YouTube and the prophecy of doom

Published: Thu, 04/23/20

Once upon a time, one of my customers Kate Stelmaszek realized early what a lot of people — including seasoned marketers who have been in the game for years — learn way too late:

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…I wanted to say thank you again for doing what you do and teaching us all about email marketing. Because I might have gone in another direction - one that currently has a lot of previously successful people in deep doo-doo.

I'm not sure if you've heard about it, but YouTube has begun de-monetizing a whole bunch of their creators' videos. It's all got to do with creating a more "family friendly" YouTube experience and attracting back the ad guys, who have been running away due to some recent drama (certain videos with black humor they didn't want their ads running alongside). In order for your videos to bring in any ad revenue now, you have to watch your references to violence, your language, sexual innuendo etc.

Sure, a newbie might be okay since they know how to play by the new rules. But someone who's been on the platform for years, well, much of their old content is now free to watch. And some of the big guys are losing millions of dollars in advertising revenue. But you've taught us from the beginning not to rely on third-party platforms like YouTube and instead to focus on creating our own website, list, etc.

Now I've still got a long way to go, but I'd have an even longer way if I'd gone with relying on a YouTube channel, where the rules change depending on the whims of someone outside of your control.

So thank you again for steering our courses straight and teaching us well.

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Kate speakeths the troof.

If your entire income is tied up in Flakebook or any other 3rd party platform, don’t think this couldn’t happen to you.

It’s not just YouTube that moves the goal posts on a whim.

Take all the Land of Googania, for example.

Lots of marketers were standing around with their John Thomas in their hand when they slapped AdWords and, later, article directories. It also happened to infomercials at one time when the government deemed them illegal (then legal again). It happened to 900 numbers. It happened to broadcast fax. It happened to cold calling. Most recently, it is happening with Amazon and Twitter, Instagram, even email platforms like Mailchump, with probably others joining in just to signal their virtue to the small number of psychopaths who like to get people de-platformed for thinking the wrong thoughts or saying the wrong combination of words.

SPURN ye not the words of the esteemed Dan Kennedy:

“One is the most dangerous number in business”

Go ahead and use 3rd party platforms.

Just don’t *rely* on any one of them.

Or, suffer the fate of these YouTube guys you will.

Anyway, this is reason #74839 to always be building, stacking, and using your own Media platforms along with these other platforms.

That way, if one platform pinches a loaf on your business, so what?

You control your own media empire, not some rogue employee at Twitter or whatever.

This is what the May “Email Players” issue is all about:

Building, controlling, and profiting from your own media empire. It is in my opinion the single most important issue I’ve ever written in over 100 issues. And after the deadline, it will not be available as a back issue, assuming I even decide to sell back issues some day again to paid subscribers.

Here’s the link to subscribe today to get it, while you still can:

http://www.EmailPlayers.com

Ben Settle