What is the best way for YouTube creators to do email marketing?

I currently own several YouTube channels.  I’ve also been collecting emails and doing email marketing for the last 20+ years.

I’m going to tell you why you absolutely need to collect email addresses from your YouTube audience.  

I’ll also tell you the best and easiest way to do this.

First of all, don’t worry if you don’t have your own website.  You don’t need to.  You can collect emails directly from YouTube.

Before I go into the “how”, let me first tell you the “why”

Why You Need to Collect Emails as a YouTube Creator

As a YouTuber, it’s essential to own your audience. 

What does owning your audience mean?

YouTube’s algorithm changes all the time.

Just because someone subscribes to your channel, it doesn’t mean much in terms of your ability to reach them.

If you post a new video, it doesn’t mean your subscribers will even see the video in their feed.  In fact, most of them probably won’t!

But if you have their email address, then you can contact them whenever you want.

Almost everyone checks their email regularly. 

This is why email marketing is so valuable.

Each email address is often worth more than $40 USD.

I’ll tell you how to get the most money out of the emails you collect below.

But first…

How to Collect Emails from your YouTube Videos

There are several different options, but the best way we’ve found is to use Beehiiv.

Beehiiv will host a custom landing page for you to collect emails, right from your YouTube videos. 

Here are the step by step instructions for setting this up.  (Super easy!)

Step 1.

Add a Link to your Email landing page in Your YouTube Description:

(Here is how it looks on our videos)

I circled the link in yellow.

When someone clicks on your link, it will open up on your new email collecting landing page (hosted on Beehiiv)

Ours looks like this:

Then the person will enter their email address in the box.  

That’s it!

If you want to see the list of the emails you’ve collected, you can login to your Beehiiv dashboard.

There you can see your:

• entire list of email addresses 
• all of your stats
• options for how to monetize this email list
• Link to write a new email
• etc.  

If you choose to write a new email, it looks like this:

If you look at the top right of that image, you’ll see:

• Post
• Email
• Website
• SEO
• Delivery

The cool thing is that you can write your email, AND use it as a blog post that stays online forever.  

You can even post your YouTube video right in the email.  

Because this also acts as a blog post, you’ll get new traffic and new readers because of SEO.  People will be searching Google, and they’ll find your blog post.  

From there, they can sign up for your email list, read your blog, and find your YouTube videos that way.

So not only are you “owning your audience” and having more ability to monetize them, you are also creating more opportunities for new people to find your YouTube channel in the first place.

When you are finished writing your email, you can view how it looks and send out a test email to yourself if you want.

I made an email template that is consistent with my brand.  It’s easy to do in the editor.

Here is what it looks like:

There is no “email body” in that screenshot, but this is how I’ve made the header and footer look.  The whole thing is customizable.

You can see from the image that you can preview how this will look on a mobile device or desktop.

When you post it as a blog, it looks like this:

As I mentioned before, this can also show up in Google search!

Look at this:

You can see my blog post on the first page of Google, ranked #4.

This is one way I’m able to use Beehiiv to find new people to watch my YouTube channel.

And because I have email addresses of some of my YouTube audience, I can email them when a new video comes out.

This way, I get more people watching a newly uploaded video.  This creates a positive feedback cycle where I get more YouTube views than I otherwise would have.

How can I get my YouTube audience to give me their email address?

2 words.  “Lead magnets”

A lead magnet is something you give in exchange for their email address.

Example lead magnets are:

1. Free PDF with information about something related to your audience
2. Free 5 day email course
3. Free ebook
4. Free webinar with you

You can be creative with it.  Anything that you think will incentivize your audience.

As a YouTube creator, you are already in a good position to collect emails.  If you have a loyal audience, they already know you and trust you.

This type of credibility is huge when it comes to collecting emails.

Ok, I promised before I’d talk about how to monetize the email list you collected from YouTube.

Monetizing Your Email List

Here are a just few ways to monetize your email list:

• Paid newsletters. Share exclusive content and updates.
• Affiliate Marketing: Promote products and earn commissions.
• Courses: Sell digital courses directly to your subscribers.
• Products: Market and sell your own products or services.
• Private Groups: Create a private group to share with your subscribers
• Advertise: Beehiiv has a network of businesses looking to sponsor newsletters

Note:  An awesome private group platform for YouTube is Skool   

It’s very possible to earn much more money from your email list than even the YouTube partner program.  

Regardless, both the YouTube partner program and sending emails using Beehiiv work very well together.

How to get started with Beehiiv and how much does it cost?

1. Sign up for a free Beehiiv account.

Beehiiv has a great free plan, which includes up to 2,500 free emails to start with.They have also recently lowered the starting prices of their paid plans.  Monthly plans start at $39, which is quite reasonable considering the benefits.

2. Go from there!  Their website walks you through it step by step.  It is so easy to set everything up.  You don’t need to write a single line of code or anything.  You can get the whole thing set up in a few minutes.

It is so easy, I really don’t need to write a step by step guide to it.  

It would be like writing a step by step guide to setting up a free Gmail account.

Try it now. This is probably the single smartest thing you could do as a YouTube creator.

Direct Viewers to the Link:

1. During your videos, prompt viewers to click the link in the description or the end card (if you’re a YouTube partner). This link will take them to your Beehiiv landing page where they can subscribe.

Explain the Benefits to Your Audience:

2. Let your viewers know the value of subscribing. Highlight how they’ll receive exclusive content, updates, and more.

Show a Screenshot:

3. To make it clear, show a screenshot of what the landing page looks like and how the subscription process works. For example, viewers will see a form to enter their email and a confirmation message once they sign up.

Monetizing Your Email List

Email subscribers are highly valuable, often worth over $20 each depending on how you monetize. Here are a few ways to leverage your email list:

• Newsletters: Share exclusive content and updates.
• Affiliate Marketing: Promote products and earn commissions.
• Courses: Sell educational content directly to your subscribers.
• Products: Market and sell your own products or services.

The Synergy Between YouTube and Email Marketing

Combining YouTube content with email marketing creates a powerful synergy. Use YouTube to attract viewers and email marketing to convert them into loyal subscribers and customers. This one-two punch ensures you maximize your reach and revenue potential.

Conclusion

Email marketing is a must for YouTubers looking to take control of their audience and enhance their monetization strategies. By following these steps, you can start building a valuable email list and unlock numerous opportunities for growth and engagement.

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