Sonia Thompson – The Blog Pros

August 27, 2024

The YouTube Growth Strategy Mr. Beast, Cocomelon, & Like Nastya Use to Dominate the Internet (Creator Remixes 2024)

YouTube growth strategies continue to be a hot topic among marketers. In fact, most marketers plan to increase their YouTube budgets this year and say the platform has the highest growth potential in 2024.

Anytime you’re talking about YouTube growth (and I talk about growth a lot as the founder of Thompson Media Group), Jimmy Donaldson’s Mr. Beast channel is high on the list.

It’s easy to understand why. Today, the Mr. Beast YouTube channel has 240 million subscribers, the second most of any channel on the platform. There are many reasons why this channel is so popular, but the strategy I recommend most to my clients centers on expanding their view of who their ideal customer is.

YouTube’s Power Players Use This Growth Strategy

What’s the million-dollar strategy for growing your audience and your customer base? The answer is surprisingly straightforward: inclusion marketing. Yep, that’s it. I’ve built an entire consulting business around helping brands grow with inclusion in marketing and belonging, and I can spot a great strategy from a mile away.

For example, Mr. Beast employs inclusion marketing by offering his content in multiple languages. Reed Duchscher, his talent manager, explains that this is one of the primary forces driving his rapid growth.

The strategy here is simple: get your content and products in front of more people who have the problem your brand solves. More qualified eyeballs mean more people consuming your content and buying your products.

Globalization as a growth lever is nothing new. That’s why you’ll see McDonald’s, Netflix, and Nike developing localized content around the globe.

Remember, a different language doesn’t mean we don’t have the same problem — or can’t benefit from the same solution.

As an inclusive marketing strategist and consultant, I tell my clients it’s never been easier or more cost-effective to grow your brand by including a broader diversity of consumers. I spend a ton of time talking about practical ways to use inclusive marketing as a growth lever on my podcast, Inclusion & Marketing.

This episode goes deep on how to grow your brand through globalization, including localizing your content.

And it’s not just Mr. Beast who’s embracing this strategy.

Cocomelon, Kids Diana Show, and Like Nastya have all snagged coveted spots in the top 10 most subscribed YouTube channels. How? Each of them makes their content available in multiple languages — and has earned millions of fans as a result.

Think this is just for kid cartoons and hype engines? Think again. Even business-focused brands such as GaryVee, VidIQ, and IKEA are embracing inclusion marketing.

How You Can Reach a Global Audience

These creators aren’t creating dozens of assets at a time. They’re creating one video and localizing it into other languages using dubbing and voiceover.

Once the dubbed content is made, there are two approaches creators use to get localized content to their audiences.

1. Language-Specific Channels

Cocomelon, Kids Diana Show, and Like Nastya all have multiple YouTube channels, each dedicated to specific languages.

Kids Diana Show has 119 million subscribers on the English language version of the channel. She’s added more than 72 million additional subscribers, with language channels hosting the same, but localized, content.

Like Nastya has 113 million subscribers on her English language channel. Her brand has more than 82 million additional subscribers on other language channels.

Business channels have seen success here as well. VidIQ has 1.78 million subscribers on their English language channel. And they’ve added an additional 351,000 subscribers on the Spanish language channel alone.

2. One Channel, Multiple Languages

The outlier here is Mr. Beast, who previously hosted several different channels dedicated to various languages. In 2022, that changed.

Around this time, YouTube began working with top creators like Mr. Beast to test out multi-language audio. This new feature allows creators to manage one channel by uploading different audio, thumbnails, and descriptions to their accounts.

When a user comes across the video, it’s automatically shown to them in their local language. This allows creators to deliver a seamless customer experience for their audience while also being more efficient content managers.

YouTube noted that creators who tested this multi-language audio feature saw 15% of their watch time come from views in the video’s non-primary language.

While this feature isn’t yet available to all accounts, YouTube plans a phased rollout of the functionality to more creators.

How To Use Localization In Your Brand

Of course, it’s important to consider the customer experience you’re delivering to your audience.

Over the years, I’ve interviewed dozens of consumers with identities from underrepresented and underserved communities. A common frustration they share is feeling like brands fall short by delivering substandard experiences to them.

One Spanish-speaking consumer told me that when brands don’t make their content available in Spanish, he feels like they send the message that “people who speak Spanish aren’t important.”

When it comes to engaging new consumer groups, I always coach my clients to be intentional about delivering experiences that make consumers feel seen, cared for, and like they are important rather than an afterthought. As a result of taking this approach, more of the people you want to serve will feel like they belong with you.

The end goal of this strategy is to create video content that’s accessible to people who speak other languages. But there are lots of ways to get there.

