We shared our strategy with a tiny YouTube channel (5k subs). Their first video went viral: - 1m views. - 230x their average view count. - Next videos also banged. So f**k it… here’s the strategy they used:
Here’s the channel: @ianlauerastro He was a student in the last cohort of my YouTube accelerator program. He deserves all the credit for his growth, but let me share what we did to help…
Ian was averaging a few thousand views per day. He had some decent performers in the past, but no real consistency. He was clearly talented and knowledgeable in his niche, but needed a catalyst.
Enter our approach to YouTube. Which I’ll walk through step by step:
1. Define niche and competitive advantage Small channels really need a clear defined niche (not something too broad and vague). It’s also super important to have a competitive advantage, a differentiator.
We always want these to be clear with channels we work with. Take a look at Ian’s below. Lot of small channels are in vague and broad niches (gaming, entertainment) and have no unique competitive advantage.
2. Improve ideation process Ian realised he had a few main issues with ideation: - Not truly allocating enough time - Jumping around between formats - Being too niche in his niche (not thinking he can go bigger) - Splitting interest between videos
To show what I mean… look at these 3 videos. 3 different formats, and I’d argue 3 different audiences. A common mistake beginners make is not realising how focused you should be on one audience. The middle video is a great example of this point…
You could say… “well hey flat earth deniers are relevant to the Astrophotography community” But then ask yourself, are 80% of people in the niche intrigued by dunking on flat earth conspiracy theorists? No. It’s adjacent but that doesn’t mean it works. Ian needed a format.
We shared our ideation process, which is basically - Ideate a much greater volume of ideas - Study outliers in your niche and other niches - Have an elimination criteria - Whittle down ideas to be left with the cream of the crop.
Through this everything changed. Ian realised he could go bigger. He came up with this idea by building an existing viral format. 1 million views. Do you know how insane that is for a channel with under 10k subs?
His next two videos were different but built on the same format and principles as the first. - Comparisons - Broad appeal within the niche - Built on viral formats from other niches Both have been outliers.
So Ian applying our philosophy to ideas had completely changed his channel. But this was only possible because of the execution improvements he had made…
3. Click strategy Part of becoming a great creator is identifying improvement areas. We shared our thumbnail and title principles with Ian. His previous packaging had a lot of mistakes and weren’t getting the click. Just look:
Ian was able to realise these mistakes. The result. Packaging that got clicks. He spent time perfecting them, thought about the psychology behind them. This is a night and day difference.
4. Retention strategy This is the area where Ian still needs to improve and is actively working on each video. However, just applying these principles below has made a world of difference to how his videos retain viewers.
When all this came together, the results were insane. Ian has completely changed his YouTube channel, with one video. This thread I think shows what’s possible, even for small channels.
If you want this kind of help… We’re running our next accelerator cohort later this month. -8 weeks - World class YouTube strategy - Direct support and feedback Apply here today before official launch next week: https://accelerator.paddygallo...
And f**k it it’s a new year… One person who likes and retweets the top tweet will get a free scholarship for the program! Last year we did this and @BrendaBlanco won, let’s see who’s lucky this time! ❤️
Wow. Thanks so much. Approaching 300k views and 3k bookmarks. So mind blowing this info reaches so many people. 2025 will have plenty more great free content :)
@PaddyG96 When you coming back to YouTube paddy
@selfinterest12 This year
@PaddyG96 I got to watch Ian’s growth first hand. The pink bit was the time spent on the course, that video before the big spike was the first he made with the cohort knowledge. Best money spent ever tbh, fast tracked his YouTube by god knows how many years. Incredible
@PaddyG96 epic knowledge bomb here.
@PaddyG96 Your thread is going viral! #TopUnroll https://threadreaderapp.com/th... 🙏🏼@dbenyamin for 🥇unroll
@PaddyG96 This was great read appreciate the info a lot of helpful stuff for the thumbnails thanks
@PaddyG96 This is an incredible thread.
@PaddyG96 Hi Paddy, I'm reaching out about potentially working together. We're a new YouTube channel in the pets space - a category we believe has massive potential for building an emotionally resonant brand. I've found your analysis particularly insightful and results are 👀 Would you
@PaddyG96 this is a masterclass, thanks
@PaddyG96 had your interview with @jayclouse open for awhile and finally listened to it last night. what timing this is, thanks for sharing
@PaddyG96 Love your posts Paddy! Wouldn't be here today without your tips & advice :) Happy new year!
@PaddyG96 Any strategy for my channel ? Name Mipax
@PaddyG96 I have a question - can you give us examples of when you applied your strategies to a channel and it didn't work? I feel like there could be some survivor bias in the twitter posts sometimes
@PaddyG96 I really wanna find ways to incorporate these steps into my movie content channel. Will continue doing reviews, but there’s definitely a method of making these evergreen kinds of videos too…
@PaddyG96 This thread is packed with gold for small creators. One takeaway: growth is less about raw talent and more about strategy. Niche clarity + competitive advantage = foundation. Outlier analysis + high-volume ideation = standout ideas. Packaging + retention = repeat success.
@PaddyG96 I'll be honest, when I first looked at this post and the chart, I thought you were saying their strategy was simply to gain more viewers.