3 Lead Gen Plays That Quietly Crush on YouTube | Ep. 91

YouTube lead generation strategies that actually convert? I've got 3 of them for you. Forget the obvious lead magnets everyone talks about. These are the subtle YouTube marketing approaches that build trust while quietly growing your email list while growing your YouTube audience. 

▶︎ JAMES' 21 DAY LEADS CHALLENGE: https://videobrand.link/100leads (affiliate link)

⭐️ Turn your YouTube channel into a sales funnel! Get Meredith's YouTube Funnel Playbook here: https://videobrand.link/playbook

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📹 Be Binge-worthy on YouTube: https://videobrand.link/become-bingeable

🟣 Video Brand Academy: https://videobrand.link/vba 

🎥 CRUSH IT ON CAMERA GUIDE: https://vidpromom.com/crush

🎧 Video Brand Infusion Podcast: http://meredithmarsh.co/podcast 

📲 Download my FREE Video Brand Academy app! 👉 https://videobrand.link/app

👉 Consistent Sales of Your Course with YouTube: https://youtu.be/GBhulsp0s-4 

📹 Follow on YouTube for Video Podcast: https://youtu.be/zkscCExxg9Y?si=B2EAIPxJV0-jEP-7

Transcript

You know, I see a lot of business owners on YouTube who are on YouTube to not only grow your audience, of course, but also to grow your email list. But I'm also seeing a lot of business owners doing it in the exact same way. You publish a video, you tell people, "I have a freebie." You link to it down in the description and you tell people, "Go grab my freebie down in the" And crossing your fingers that they actually go and download that thing that you created for them. But I want you to consider something, because if you think about it, your YouTube channel is already a freebie, right? I mean, why would somebody go and download something that you created if they could just binge all of the content on your YouTube channel without having to go download that thing, right? And that's a wonderful YouTube strategy, right? That's actually what I teach inside a Video Brand Academy, build your binge-worthy video brand, build a library of binge-worthy videos. It's a can't lose strategy when it comes to YouTube, for sure. question is, how do you get YouTube to fill your list with your ideal clients, with people who want to work with you, people who want to join your programs, be in your community, or even just be more connected to you to stay in touch with you in everything that you're working on. my name is Meredith, and this is the Video Brand Infusion Podcast, I'm here to help you infuse the best video marketing strategies into your business so that you can build your binge worthy video brand. in this episode, I wanna share with you three lead gen plays that smart, savvy, solo business owners are making on YouTube right now. whether you have a live launch coming up or you're playing the long game and growing your list while you grow your audience. And no, none of this involves going to ChatGPT and asking it to spit out another downloadable PDF. That's not what we're doing here. Now I'm gonna do something in this episode that I don't usually do on my podcast episodes because I wanna share my screen. Now, if you're listening to this, uh, the Video Brand Infusion podcast is available as audio only in your favorite podcast player. You're not missing out on anything if you're only listening, but if you're watching, what I wanna share with you is a visual to go along with these three lead magnet plays that work so, so, so well on YouTube. And what you're seeing on your screen is actually inside of the video brand toolkit. This is the software that I have been vibe coding, for Video Brand Academy members. We have a lot of people in there. They're using it. This is an extra special little thing that I created, and we'll talk more about that in just a moment. The reason why I wanted to bring up lead generation specifically today is because th- this is, I think, the trickiest part of doing YouTube as a business owner. YouTube is, of course, my love language, creating, uh, free videos for strangers on the internet. It's my love language. And it's such a powerful discovery platform at the end of the day, y- you're not just here to grow an audience or become a YouTuber, right? You're here to grow your business. And if you have a course, program, membership, you work with clients in some way, even services or you're an author or public speaker, Somehow you have to get people from just watching your videos to coming into your business, to becoming a client or a student, or booking you for something, and growing your email list is the simplest, easiest, no-brainer way to do that. The reason why it's a little bit tricky for YouTube is, like, you're, you're generating views, you're growing an audience, people that want to watch you on camera and watch your videos, and email is a, a totally different medium, right? Plus, YouTube wants people to stay watching YouTube videos. YouTube doesn't want people leaving to go download your lead magnet, So that's why I say it's like a little bit of a, it's a tricky thing, but there are some really powerful ways to quietly grow your email list on YouTube as you grow your audience. So that you're not just approaching YouTube like a YouTuber, you're being really strategic as a business owner. number one, I call this the flagship lead magnet. This is like, um, I think of it like a signature piece. It's branded to you. It's unique. It's not just a, like, here's a 10 part checklist of how to upload your YouTube video. That could be very valuable, but it's not unique to you. So I'm talking about things