4 Tips to Create YouTube Videos that Generate Leads & Sales

YouTube video marketing leads

If you want to promote your business with video, YouTube is one of the platforms you should be focusing on. It is a video network where people go to watch 5 billion videos every single day

These views can lead to results that add to your bottom line, as 90% of people have discovered new brands or products on YouTube. 55% of people even use online videos while shopping at a store. 

So, today I am going to create YouTube videos that generate leads and sales. I will also show you how to promote these videos…

Don’t just create sales videos

If you have been publishing sales videos on YouTube and are wondering why you aren’t generating any sales, it is probably because you are only publishing sales videos. 

Sales videos can help drive sales, but they alone won’t do the job. This is because your YouTube video marketing strategy should be just like any other marketing strategy where you create more helpful content.

Helpful content helps you build a relationship with your subscribers and gain their trust. So, later when you publish more sales videos, people will buy from you. 

An example of a company that understands the importance of creating educative video content is Tesco. If you check out their YouTube channel, you will find that it is full of educative content. 

Like this recipe on how to make risotto.

Ingredient chargrilled veg vegan risotto – Tesco Food

They also share seasonal content like this video on how to carve a Halloween pineapple.

How to carve a Halloween pineapple

Most of their videos are helpful videos like these two. These videos will not only nurture your current subscribers but will also help attract new ones as people will want to see more content like this. 

So, when they share promotional videos like the one below where they are promoting tomatoes, they will drive more sales.

Videos like these make up the minority, but when they are shared, they make a massive impact because of the work the educative videos have already done. This is why you should be creating both types of videos. 

If you haven’t got the time to create elaborate educational videos, you can experiment with releasing video versions of your podcasts if you are already running them. Several YouTube channels do this. 

But if you have the time, you might want to add a 3rd type of video here. 

These are videos that combine education and sales. An example would be video case studies where a customer shares their experience with using your products or services. Like this one from Todd Herman.

90-Day Year Case Study – Multiple Businesses | Laura Dunne


Another popular content type is webinar recordings. Even sharing plain educative content where you show people how to accomplish a task while using your product can help. You will be educating people while promoting products at the same time.

Focus on conversions

If you want to generate maximum leads and sales from your YouTube videos, you should optimize them for conversion. One way to do this is by including calls to action and links in your video descriptions. 

If you share a product video, you can share a link to a product in the video description, as Tesco did in the above video.

Tesco video
Tesco YouTube – Add links in descriptions

Make sure you link to a landing page that is highly optimized. If you run an eCommerce store, like Tesco, you can use a builder like 3dcart to set up high-converting eCommerce landing pages.

3dcart builder
3dcart builder – use a builder like 3dcart

But don’t send people to a sales page if you share a non-promotional video. For these types of videos, it will be better to send people to a landing page where they can sign up for a lead magnet or your newsletter for free.

An example is this video from Jason Hornung, where he shows you how to create Facebook ads that generate revenue.

Want to make $1000 a day?

He then links to related training in the video description.

landing page link in description
landing page link in the description

This leads to a landing page where you can sign up for some Facebook ads-related training for free. This will help him build up an email list that he can nurture and convert to sales.

Free casestudies
Free case studies

You can easily set up a landing page like this one by using a tool like Leadpages. 

If you want more people to check out the call to action in the description, you should mention it in the video. You can inform them about the link in the description and ask them to click on it to visit the page and sign up or buy. 

Another place where you can include a call to action is the YouTube end screen. The end screen can be added to the last 5 to 20 seconds of the video. You might have noticed it on several videos where they ask you to subscribe to their channel or watch another video. 

You can add these to your videos, too, to gain more subscribers and views. But if you want to generate leads and/or sales too, you should also add the link element. The link will appear on the end card (enclosed in a square), and people can click on it and visit your site. An example can be seen in this video:

Link elements in youtube videos
Link elements in YouTube videos

You can design this end-screen template with a good photo editor, and you can add it to your video by using a video editor like Screencast-O-Matic or Canva.

Startup ideas to launch.
Add your end screen with a good video editor

You will also need to add the elements over the end card template using YouTube’s Studio after you upload it. 

If people watch your video all the way to the end, they certainly like the content in it. So, they will be more likely to click on the end card and buy the product or sign up. So, make the most out of this real estate.

Promote the videos

Once you create videos and have optimized them for conversions, you can begin promoting them. If your videos get more views, you will generate more leads and sales. So, this is an important step you shouldn’t miss.

