists

If you follow Matt Ragland, it’s because you’re looking for productivity, time management, and Bullet Journal advice.

And he knows it—that’s why he built YouTube playlists on Bullet Journal planning and basics, note taking, time tracking, journaling habits, and planner reviews.

Matt Ragland’s YouTube playlists. Image via Matt Ragland on YouTube.

11. Include call to actions in every video

Want to keep your viewer around at the end of your video? Tap into end screens, YouTube’s feature that lets you add different CTAs during the final seconds of your video (at least five and up to 20 seconds).

First, consider verbally inviting your viewer to take a specific action as well as where to find it (like on the screen or in the video description).
Then, leverage the end screen options to promote:

• Your other videos, like the most recent video or another video on that topic
• A playlist you created
• The option to subscribe to your channel
• Another channel, like your second channel if you have it
• An external link, like your website or landing page (available if you’re part of the YouTube Partner Program)

Example of Charli Marie’s end screen

Charli Marie is a design creator and YouTuber. In her videos, she often ties the current video to a previous one by verbally inviting viewers to check it out—followed by that video’s thumbnail on the end screen.

She makes it look good with a branded background that directs viewer attention to the right places.

Charli Marie’s YouTube end screen. Image via Charli Marie on YouTube.

12. Interact with your YouTube audience

The easiest thing to do on YouTube? Hit Publish on a video each week and disappear until the next one.

But the best thing you can do? Interact with your viewers and subscribers—and make each video a platform for two-way conversations. It will set you apart from other YouTubers, make your audience feel heard, and boost your videos in the eyes of the YouTube algorithm.

You can:

• Use the Community tab on your profile to engage with subscribers
• Respond to comments and answer questions below your videos
• Leave positive comments on relevant videos from other creators

Example of Rainbow Plant Life’s comment section

Check out how Nisha Vora of Rainbow Plant Life responds to her comments. These aren’t generic comments but genuine responses to compliments and subscriber feedback.

This doesn’t just make the specific commenter feel good—it also encourages others to comment in the future because they can see that Nisha cares.

Nisha Vora’s genuine comment responses. Image via Rainbow Plant Life on YouTube.

13. Consider YouTube live streams and YouTube shorts

Standard YouTube videos have been around for nearly two decades. For most creators, it’s the default way to publish content on the platform.

If you’re looking for a fresh way to connect with your audience and grow your channel, consider YouTube live streams and Shorts.

With live streams, you can connect with your audience in real-time. It’s a chance to answer their questions, hear their suggestions, teach on a topic with real-time feedback, and so much more.

And with Shorts, you can experiment with short-form video. Try Shorts with snippets from your long-form videos or create brand new content for it and potentially reach a completely new audience.

Example of Clean My Space’s Shorts

Here’s how Clean My Space, a channel focused on easy cleaning tips, repurposes its videos into Shorts.

It’s only a 14-second clip, but it’s taken directly from a 14-minute video that’s linked in the Shorts caption. This short clip may be enough to get viewers to click through to the full video or to the Clean My Space channel.

A YouTube Short made from a clip found in the long-form video. Image via Clean My Space on YouTube.

14. Run a giveaway contest

Attract likes, comments, and new subscribers with a giveaway. The key? Make your reward something highly relevant to your channel’s focus—and something they really want.

Your giveaway prize can be a physical product (like a book or a skincare set), a software subscription or app (like a meditation app or a fitness program), or a valuable digital product (like a course or an ebook). Steal more prize ideas from email giveaways.

If you choose this strategy, make sure to stick to YouTube’s contest policies and guidelines.

Example of MissBoux’s contest

Karen Faulkner of the MissBoux YouTube channel drives subscriptions, likes, and comments with a beauty giveaway.

This is closely related to her channel’s usual topics, which is exactly why this strategy works—this video attracted around 500 comments for less than 3,000 views.

Karen Faulkner’s beauty giveaway. Image via MissBoux on YouTube.

