Welcome back to the YouTube funnel files

Today, we're settling the short form vs. long form debate for B2B businesses once and for all.

Here's what's inside:

And if you want help figuring out what type of content you should be posting, book a call here where I’ll audit your entire funnel

I’ll make the decision easy for you.

If you consistently generate leads from other channels and are booking around 20 calls/month, start with YouTube.

You will see an uplift in those KPIs, plus you’ll book calls directly from the platform (if done right)

To see if you should post short form, keep reading.

I'll be upfront about something before we get into this.

We're good at short form.

We've helped clients generate hundreds of thousands of views on Instagram and book hundreds of calls in the process.

One client added 30-40 clients directly from short form over five months with millions of views during that stretch.

So this isn't a knock on short form.

But when people ask me whether they should focus on short form or YouTube, I almost always say YouTube.

And the goal of this newsletter is to explain why.

Short form is a top of funnel activity and needs a lot of extra moving parts.

To actually convert short form views into booked calls, you need a dialed-in backend.

Appointment setters working your DMs.

A newsletter that converts like crazy.

Basically, some system on the other side catching the traffic and turning it into revenue.

Without that, you get views and almost nothing else.

YouTube is different because you don't need a complex backend to make it work.

A Calendly link in the description is often enough.

Because YouTube can take a viewer through multiple stages of awareness inside a single video.

Someone clicks on a YouTube video with zero knowledge of who you are or what you do.

Fifteen minutes later they're a qualified lead ready to book.

That doesn't happen with a 60-second clip.

It takes more touchpoints, more volume, and more backend infrastructure to convert.

YouTube compresses that entire process into one sitting.

When looking at the two options (short vs long form), I also want you to think of your overall marketing funnel.

You’re probably posting content, sending cold outreach, running paid ads, or doing all of them together.

Add short form into the mix?

You’re waiting 6 months to see any ROI, since it has little to no effect on the rest of your funnel.

Noone from your cold outreach is going to watch a short form video and change awareness levels.

That’s why I recommend YouTube 99% of the time.

From the very first video (if done right), you can see an indirect ROI from the platform.

Think about what a 30 minute educational video would do to the rest of those marketing channels (they would perform better).

So, if we’re talking the highest leverage move, it’s almost always YouTube first.

There are a few scenarios where I think short form does make more sense, although you should always try to get onto YouTube first.

For example, if you’re limited on bandwidth and are running meta ads heavily, that’s where I see shorts as a strong option.

A bit easier to record and can nurture all the ad traffic you’re getting

However, you still gotta build out a backend system for it, if you want to convert organically.

So if you have the time to record YouTube, I’d recommend doing it.

Less complex funnel.

Quicker results.

And more trust is built per minute of content.

→ [Book a call here» if you want us to build you a YouTube channel that books 20 calls/month]

→ [Watch how to book 15 calls per month from YouTube in this video»]

→ [Access a 50+ page guide on how to find YouTube ideas that actually generate leads here»]

Talk soon,
Braden