Here’s a quick video where I walk through a few of those options and provide examples and considerations for each one. I even drop some reactions and feedback from a Spanish-speaking consumer.

1. Use human-dubbed content.

Many of today’s top YouTube channels, including Mr. Beast, use a company called Unilingo to dub videos using professional translators and voiceover talent.

If you’ve ever watched a movie with audio in another language, you’ll notice that great care is taken to ensure the voiceover looks and sounds like the original. Tone match and synchronicity deliver a better experience to the end user.

Think of this as a moment to delight your audience by working with a human voice-over artist skilled in matching the original speaker's energy, emotion, and intonation.

2. Use AI-dubbed content.

Ok, ok. I know I just told you to use human-dubbed content. But I realize that sometimes it’s just not possible.

If you haven’t noticed, the market is flooded with AI tools right now. That means you’ve got options for dubbing using artificial intelligence. Simply upload your video, select a voiceover you like, and in just a few minutes, you have a dubbed video.

If you use this option, it’s important to have the translated version verified by certified translators before publishing.

Although AI-powered translations are often good, there are nuances associated with localizing content. You’ll also want to maintain your brand voice and tone — something that can be difficult to capture with a language learning model.

The AI will translate your content verbatim when what you’re really after is transcreation. In a transcreation, you choose the words and phrases that capture the full intention and essence of what you’re saying.

In the podcast episode below, I go deep into translation, transcreation, and the proactive choices you must make when localizing content. For instance, should your brand be using gender neutral language (gendered language is very common in languages like Spanish and French), and if so, how should you approach nuances here? These decisions will have a big impact on how people perceive your brand.

3. Add multi-language subtitles to your video.

Subtitles are another way to make your YouTube videos more accessible. You can upload multiple subtitle files in other languages directly in your YouTube content studio.

YouTube also gives you the option to upload localized thumbnails, titles, and video descriptions to deliver a consistent experience in the end user’s local language.

When a user arrives on your video, they’ll hear your original audio while reading the subtitles in their preferred language.

The same rules apply when ensuring you have a high-quality subtitle translation that human translators either transcreated or verified.

Break Through the Noise with Inclusive Video Content

Think beyond your existing audience to grow your YouTube channel and your business.

Start where you can, and make improvements over time as you learn more about what your new global audience needs most from you.

Once you get into the groove of expanding content reach using inclusion, you’ll develop new relationships with new audiences that will allow them to reach new levels of success. And, at the end of the day, that’s your goal, right?

August 27, 2024

Inclusion as a Customer Acquisition Strategy (+ Examples)

Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.

I’m the founder of an inclusive marketing strategy consultancy. As I’ve worked with clients of various sizes across industries over the years, I’ve observed that many marketers and business leaders still don’t fully understand the business benefit of inclusive marketing.

Smart brands engage in inclusive marketing because they know it helps them make a bigger impact on a broader audience while increasing sales.

While most marketers wouldn’t intentionally exclude consumers, not excluding is not the same as actively including. True inclusion, and the ability to consistently acquire new customers from underrepresented and underserved communities requires intention.

Why Smart Brands Invite Consumers With Varying Identities to be Their Customers

To illustrate, imagine you want to be friends with a new group of people, so you decide to throw a party. A good host wouldn’t just put a sign out that says “Hey, everybody come to my party.” A savvy host would actively spread the word so the new group knows they are invited.

Smart hosts who want to welcome a specific group of people ensure they get a direct invitation to the party.

And then, effective hosts ensure all the details and experience of the party are well planned out, to ensure that when the group you wanted to attend arrives at your party, they have such a wonderful time they don’t want to leave and are excited about attending the next one.

This free How to Build a Brand kit from HubSpot will help you with resources you need to create a brand that makes more of the people you serve feel like they belong with you, and crave attending more of your “brand parties.”

There are many ways brands can go about acquiring new customers. However, when it comes to consumers from underrepresented and underserved communities, I often need to remind my clients that it isn’t enough just to communicate “you are welcome here.”

Brands must intentionally invite people from these communities to be their customers because they have long been ignored and underserved by brands.

Consumers from marginalized communities are often skeptical of brands’ intentions, particularly those who suddenly start to engage after ignoring them for so long.

These consumers don’t know if a brand’s efforts are genuine, opportunistic, or short-lived, so they often keep their distance until they know that a brand is committed to serving and supporting their community

As such, as brands are working to acquire consumers from underrepresented and underserved communities, it is necessary to invite them in a manner that makes them feel seen, supported, and like they belong with you.

Here are some examples of how brands have leaned into inclusive marketing as a customer acquisition strategy for specific identities they want to serve.