that have your branding, on them. It's not just a generic PDF. It's designed to either start a sales funnel if you have a sales funnel, or at least get your, g- get your leads, get your audience closer to a sale, closer to booking your services, joining your program, or working with you in some way. And if every video you publish on YouTube is relevant to pitch that flagship lead magnet, then great. You can pitch that flagship lead magnet in every single one of your videos. It's really, like, meant to lead people to working with you. I recently created this visibility report. I'm not gonna show it to you, but if you go to videobrandtoolkit.com, you can do your free YouTube visibility report right there. I'll put a link the, in the description, of course. but that's something that's part of my toolkit. It's branded to me. I created it. It's my intellectual property. and it's part of, like, the, the video brand kind of ecosystem. Um, my backstage bonus videos, I teach a backstage YouTube funnel, in video brand academy, but if you have followed my backstage YouTube funnel system, um, then you, you have a flagship lead magnet because you have a backstage bonus video that people have to opt in to watch that, you know, bonus training. I'm thinking of things like quizzes, assessments, interactive things, which these days it's so easy and fun and interesting and, um, nerdy to vibe code something that you can use as a lead magnet. And it's so easy to m- to make it unique and branded to you and not just another downloadable PDF. Now, don't get me wrong, downloadable PDFs absolutely still do work on YouTube. I think with the advent of, like, vibe coding and Claude code and Codex and, Lovable and Emergent and Base44 and all of those things, I think you could easily create something that's a new version of a downloadable PDF, but still the, like, the function of those things that are like a cheat sheet, a checklist, a guide of some kind, are still really valuable lead magnets on YouTube. have my descript cheat sheet for every, pretty much every s- piece of software that I've done a series of, like, how to videos on. I've had a cheat sheet. I've got, like, uh, like settings guides for cameras. I have a multi-page crush-it on camera guide that has all of my gear and everything that I have in my YouTubical and how to set up your own YouTubical. And these are just guides that are downloadable PDFs, but they go along with the content itself. You could think of it like a content upgrade. It's something that supports the viewer, who is trying to learn the thing that you're talking about in your video, um, and it, it supports them in doing that thing. And if you create a spider web strategy with your content, then you know you're not just making one-off videos about whatever you feel like, you're kind of series ofying your content, right? So when you have a downloadable cheat sheet or checklist or guide that you can repeatedly promote with your content, then it actually makes a lot of sense. I have several thousand people on my YouTube list just from my Descript cheat sheet alone, and it's just a one page cheat sheet. And I think of what a lot of business owners especially get confused about with that type of a lead magnet is, but anyone could Google that. there's nothing special about what's in my descript cheat sheet. You could Google it, you could go to ChatGPT, you could go to the descript knowledge base But having everything collected, curated on a one page document it's way more helpful than you might think that it is. And I know that because people email me and say, "Thank you for making this cheat sheet." And to me, I'm like, "Ah, no problem. I just, I just put all of these things, keyboard shortcuts and, uh, put the order of how I edit my videos." Like, it's not that complicated, but it's easy as the business owner, as the, you know, expert to think that just because you know all of this stuff like the back of your hand, everyone else knows all of this like the back of their hand. And if they did, they wouldn't be watching your content, right? So having these one page downloadable cheat sheets and checklists is a really, really good way to build your email list with YouTube. Plus it builds goodwill, it builds trust, it builds your authority and your expertise in the niche while it's building your email list. And by the way, you don't necessarily have to have a specific, like, YouTube funnel or, like a sales sequence or anything like perfectly lined up for every lead magnet that you have out there. You can just be quietly building your list and sending your list an email once a week every time you publish a new video or just dropping a note on what's on your mind, I mean, as it relates to your niche and expertise, I would imagine. it doesn't have to be more complicated than that if you don't have a sales system or something that you're launching, but if you do and you're doing a live launch, this question recently came up Inside Video Brand Academy, shout out to Maggie who asked it, if you are gonna do a live webinar, a live workshop, a three day live series or a, uh, a five day challenge it's live, it has a start date, it has an end date, like it's a real thing in the calendar and not just an evergreen thing. This could get a little bit confusing with YouTube because YouTube is so evergreen, right? It's like, it's one of the things that makes YouTube such a fantastic platform for business owners, you publish your videos, they get views for weeks, months, and years, but what happens years from now when you