Why is a YouTube Channel Trailer important?

There is a saying that sometimes, movie trailers are better than the movie itself. This should not be the case for your YouTube Channel Trailer, but still, it should motivate you to come up with your best trailer ever because this could turn page visitors into subscribers in one shot. Your YouTube Channel Trailer is usually the third thing a new visitor sees on your page, after the Channel Icon and Channel Art. If done right, the trailer might keep your visitor glued to the screen for a couple of seconds and then make him hit the “subscribe” button. 

The best strategies for a top-notch Channel Trailer

The “magic” 30-90 seconds

YouTube recommends you keep your trailer short. Many other YouTube marketing consultants recommend you do “all the magic” in under 60 seconds. Still, you can go up to 90 seconds, but make sure they will be the best 90 seconds you’ve made in a while. Moreover, don’t forget to include a few key things that could convert your visitors into subscribers: 

1. Brief presentation of you and your plans with the channel
2. Sum up the types of content you’re going to post and the frequency of videos your subscribers should expect
3. Best highlights of your video content
4. Call To Action. Do not be afraid to ask your YouTube Channel visitors to subscribe to your channel. Do it in a relaxed manner, use humor and tell them again what they should expect from your content

The “T.O.P.” Formula

The T.O.P. Formula is short from Target-Origin Story-Pitch. It’s a simple formula that will help you effectively organize your Channel Trailer content this way: 

1. Present your target audience. Let your viewers know who your channel is for. Is it for scuba divers, gamers, hikers, entrepreneurs, tech junkies? Let them know right away! Place yourself in your audience’ shoes. You’re a tech junky and you’ve found a video trailer that speaks to you from the first 5-10 seconds. Wouldn’t you feel more drawn in? 
2. Cover your origin story! Now that you’ve made sure you talk to the right audience, it’s time to reveal your origin story. Tell the story of your channel but try to start with your personal story: who you are, what was your most defining life experience and why you chose to create this YouTube account, what kind of content you’re going to post there. 
3. Pitch! Now, ask viewers to subscribe to your channel so they can follow your story unfold or so that they’ll learn more about a specific subject (depending on your channel topic). You can use frequent lines like: 

• “Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel for more fresh news from the….”
• “Make sure you hit that subscribe button and activate the notification bell!”
• “Go ahead and subscribe…or don’t…or do, whatever you like!”
• “If all that sounds good, make sure to subscribe to my channel right now!”

As you can see, there are different approaches and you should go for the most appropriate to your style.

Highlight your best

YouTube has always stated: “Show, don’t tell” and this is what you should do. So, letting people get a glimpse of the best part of your videos is what could convince them to hit subscribe. So, make a nice highlight reel and run it as a b-roll, while you talk about your channel. 

Optimize the trailer video title and description

After the trailer is done, now comes the part where you upload it on your YouTube channel. You can’t just upload it using the “Channel Trailer 2019” naming as you probably have it in your computer. You need to think of a little title and description that will double the message from the video. You should include:

1. Tagline
2. The type of videos you produce
3. Schedule of posts
4. Call to action 

Advanced Strategies to take into account

•  Use one of your best videos as a Channel Trailer. This is a common practice among most YouTube creators who use their most popular and viewed video as a channel trailer to get more subscribers. 

• Use a script or outline for your channel trailer. If you still want to create a channel trailer from scratch consider writing an outline first, a script that will save you all those extra “umms” and “ahh” which sometimes, become too much
• Create a channel trailer which represents the videos you usually create. It should have the same look, feel and personality of your other videos. It’s not necessary to have the same format, but still, people should get a feeling of the type of content you’re going to offer, from the first trailer. 
• Always bear in mind that the viewer knows nothing of you! Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself and make a clear description of what your videos would be about. It’s not going to hurt anybody who, say, have already seen one or two of your videos. 
• 400;”>End screen at the end would be nice because YouTube will automatically add a subscribe button after the trailer ends.