Mr. Beast has it. Ryan Trahan’s got it. Casey Neistat definitely has it. …What is the thing that they have? Viewers that hang on their every word. The question becomes, “How are they doing that???” Is it luck or is there a simple strategy behind it all? That’s what I’ll talk about today.

Primal Branding

I have talked about primal branding a million different times, but I really haven’t broken it down to discuss in detail what it is any why you need it. In short, primal branding is all about connection. It helps viewers connect to the creator or brand. And this connection is vital in making your viewer really fall in love with your channel.

​Primal Branding: Create Zealots for Your Brand, Your Company, and Your Future​ is a book by Patrick Hanlon. In it he identifies the massive companies that have die-hard followings and the 7 elements that these brands have woven into their strategies that have created that loyalty. These elements easily transfers over to YouTube and have the same results.

These seven elements are: Creation story, creed, icons, rituals, sacred words, nonbelievers, and leader. Once you understand what they are, you’ll start seeing them everywhere. So let’s break them all down.

Creation Story

Think about the comic book world. In every villain origin story, we get the full picture of why they are the way that they are. Suddenly this purely evil character has depth and usually a sadness that led him down this horrific path. It helps you connect with them and realize although you don’t agree with their actions, there is a reason behind them.

Now, hopefully YOUR creation story is a little less sinister. But we all have a story of where you came from, where you were born and why you got into this crazy YouTube world. And we all want to know other people’s stories because we are curious about them! Knowing this information paints a fuller picture and helps us relate to each other.

Take my own story. I started Youtube because I wanted to introduce my girlfriend to my family who lived all over the country. The files were too large to email, so I did some research and stumbled upon this YouTube site. I started uploading the videos and sending links to my family. The rest is history.

So how do you incorporate your creation story into your content? Well for one, you can make a video to share this story. – Even if you are a how-to channel, break away from the norm and share your creation story! This will turn into community content that will deepen your connection with your audience.

Your trailer is another good place for this. So many creators don’t utilize this space and it is such a missed opportunity to give an instant connection with prospective subscriber. Make a short video to share your story and your value proposition. Prospective subs will watch this and immediately have a connection to you.

I understand that it can feel intimidating to share your story. It’s vulnerable and you may feel like no one cares anyway. But that is just not true. Put yourself out there and see the connections deepen. Then, once your audience knows where you’re from, tell them what you’re about…

Creed

Creeds stump a lot of creators. But really a creed is simply a belief you have. Now, it is not your value proposition. Your value proposition is what you do and why you do it. While a creed is simply a belief that can be connected to your value proposition, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be something of depth or it can be who your favorite superhero is or your belief that suspenders are the best invention ever.

But your creed will set you apart from other channels in your same niche. Think about your value proposition. Maybe you’re a finance channel that wants people to make more money. Ask yourself, “Why do you want this?” Your belief that you want people to make money because you believe everyone should be able to live a little more freely is a creed. Digging into your why can often give you creeds you have that you don’t even know about. If you have a cooking channel, you can believe that “every meal should be shared with your family.” That’s a creed.

If you aren’t sure what beliefs they have, ask yourself if there is something you are against. If you are against something, you believe something. Pinpoint what that is.

Other people who believe these same creeds are going to have an instant connection with you. And those who don’t believe will feel strong feelings about this belief as well.

Non-Believer

And that brings us to the non-believer. Everyone is afraid of haters. But, haters are different than non-believers. Non-believers are part of your community, but they just don’t completely align with your beliefs. Take Dave Ramsey. He is a famous finance guru and is a firm believer in not using credit cards. However, there is a strong group of non-believers who may like much of his advice, but are going to push hard against his stand due to the perks of using credit cards.

If this idea makes you feel uncomfortable, remember that you can’t please everyone. The strongest leaders know what they stand for and what they stand against. Not having strong opinions makes you seem untrustworthy and honestly, less likable. So don’t be afraid of sharing them.