have a bunch of videos where you've promoted a live thing that happened in the past, right? So it can get a little bit confusing, but it's not impossible. And I think there are some really smart things that you can do to utilize the algorithm that you have now and the algorithm that's going to keep bringing you viewers and leads in the future, even long, long, long past when you're doing this live thing. I did a live all in on YouTube three day workshop back in, um, January, and I've done this before when I've done five day challenges. Utilize the YouTube community posts feature, so that's on your YouTube channel where you can put a text, post, or images. So all of the same kind of stuff that you might post on Instagram as like a carousel, all of the same posts that you might have in like Facebook ads or Instagram ads or something, the same stuff that you might send to your email list to get those people into your launch, you could post that as community posts on YouTube. Community posts aren't, like, I don't think they're the most effective feature of YouTube. I mean, I know for sure they're not the most effective feature of YouTube, but they are there and you can schedule those posts, so you might as well do it or have your VA do it for you. Another thing you can do is update your channel banner. That's at the top of your channel, You can put something in there with the dates. You can update the links in your YouTube bio. You can put, I think, up to 10 links now in your bio, but the first link actually is clickable from the homepage of your YouTube channel without having to click through that bio. It would be very smart to set your links up to either redirect after your live event. They could redirect to a wait list. They could redirect to, um, like a specific wait list for your next live event, or just a wait list for your program, to your sales page, or, uh, really to anything, but you want to make sure they redirect somewhere. And then I love the idea of doing, like, a three week kind of runway where the call to action is inviting your audience to your live experience. And I think you can be really, um, like strategic and tactical about making sure that content is still relevant after the fact. Like the, the content itself is still, like, worthy of being on your channel. In other words, it doesn't exist only to invite people to your live thing, but the call to action could simply be, I'm doing this live thing, you can give the date and the year so you don't confuse people down the road, and then you're linking to it in the description, This is your audience. They wanna hear from you, and if you have something live that you're doing that is a, like a once a year thing, or an every once in a while thing, or something you've never done before, that's a totally different experience than what happens on your YouTube channel, they wanna hear about it. So I think it'd be a great idea to do like a three week kind of a runway where the call to action is come to the live experience, come to the live thing. lastly, I have done this before and it's been very effective, but it doesn't feel like the right thing to do, and that is to create a YouTube video where the entire purpose of the video is to invite people to your live thing. And the reason why I say it doesn't feel like the right thing to do is because we know that, like, YouTube is evergreen. So what I have done in the past is publish a video that's inviting people to the live thing, right, to the five-day challenge or the webinar or whatever it is. all of the same YouTube strategy rules apply to having a click-worthy title, a, an attention-worthy thumbnail and, you know, good, I'm putting this in air quotes, good content that's worth people's time to watch, but it is an invitation to your, to your live thing with your date and put the link in the description, and then you can either delete that video later, mark it as private, or even unlisted That's where it gets a little, like, hairy on, like, "Oh, this doesn't feel like the best of YouTube strategy," but again, you're not here just to grow your YouTube audience or become a YouTuber, you're here to grow your business. And so this is, I think, one of the places where you can kind of break the YouTube rule of, uh, don't just make videos and then delete them, right? But when you have a live thing and it's fun, it's exciting, it's different, and you, kind of pitch it as an experience that you don't want your audience to miss out on, then it actually does make a lot of sense. I also love the idea of using live streams to, promote the live thing that's gonna be happening, especially if you're doing a webinar or something that is live, you know, do something a little different, unique, something timely, something that your audience might not expect, but something that feels a little bit like, "Oh, this is an, this is a special treat just to get your audience's attention and awareness on the live event that you were putting together so you can actually fill your leads for that live event And by the way, there's no, like, special rule that says you can't just, like, do a live launch on YouTube, doesn't have to be a Zoom webinar, doesn't have to take place inside of a Facebook group. It could happen right there live on YouTube. That's what I did for the All In on YouTube 2026 workshop back in January, but putting all three of these plays together, your flagship lead magnet, your cheat sheets, checklists, and guides, and then promoting a live launch with YouTube, putting all of those things together kind