Gaining more views will not just help you in the short run but also in the long run, as it is a ranking factor that YouTube considers while ranking videos.

If your videos get more views, you will move up the rankings and get more views in the future. So, here are the different tactics you can use to promote your videos.

Views are a YouTube ranking factor
Views are a YouTube ranking factor.

If your videos get more views, you will move up the rankings and get more views in the future. So, here are the different tactics you can use to promote your videos.

Create a thumbnail:

One of the easiest things you can do to promote your videos is to create a thumbnail. When people see an attractive thumbnail, more people will click on it. This can drive more views.

A good example of a thumbnail is this one from Buzzfeed.

$60 Lasagna
$60 Lasagna - YouTube Video
$60 Lasagna – YouTube Video

I like that it’s an attractive thumbnail with some text, but not too much. This is because when you include less information, more people will want to click on the thumbnail to learn more.

Here, they simply took a couple of stills from the video and erased the background from the still with the two guys (the hosts). Then placed this photo over the still with the food and then added a little overlay text.

To create a thumbnail like this, you will first need to get a still or 2 from the video.

Social Books Free Background Remover
Social Books Free Background Remover

Then remove the background using a background remover and finally place it on an image using a photo editor tool. You can then place the text.

You should try to experiment with different font sizes, styles, and colors to see which one gets the best results.

Optimize for YouTube SEO:

As I mentioned earlier, the number of views your videos get will help them rank better, but there’s another factor that is far more important when it comes to YouTube SEO.

This is keyword optimization. You need to optimize the video for keywords in the title, description, and also tags to make sure they rank higher for those keywords.

An example is this video from Simply Daisy on How to Crochet for Absolute Beginners. It has over 13 million views and ranks very high on YouTube.

How to Crochet for Absolute Beginners
How to crochet for absolute beginner
How to crochet for the absolute beginner – YouTube keyword optimization example

This is because it is well-optimized for YouTube SEO. You will find the keyword in both the title and description.

If you have no idea how to do keyword research or write SEO-optimized titles and descriptions, you should take advantage of blog writing services. They should be able to quickly whip up titles, descriptions, and tags that will help your video rank.

Advertising videos in the banner:

Another good area to promote your videos is the YouTube banner; you can either promote specific videos here or all your videos. You can also tell people to expect videos at a certain time on a certain day as this will drive up views as soon as your videos are published. 

An example is the below banner from Love Nature.

Love nature - YouTube banner example
Love nature – YouTube banner example

They tell you about the days on which they publish the videos.

Work with influencers:

Another tactic you can use to promote your videos is through influencers. You can find influencers on YouTube and ask them to promote your videos or your channel in their videos. 

You can also work with influencers on other networks and ask them to promote your video. A shoutout on Instagram or TikTok can boost views tremendously. Both these networks drive high levels of engagement.

So, come up with a good outreach strategy and reach out to the top influencers in your niche.

Use ads:

Another paid tactic you can use to drive up views and sales is ads. YouTube ads let you display your message on the most viewed videos similar to yours. So, take advantage of this and promote your videos with ads and drive up views, or create short sales videos that directly send people to a landing page.

And make sure you share it on networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., using a good social media scheduling tool. This will drive up some organic views.

Track data

To generate more leads and sales, you will need to optimize other areas, like the landing pages and the funnels you have in place. But along with these, you will also need to optimize the videos. Here are a few YouTube metrics you can track.

Clicks:

YouTube will automatically track clicks for you. But if you add links to the description, you will need to use a URL shortener to track those clicks.

Watch time:

Watch time is the number of minutes people have spent watching your videos. If people are watching more minutes, it indicates to YouTube that the video is good and more people want to watch it, so they will move it up the rankings. 

So, keep an eye out for which of your videos are doing best. You can use this data to create better videos of the most optimal length in the future.

Audience retention:

Another viewing metric you might find useful is audience retention. This shows you how many of your videos people watched and when they stopped.

After you view this data, make sure you go back to your video to analyze it to see why they stopped there. Figure out if there is something you can do to get people to watch for longer periods.

Conclusion

These are the 4 tips you should follow for creating YouTube videos that generate leads and sales. As you can see, it is more than just creating videos when it comes to generating more leads and sales with YouTube. Other things like optimizing the videos for conversion and promoting them play a key role too.

Ways to create YouTube videos that generate leads
Ways to create YouTube videos that generate leads

About the author: Mitt Ray is the founder of Social Marketing Writing.

Image source: Freepik Premium

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