If you’re unsure what your beliefs are, ask your friends and family. Observing yourself can be difficult, but observing someone else isn’t. There is a very good chance those closest to you are going to know what you feel strongly about. Just ask them.

Icons

Icons are the things that you are known for. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a logo or brand image. Instead, think about Casey Neistat’s glasses or Ryan Trahan’s white tank and black shorts. Think of my hat! I am wearing a hat in all of my videos and whenever I take it off in a zoom meeting, people are legitimately startled! It’s like I pulled off my actual head because when people think of me, they imagine me wearing a hat.

Icons don’t have to just be physical either. They can even be sounds. Think of the jaws theme song. Anything that your viewer interacts with and instantly thinks of you is your icon.

If you’re really good, you can pair your creation story with your icon. There was an airline pilot who was the leader of a channel who had a stuffed animal names Bubbles. He would strap it into the plane in all of his videos because his daughter gave it to him and he wanted to bring her along on all of his flights, but wasn’t able to. This icon made a great connection between him and his viewer.

Rituals

Icons bring this connection, but so do rituals. Rituals are anything you do that your viewer comes to expect. Ryan Trahan is the king of this in his penny series. The daily trips to McDonalds, the slurping of the iced coffee, his morning routine, the dramatic effects every time he mentions the great reset, the slapping of the burrito, etc. People loved it and came to expect it. At some point along the penny series, every time he rode off on his bike he would say, “See ya’ later fart smellers.” And then a few videos later he didn’t do it. It was so telling when the top comment of that video was “I feel oddly disappointed that Ryan didn’t call me a fart smeller.” This is what you want from a ritual! It becomes so natural that your community actually misses it when it doesn’t happen.

Now I’m not saying just start calling your viewers fart smellers, because that’s going to be weird and unauthentic. You need to be yourself and find a way to naturally start to incorporate rituals into your videos. Don’t overthink it or force it. Just be yourself. If you don’t say it in real life, don’t say it in your videos. Keep a list going of ideas that you might be able to work in (with this and all these elements). But don’t incorporate them all at once. Instead, slowly work them in and see where it takes you. The music you use can be a ritual. The way you open and close a video can be a ritual.

But my major caution with this is to not become boring. If you use the same music to end every video it will become “ending language.” This will signal to your viewer to sign off. That is not what you want. Instead, make sure your ritual is natural and always keeps the video moving forward.

Sacred Words

Sacred words is a difficult one for a lot of creators. But it can be done well! A lot of channels have special words that they use when they are referring to their audience (-like the podience for example.) Again, this isn’t something to be forced. But most people do have those words that they have made up themselves or use uniquely. Those that are close to them know what they are talking about and connect to it.

Insider language is a form of this. If you are into sports or tech, you are going to use terms freely that others may have no idea what you are talking about. But if you do understand it, you know that you are “in” and the connection is stronger between those people who get it.

Leader

Finally, we need a face to the channel. This one can be easily overlooked, because it is sometimes so obvious. But, it really is quite important. If your channel has multiple people leading it can be very confusing. Without the clarity of who is the leader, it’s hard to build trust with your community.

Co-leaders are ok. But, there is a point when there are too many and your viewer has less connection with any one person. Think about it. Saying “we believe…” is just less firm than “I believe..” Again, trying to identify with everyone is going to identify with no one. So be strong in your beliefs and your tribe will find you.

Try these out for yourself! Start implementing these primal branding elements in your channel. When done well, your retention will be better and your audience will transform from passive viewers to die hard fans.

Power Tip

Underneath your “About” section, YouTube has begun allowing creators to list up to 14 “prominent links” of other places that you might want to send your audience to. This is a cool way to connect people to your Instagram, TikTok, website, product your selling, etc. I would highly suggest only using a few, but having this as a way to lead you audience where you’d like to go is a great tool.

Keep Changing Lives!

Tim Schmoyer

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