Are you looking to target business owners on YouTube? You might think the key is to use ads, placing them in front of potential business clients rather than consumers. While we’ll explore how to do that, I’ll also share an alternative strategy you may not have considered—one that has the potential to yield referral-quality leads and drive better results. Let’s dive in.
Traditional Targeting Strategies
To start, it can be helpful to see what’s already out there. Many sources recommend standard strategies, like search-based targeting, which lets you use keywords to put ads in front of audiences who search for certain terms. This tactic can be beneficial, especially if you focus on buyer phrases—keywords that suggest someone is actively looking to make a purchase. However, this approach has limitations when targeting business owners, as it’s still a broad method.
Another common suggestion is targeting competitors’ channels. If you know your business audience watches videos from certain brands or influencers, you can place your ads on their content. This method allows you to reach an already-engaged audience and offers a level of precision not available on other platforms. However, this approach also has its limitations in identifying highly relevant leads.
Additionally, YouTube offers options like TrueView in-stream ads, which play partway through a video, and overlay ads, which appear as small banners during a video. These ad placements can be effective but tend to cater to broader demographics, which may not specifically target business owners. Demographic targeting and interests can help refine the audience, but again, these strategies are fairly generic.
Create Content that Speaks Directly to Business Owners
To attract business owners on YouTube, the content itself must appeal directly to them. Start by creating videos that are clearly geared towards business challenges, interests, or growth strategies, rather than general consumer topics. For example, rather than covering broad topics, focus on niche subjects, like “Scaling Marketing for Small Businesses” or “Hiring Tips for Growing Teams.” This approach naturally filters out consumer viewers, as the content resonates more with business-minded individuals.
As you promote your videos on other channels, prioritize those where business owners are likely to be active. You can experiment with ad placements and adjust based on the feedback in your video comments. If you’re seeing questions and feedback that align with business concerns, you’re likely reaching the right audience.
A Ninja Strategy for Free Organic Reach
Now, let’s discuss an advanced approach—one that doesn’t require paid promotion. Rather than uploading a typical promotional video directly to YouTube, try keeping promotional videos unlisted and placing them on a landing page instead. What you do upload to YouTube are informational “how-to” videos. This approach leverages the vast potential of organic search traffic. When business owners search for answers to specific questions related to their needs, your video can be the solution they discover.
Here’s how to make this work:
- Find the Questions – Research the questions your target audience is asking on platforms like Google and YouTube. As a business owner, think about the unique problems your ideal clients might search for help with.
- Create Targeted Content – Develop videos that answer these questions directly. If you’re aiming to attract business owners, select topics that reflect their priorities, such as “How to Budget for Small Business Marketing” or “Tips for Managing Remote Teams.”
- Build for the Right Audience – When you’re precise about which questions you’re addressing, you can effectively target business owners by creating content that speaks to their needs. This way, your content is more likely to reach people in decision-making roles who are actively seeking solutions.
- Benefit from a Built-in Audience – By designing your videos around questions that align with business needs, each video inherently attracts the right viewers. You’ll know the audience watching is genuinely interested in these topics, which improves the quality of your leads.
Learning More About This Strategy
If you want to understand this YouTube strategy in more depth, I’ve created a video covering a method called the “leaf strategy,” specifically for optimizing YouTube SEO and reaching targeted search traffic. This strategy helps you refine and amplify your presence on YouTube, and I’ll link it here for you to watch.
By aligning your content with specific business queries and focusing on organic reach, you’ll connect with a high-quality audience without relying solely on paid ads.