of consistently on your channel with every weekly video that you publish is going to build your list as your audience grows, your list grows, your business grows, and it becomes a snowball, right? And when you're implementing a YouTube ecosystem into your business, it's also self-propelled by the YouTube algorithm. here's where I wanna be really straight with you, because all of these plays will only work for you to build your list if what you're offering with your lead magnet is something that your audience actually wants. And one of the ways that I think that I see a lot of my clients getting kind of like spinning their wheels on just the lead magnet is in the offer of the lead magnet and not thinking of their lead magnet like an offer, even though it's free. And I mean, if you have ever created a free download, lead magnet, freebie, whatever you wanna call it, and struggled to get people to even opt into it, and you maybe thought, "Gosh, if I can't even get people to do this thing for free, then how am I gonna get somebody to pay for my services or pay to work with me? in my experience, most of the time that happens when you're not thinking about your lead magnet like an offer. And one of the beautiful things about YouTube is that if you do it right, if you do the lead magnet offer right, then by the time somebody lands on the page, they already know they want it. They've watched your video, they've watched you, they know you, they like you, they trust you. They want this thing that you're going to send them for free. By the time they land on the page, it's like, "Yeah, just take, take my email address and give me the thing." They're pre-sold or pre-warmed up. but if the lead magnet they show up to grab feels like something they could have just gone to ChatGPT for, or they could have just Googled ...There's a good chance they're not even making it to your opt-in page. so here's the way that I would approach it. Here's the way that I do approach it. My business mentor, James Wedmore, is hosting a seven days to your first or next 100 leads challenge. It's 21 bucks. The whole thing is like paint by numbers for lead generation. walks you through the steps and stages of crafting a lead magnet that not just that your audience wants, but that your ideal clients and customers actually want, because those are the people that you want to become your leads. Those are the people that your business needs to become your leads. if your YouTube channel is generating views and subscribers, like YouTube subscribers, but not generating leads, not generating email list subscribers, then this is the missing piece. We all know it's not as easy as just telling people, "Oh, go download my thing. I, here's a PDF, go download And just leaving a link to your lead magnet in your description without even mentioning it in your videos definitely isn't gonna work to build your list. that's why when you join the challenge, the 21 days to your first or next 100 leads challenge, through my link down in the description, I'm gonna give you a couple of bonuses to make it really easy for you to implement what you learned from James on YouTube. So you're gonna get access to two things inside of the video brand toolkit. Now, these are tools that are only available to Video Brand Academy members, but as a bonus, if you join the challenge with James, I'm gonna grant you access to these. One is a lead magnet pitch generator that sounds like a ridiculous title, but here's what it does. You take a link to your opt-in page, that's where people put in their email address to get your free lead magnet. You drop a link to that page into this generator, and it writes your calls to action for you. That means when you go to record your video, even if you don't like to script your whole video word for word, you'll know exactly what to say in your verbal call to action to pre-sell to warm your viewers up to be excited to go and opt into your lead magnet. way you don't have to rely on your brain coming up with the right words or to resort to say, "Go download my free PDF in the" This tool is going to write the words for you so you know exactly what to say for your exact lead magnet. The other tool I'm giving you is a top of funnel topic generator. That is a mouthful, but again, you're gonna be able to put in your lead magnet and the, the toolkit is going to generate actual video titles, click worthy, hookworthy, interesting, intriguing titles for your YouTube channel based on your lead magnet So if you wanna know exactly what topics to create on your channel, where the viewers who watch those videos are the exact people who would want your lead magnet, that's what the top of funnel topic generator does for you. It's so cool. You're gonna love it. and those things are gonna be delivered right here inside of the video brand toolkit for you, so that you're using my AI tools to help you pitch your own lead magnets. again, these are the kinds of tools that are only available to Video Brand Academy members. I'm letting you have them as a bonus when you join James 21 day 100 Leads Challenge using my link down in the description. Now, if you do these three plays, or even one of the three plays that I mentioned in this video, and your lead magnet is something that your audience actually wants, like a no-brainer, heck yes, let me go grab this thing. YouTube easily becomes the most reliable lead generation source for your business. algorithm promotes you for free, your list essentially builds itself, and the right people are finding your offers and programs.