Tips on marketing your videos outside of YouTube

Once you’ve done the work to optimize and promote your videos on YouTube itself, it’s time to look outside of the platform. Consider social media platforms, other people’s audiences, your blog readers, and email subscribers.

Because that’s where your ideal viewers are hanging out, too.

15. Leverage other social media platforms to share your videos

First, think of all of the places your target audience hangs out. Facebook groups? TikTok and Instagram? LinkedIn feed? Twitter chats? Every platform you can think of is fair game.

Then, think of ways to promote your videos there that go beyond just sharing your newest YouTube video link.

For example, you can summarize your main video takeaways in a text post on LinkedIn, share a short video snippet on TikTok, or tease it with Instagram Stories.

Example of Forte Labs’ cross-promotion on Instagram

With over 100 videos on his channel, Tiago Forte of Forte Labs interviewed dozens of productivity experts.

One of his promotion strategies is clipping the most interesting parts of those interviews and posting them as Instagram Reels, along with on-screen captions and a call-to-action to view the full video on YouTube.

Tiago Forte promotes YouTube clips on Instagram. Image via Tiago Forte on Instagram.

16. Collaborate with other creators and YouTubers

Joining forces with other creators is a powerful way to promote your videos outside of YouTube and grow your audience. Working with a creator within your niche leads to new, original pieces of content and brings your audiences together.

Plus, collaborating with other creators increases your view count and builds your brand awareness to a completely new audience—both on YouTube and off as you cross-promote your collaboration.

You can interview each other, teach something new to the other one’s audience, and so much more.

Want to find the perfect creator to join forces with? Check out Kit’s Creator Network to do just that.

Example of Meredith Marsh collaborating with Trena Little

Meredith Marsh and Trena Little both create content aimed at business owners and YouTubers. They joined forces by partnering on a topic their audience loves: YouTube gear for beginners.

As part of the collab, they created dedicated videos for both channels. Meredith also published a blog post that shared details from the video, as well as the embedded video itself.

The collaboration between Meredith Marsh and Trena Little. Image via Meredith Marsh.

17. Embed videos on relevant website pages or blog posts

Not everyone who visits your website knows about or visits your YouTube channel. That’s what makes your website and blog the perfect place to promote relevant videos.

Let’s say you have a blog post about your 10 most-used productivity tools. On your YouTube channel, you published in-depth videos about three of those tools—that’s your cue to embed those three videos in the right places within that guide.

Example of Bardot Brush’s embedded YouTube video

Take Lisa Bardot, a Procreate digital art expert, and her content on Bardot Brush. She embedded her Procreate gestures video into a blog post on the same topic to expand its reach.

And expand it she did: even years after this post was published, it still ranks highly for Procreate gestures Google search, which automatically increases the reach of her YouTube video.

Lisa Bardot’s embedded YouTube video within a blog post. Image via Bardot Brush.

18. Notify your email subscribers of new video releases

Unlike with YouTube and social media platforms, you own your email audience. No algorithm or update can change your email reach overnight—that’s what makes email lists a creator’s liquid gold.

You can send a dedicated email to your list when you publish a new video or make it a section of your regular newsletter.

If you want to directly embed your video into the email, which is easy to do with Kit, keep this tip in mind by Alyssa Dulin, our Head of Deliverability:

Many email providers don’t support video in email, but it won’t impact deliverability; it just means the video won’t load. So, I still recommend adding a link to a video screenshot in the email. But Kit’s video embed tool is great because it will embed a video if videos are supported by the receiver, and it’ll link to a video if video embeds aren’t supported by the receiver.

Email providers just mean inbox options like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. Check out which email providers support video.

Example of Jules Acree’s newsletter with links to her videos

Jules Acree, a self-care, productivity, and lifestyle YouTuber, sends a regular weekly newsletter. On top of that, she sends a dedicated email each time she posts a new video, along with a beautiful video thumbnail, a few paragraphs on what the video is about, and a call to action.

Jules Acree’s email announcing a new video to her list.

https://tinyurl.com/jt7nb6rd