No channel is too big or too small to have a YouTube channel trailer.

It’s a sneak peek into the world or your business. It reveals why your channel exists, your personality, and the drive behind your passion.

And, ultimately and most importantly: it makes your ideal audience and potential future customers subscribe to you.

A YouTube channel trailer is often the most viewed video on a channel, so it’s a unique opportunity to win new subscribers and leave a strong first impression. A smaller channel with a great channel trailer will look more attractive than a larger channel with a poor trailer and an unclear message.

A smaller channel with a great channel trailer will look more attractive than a larger channel with a poor trailer and an unclear message.

Want to make the most out of your channel trailer and grow your YouTube presence? This guide is for you.

Why every YouTube channel needs a great channel trailer

A channel trailer is typically shown to users who are still unsubscribed to your channel.

You might be tempted to simply let them see your most recent or your most popular video. Showing this to your existing subscribers makes sense — you want them to see the latest and greatest from you.

But your non-subscribed visitors may have never heard of you. They probably don’t know the topics you most frequently talk about and what it is that could bring them value on your channel. Thinking about that, your latest video might not always communicate that.

For example, let’s say your channel is about a healthy lifestyle and features fitness, nutrition, food supplements and healthy habits, but your latest video always only features one of those things. This makes your potential subscribers miss out on most of the goodness you offer!

Here are some of the reasons you should definitely consider adding a custom-made channel trailer.

Quickly catch new visitors’ attention

Your regular videos might vary in length and dynamics. If a 25-minute video is the first video your potential subscriber sees, do you think they will go into trouble of watching that long to decide if you’re the right channel for them?

A short channel trailer will do a much better job because you get to convey the reasons to follow you in a matter of moments.

Let them know what to expect

Is your content actionable? Is it funny? Relaxing? Educational?

With your channel trailer, you can show the tone and nature of your videos with short scenes and list the categories and topics you cover. Setting expectations this way is one of the best ways to entice them to subscribe.

You can also state your publishing frequency if you have a schedule. Half of 18- to 34-year-olds would drop what they’re doing to watch a new video by their favorite creator, so you should let them know what days and times you upload!

One goal only: to encourage them to subscribe

In your regular videos, you might ask for various actions from your viewers, such as giving a ‘thumbs up’ to the video or click through to another video.

In a channel trailer, you can make an extra effort to get the new visitor to subscribe without any distractions of your regular content. Here, you get to show them the best content they will receive from you and invite them to join your community by subscribing.

A perfect example comes from Jamie Oliver:

What makes a YouTube channel trailer catchy?

For your channel trailer to be effective, it needs to catch your visitors’ attention immediately—otherwise, it can’t do its job!

Let’s look at what it takes to make that happen.

Eye-moving imagery

Amy Landino, a video strategist, speaker, and author, writes about the importance of keeping the eyes moving in a video to attract and retain attention in her book Vlog Like a Boss.

This is necessary because a YouTube channel homepage often looks busy as there are video thumbnails, buttons, playlists, and — of course — an option to leave the channel altogether.

Fast-moving and dynamic footage won’t be appropriate for everyone. For example, a yoga channel often publishes slow-paced videos, so it wouldn’t make sense to feature a dynamic video as a channel trailer.

However, it can still include elements that draw immediate attention, like text, eye-catching images, and short scenes.

Storytelling and the “this was made for me” feeling

A brilliant channel trailer takes the viewer on a journey. It doesn’t just say it as it is—it shows it.

So if you want to tell your potential subscriber you like to cover certain topics on your channel, along with your voice and on-screen text, you can quickly take them through it by showcasing what it is you’re amazing at.

When it feels like there is a story behind all that — your touch and your personal take on the topics you talk about — people feel like they know you and are drawn to connecting with you.

You’ll be talking about recipes from all around the world? As you mention them, show footage of cooking the food. Are you featuring book reviews? Show some books! The footage itself can add a lot to what you’re saying or typing out on the screen.

And when it feels like there is a story behind all that — your touch and your personal take on the topics you talk about — people feel like they know you and are drawn to connecting with you.

Sunny Lenarduzzi, a popular entrepreneurship YouTuber tells her story in a fun and fresh way:

Less is more

You don’t need to feature all that you’ve done and created in the past to get your new visitors to fall in love with your content. Feature the best!

For example, this is one of the previous YouTube channel trailers from Lonely Planet. It’s only 15 seconds long, but it mentions things important to travelers—discovering, play, exploration, and experiences, along with footage of incredible travel scenes:

What to include in your YouTube channel trailer

Now that you know what makes a YouTube channel trailer successful, here’s how to make it brilliant from start to finish.

Make the most out of the first few seconds

To hook the viewer in immediately, use a combination of short scenes, text, and sounds (music and/or a voiceover).

This will help you catch the eye of the viewer even if their sound is off or if they are on their smartphone in public and can’t switch it on right then. If you succeed in conveying what you’re all about, they will subscribe regardless of not hearing you!

You can see the process of mixing these elements and adding various text in this video we did with Peg Fitzpatrick, a social media expert: