#30 Sunny Lenarduzzi on How to Strategically Build Your Business Using YouTube

Sunny Lenarduzzi is a former broadcast journalist turned YouTube and online video for business expert. From developing a YouTube series for Hootsuite that increased subscriptions by 75% to hitting 1 billion impressions in 1 day on a live-streaming campaign with Applebees, Sunny knows how to create content that works for your business.

Sunny’s YouTube channel has amassed an audience of over 160,000+ and growing. But more impressive than her subscriber numbers are the number of businesses and entrepreneurs she is helping with her courses - like her signature training program YouTube for Bosses.

I really resonated with her methodical research based approach to YouTube because it’s very similar to how I approach personal branding. It’s a science and an art, but for both of us content creation is a method to help others grow their businesses, which is very different from the “content creator” first standpoint that is usually discussed.

Forbes named her one of the 20 must watch channels that will change your business, Entrepreneur named her as one of the top 10 channels every entrepreneur should follow and she’s spoken internationally from NATO’s Headquarters in Brussels to Social Media Marketing World in San Diego. She has also recently started producing a podcast called The Sunny Show!

On this episode we talk:

• Sunny's transition from broadcast journalist to online video for biz expert (& she tells us what's next!)
• How to grow your business using YouTube
  • Content Strategy
  • Distribution
  • Optimization
• Sunny's VIRAL process
• Her online "competition" (& more!)

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Show Notes & Timestamps

[00:01:33] My Intro - Who is Sunny?

[00:03:00] So for people who don't know you, can you give a little bit about your background before you got into this current business?

[00:07:55] What Sunny learned from her journalism background & some bad habits people get from "hosting"

[00:11:52] So, when you were just done after the Olympics, had you been posting content online? Where were you in the online space at that time?

[00:13:55] How traditional media views "personal brand" building

[00:14:52] So the online magazine what kind of magazine was it, and did you have money saved? How did you actually turn this into a business?

[00:17:11] When Sunny transitioned from online magazine to consultancy

[00:20:04] Consulting: How do you figure out what to charge, and then when do you realize you need help?

[00:24:09] Finding Sunny's 1st employee

[00:25:38] Consulting business vs. Current business

[00:27:41] Talking Sunny's courses: When did you actually develop these courses? How have those evolved from the time that you started to what they look like now?

[00:29:27] What are the biggest hesitations and fears that you see when it comes to video?

[00:31:20] So getting into the tactics a little bit, when people are getting started trying to figure out what they should be talking about, where do you direct them?

[00:33:12] Now that you mentioned the vlog thing, are you a fan of people starting vlogs, or if they are going to start a vlog, only after they've built up an audience?

[00:36:49] SEO talk

[00:38:31] Sunny's Content strategy. Are you batching, and then how are you thinking about distribution, and which metrics are you looking at, and what's that cycle look like?

[00:38:52] Sunny's Audience: who was your audience then who is it now, do you have a specific person in mind when you think of this?

[00:42:22] Sunny's distribution process: So what does your distribution process look like, and should it always include paid advertising?

[00:43:30] Optimization process: How long should this optimization process take? What's somebody who buys your video or buys your course, figures out what they want to do, makes the video, how long are they taking to optimize?

[00:44:04] Is there an optimal video length then?

[00:47:13] Sunny's "VIRAL" strategy

[00:50:29] Relationships with competitors in the space

[00:52:33] Podcast: Can you talk a little bit about why now is the right time for you?

[00:54:34] In terms of YouTube, whose content are you consuming just day to day?

[00:55:49] What do you think the secret to influence is?

[00:56:04] So what's next for your business?

[00:57:43] Given that our brands are essentially ourselves, how have you been approaching scaling when the business is you?

[00:58:59] Where you can find Sunny's content!

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To connect with Sunny:

Website

YouTube...