Why I’m ignoring my YouTube Studio data.

There will come a moment in your YouTube career where you face a difficult decision like this one.

So stick with me for this quick story, because you never know when it might come in handy.

This week, I had a conversation with a scriptwriting student of mine.

He was trying to figure out what type of content to make in the next 6 months, but had run into a problem that you might recognise.

Here's a (paraphrased) version of our conversation:

Student: “I want to grow my channel faster.”

George: “Ok. Why?”

Student: "To funnel more clients into my program.”

George: “Great, what’s your program about?”

Student: “It’s about [A]”

George: “Perfect. So make videos about [A]”

Student: “Oh but here’s the thing, you delightful idiot-” [he didn’t say that part] “-my best performing video is about [X], so if I want to grow my channel faster and make more sales, shouldn’t I just make more of that?”

George: “Would that video appeal to the audience you’re trying to build?”

Student: “No.”

George: “Or the clients you’re trying to reach?”

Student: “No.”

George: “Do you want to make that video?”

Student: “Oh, definitely not - it’s actually annoying that people associate me with [X] when I’m trying to sell [A].”

Now, the solution to this problem does look pretty simple when summarised like this, doesn’t it?

“Stop making videos about [X]; make videos about [A].”

But, when it comes to YouTube, we are constantly told to follow the signals.

And this... can be confusing in moments like this.

Of course, we DO want our decisions to be guided by data. But data can be distracting.

I know this because I’m going through something similar to my student right now.

I’ve just launched my own channel, and… YouTube doesn’t know who the hell I am yet.

That means I'm receiving "signals" from YouTube that would usually convince me to change course. For example:

• My first 30s retention is terrible.
• I have 90% new viewers, almost no casual or returning.
• And, when I dig into the data a little, I can see one of my videos is being recommended by another called “Cool Uncle Mods: Jailbreaking the Kindle 4”.

These signals are confusing.

Or, they would be... if I weren't choosing to ignore them completely.

So, why am I ignoring the data? Well... it's actually quite simple.

I have my ideal audience in mind, and I accept that it’s going to take 2-3 months of relentlessly, consistently staying the course to find them.

That means:

• Uploading videos for the audience I want to build (and only them).
• Scripting my videos to speak to the customers I want to attract.
• Accepting that this will not happen overnight, and therefore remaining devoted to my guiding direction.

Once I find (or, rather, YouTube finds me) the audience I need, then I can listen to the signals.

I'll get bogged down in YouTube Studio figuring out how to fix my retention, my CTR, and my idea selection.

But for now, direction supersedes data.

Likewise, everything in my students’ data is telling him to make more videos about [X].

But that data is not valuable to him anymore, because he wants to build an audience who care about [A].

Again: Direction supersedes data.

All this to say, there will be moments where you have to choose to ignore your data.

And that’s really difficult.

But when the time comes, I know you’ll do it - if you have a bigger, more important directional goal for your channel in mind.

And, if you’re interested, here’s me staying the course in my latest video (dropped today!):

Watch it here ⚡️

That's all for this week.

Any questions? You can to reply to this email and I'll get back to you.

Speak soon,
George 👋

P.S. Newsletter cutting room floor here. I was trying to get this metaphor in somewhere, but I lost confidence that it actually made any sense. Anyway, see what you think:

“If I was sailing from Ireland to Canada, I wouldn’t dock in Greenland just because they had a nice shiny lighthouse.”

Put that on a T-shirt and smoke it!