Video content strategy
Zach Blank
45M+ subscribers
The framework I use as Head of Content for Nick DiGiovanni — built from 45M+ subscribers, 30B+ views, 12 Guinness World Records, and partnerships with MrBeast, Gordon Ramsay, Tom Brady, and the FIFA World Cup.
1. The idea is everything
You can’t save a bad idea with great production. Before we spend a dollar or shoot a frame, I want to know that the idea itself is something people will care about.
I usually ask a really simple question: if someone saw this video on their homepage with no context, would they need to know what happens? If not, we probably don’t have the idea yet.
The best videos often sound good before you’ve written a title, designed a thumbnail, or figured out how you’re actually going to make them.
2. If you can’t package it, don’t make it
The title and thumbnail aren’t marketing for the video. They’re part of the video.
We think about packaging incredibly early, sometimes before an idea is even greenlit. If we can’t come up with a title and thumbnail that make the idea instantly understandable and interesting, that’s usually a sign that the concept itself needs work.
My favorite ideas can be explained in one sentence and understood in one image.
3. Make the first minute impossible to leave
Getting the click is only half the job. Now you have to prove to the viewer that clicking was worth it.
I want the beginning of a video to immediately deliver on the title and thumbnail, establish what’s at stake, and give you a reason to keep watching. No long setup. No explaining something for two minutes that could take twenty seconds.
Every second at the beginning of a video is expensive.
4. Make it bigger, not more complicated
A lot of our best videos start with an incredibly simple idea and then push it way further than seems reasonable.
More locations. Bigger stakes. Better guests. Harder challenges. Something we’ve never been able to film before.
The trick is that the production can get insanely complicated, but the idea should stay insanely simple. If explaining everything we did behind the scenes makes the concept harder to understand, none of that complexity matters to the viewer.
5. Obsess over the boring stuff
The fun part is coming up with a ridiculous idea. The hard part is actually getting it on YouTube.
Budgets, schedules, casting, permits, travel, safety, brands, crew, edits, backups, contingency plans. The bigger the idea gets, the more boring stuff has to go right for the viewer to never notice any of it.
Some of the best production work is completely invisible.
6. Publish, learn, do it again
I’ve learned way more from publishing hundreds of videos than I ever could have from trying to create the perfect strategy beforehand.
We look at what people clicked, where they stopped watching, what they talked about, what surprised us, and what we got wrong. Then we take those lessons into the next video.
YouTube gives you an unbelievably honest feedback loop. The goal isn’t to never miss. It’s to get smarter every time you do.
Want to see the work behind the strategy?
Browse the videos, collaborations, and records I’ve helped produce — or read the other playbooks.