Examples of Brands Leaning Into Inclusive Marketing as a Customer Acquisition Strategy

1. Walmart Supports Neurodivergent Consumers

In 2023, after listening to feedback from both customers and team members, Walmart decided to implement sensory-friendly hours each day from 8-10 AM in all their stores across the United States and Puerto Rico.

During this time frame, stores dim the lights, lower the music, and program static images on television screens, to offer a less stimulating environment.

Data shows that sensory processing disorder (SPD) impacts between 5-16% of school-aged children in the U.S. and about 20% of the world’s population. SPD is commonly seen in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Autism, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Because Walmart has taken the time to “see” consumers who have a need for a lower-stimulating shopping environment, the brand removed barriers that prevented consumers and caregivers of people with SPD from shopping in its stores and invited them in.

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In this episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast, I sat down with three experts who are all neurodivergent. They shared their experiences and practical advice for brands who want to ensure neurodivergent consumers and caregivers feel like they belong with your brand.

2. Lululemon Expands to Serve Consumers Who Wear Larger Sizes

Back in September 2020, athleisure retailer Lululemon made a decision to invite people who wear larger sizes to be customers. The retailer did this by expanding their range of sizes offered to go beyond size 14, up to size 20.

In the two full years following the decision to be more size-inclusive, the brand posted the largest growth increases it had seen in eight years, at 42% and 30% respectively.

The average clothing size for a woman in the U.S. and Europe is 16. As such, by offering more sizes, Lulemon was able to acquire a new group of customers, who previously weren’t able to fit their clothes.

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3. Fenty Beauty Extends Makeup Brush to Women of All Complexions

One of my favorite examples of a brand that has acquired a broad diversity of consumers with inclusion is Fenty Beauty.

Rihanna’s brand launched in 2017 with 40 shades of foundation to be inclusive of people of all complexions who want to wear makeup. The unprecedented launch broke many sales records in its early days, with many shades for both darker and lighter complexions selling out.

After seeing the response to consumers who wore “less common” shades of foundation being invited to be customers of Fenty Beauty, other make-up brands adjusted their approach and started offering 40 shades of makeup as well.

Being inclusive became the standard for any brand that wanted to acquire new customers on a consistent basis.

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4. VidIQ Reaches Out to Spanish-Speaking Consumers

Software company VidIQ decided to invite Spanish-speaking YouTubers to become their customers by making educational videos in Spanish for the community.

The U.S. has the second largest population of Spanish speakers in the world (behind Mexico), and it is the second most spoken native language in the world (behind Mandarin).

Creators who prefer to learn and use tools in Spanish can do so as VidIQ makes an intentional effort to make its existing tools available in Spanish.

This image shows a Spanish language video on the brand’s Spanish language channel, highlighting how consumers can access the VidIQ Academy with Spanish subtitles, as well as how to adjust the software’s settings to work in Spanish.

5. KitKit Shows Muslim Consumers They See Them

The KitKat Canada team invited the Muslim community to be their customers. The brand introduced the KitKat Iftar bar — thirty KitKats people can use to break their fast each day while observing Ramadan.

By designing the bar specifically for Ramadan, the brand made it clear that it sees the Muslim community in a way that many other brands do not. As such, the brand can acquire new customers during Ramadan that can later convert to loyal customers all year long.

6. Mattel Adapts Games to be Colorblind Accessible

Toymaker Mattel leaned into inviting people who are colorblind and or visually impaired to be their customer.

The toymaker declared that by year-end 2024, 80% of the games in its extensive catalog, including Uno, Tumblin’ Monkeys, and Blokus will be colorblind accessible. The brand stated that percentage will move to 90% by year-end 2025.

Mattel recognized that being blind or colorblind doesn’t diminish a person’s desire to enjoy playing games with family and friends. As a result, the brand collaborated with experts in color deficiency and co-created with people who experience color blindness to create solutions that work for a broader group of consumers.

This episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast summarizes lessons learned from an interview with Google’s Chief Brand Accessibility Officer, on how the brand approaches accessibility.

7. MasterCard Solves a Real Problem for Transgender Cardholders

MasterCard invited transgender people to be their customers by solving a real need they had when it came time to buy something. If a transgender or non-binary consumer looks different from what the name on their card says, it often puts them in an uncomfortable position when making a purchase.

Solving real problems for people from underrepresented and underserved communities makes it easier for them to choose you.

In this episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast, I sat down with an LGBTQ+ expert who shared lots of wonderful insights on how to build an LGBTQ+ inclusive brand.

It’s Time to Invite More People to be Your Customer

Acquiring customers from underrepresented and underserved communities requires intentionality with your products, marketing, policies, and communications.

Make it clear to the people you want to serve that you see them, support them, and have designed an environment that makes them feel like they belong with you.

Once you do, not only will you acquire more people from those communities, but you’ll earn their loyalty as well.