When your kid's begging for a Feastables bar just because Mr. Beast is on the label, you gotta hand it to the genius marketing.
If you’re not in the loop (or you don’t have an 8+ year-old in tow), Mr. Beast is an award-winning YouTube legend and a new-breed philanthropist boasting over two hundred million subscribers. He started with humble, low-budget playthrough Minecraft videos, and fast forward, he spends more than a million dollars on creating his videos, including philanthropic giveaways.
Yep, we’re diving into Mr. Beast today and how this marketing maestro is an inspiration for marketers like me to create better content. He's like the marketing guru you didn't know you needed. If you’re a Marketer, Business owner, or just aiming to improve your personal brand, check out the rest of this article for 5 actionable marketing techniques you can implement right away.
Mr. Beast in a Nutshell, By the Numbers
The 25-year-young James Donaldson (a.k.a Mr. Beast) kicked off his video journey at just 13 in 2012.
He has a whopping 768 videos on his main Mr. Beast YouTube channel (he has 4 more).
His first viral video was in 2017 where he counted to 100,000. Now he’s leading a crew of 250+ and managing 5 successful channels on YouTube.
He’s won every Creator of the Year award every year since 2020.
Not just a hit with adult audiences, his popularity among kids led to back-to-back wins at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in 2022 and 2023.
Teaming up with renowned YouTuber and inventor Mark Rober, Mr. Beast spearheaded a campaign (Team Trees) to plant 20 million trees by 2020. The result? Over 20 million trees planted!
For his creative endeavors, he invested a cool $10 million in his new 100-acre indoor studio
He spent around $4 million on creating his most expensive video, the Squid Game recreation video (sans the violence) which garnered a staggering 500 million+ views.
5 Lessons Mr. Beast Can Teach You About Marketing
You might not be playing with a million-dollar marketing budget, but by closely examining Mr. Beast's strategies (and a fair share of interviews), there are valuable lessons for every marketing professional. Though Mr. Beast's marketing focus centers around YouTube videos, the takeaways extend beyond it.
1. Become obsessed with your content
Mr. Beast reveals in his interviews that he was so obsessed with creating content and getting new ideas that he would literally force himself to dream about it and wake up in the middle of the night writing down ideas.
While that might not be ideal for everyone, obsessing about the kind of content you want to push out there is crucial. Get really into it. Write down (or record) ideas on the fly, no matter where you are!
Your focus should be on creating phenomenal, valuable, and entertaining content instead of worrying about how many subscribers/ viewers/ conversions you want to get out of it.
As marketers, prioritizing value in our campaigns ensures a lasting impression and fosters brand loyalty. Let the quality speak louder than the numbers.
2. Create content that the world is obsessed with
Staying on top of the trends has never been more important. One of the reasons behind the sensational success of Mr. Beast’s amazing Squid Game Recreation video was its timely release, just a couple of months after the Squid Game show hit Netflix. Now it has over 500 million views!
The key is creating content that resonates not just with your brand but with the world around you. These days everyone is jumping on the “AI” or the “ChatGPT” bandwagon and they are yielding results!
Most marketing teams at B2B or even B2C companies work on a process. I loved what Kipp Bodnar, CMO at Hubspot, said in one of his videos - “Process kills creativity”. By the time the process is over, the trend may have passed.
That’s why marketing teams should occasionally break free from the process mentality, take calculated risks, and seize opportunities to create trending content when the time is right.
3. Hook your audience from the get-go
In the words of Mr. Beast, “Do not undervalue the first 10 seconds!”. His videos are so captivating that within the first 15-20 seconds, you know you want to keep watching. He lays out the concept of the video, gives you everything that you need, AND ensures it is super short, concise, and intriguing.
He admitted that he spends a LOT of time on the openings because that’s the first impression and you gotta make it last. And that my friends, is what gives him about a 70% retention rate for most of his videos!
This principle can be applied to any medium of marketing to help improve retention, be it blogs, videos, social media, newsletters, or emails. Write attention-grabbing headlines but before that, invest a lot of research time.
It helps if they’re simple, relatable, and concise. Incorporating numbers to your headlines or titles is a big YES. Most of Mr. Beast’s successful videos have them:
“I spent 7 Days Buried Alive (new)”
“I built 100 Wells in Africa”
“$456,000 Squid Game in Real Life”
4. Diversify Your Content
Mr. Beast's diverse content strategy is a key factor behind his massive success. Not only does he have 5 different channels on YouTube, but his content variety is vast. Mr. Beast ensures there's something for everyone in his audience. Some of his content types include:
Let’s Play: Playthrough videos of Minecraft (that game's a best-seller now) with running commentary and fun banter.
Best and Worst YouTube Intro Videos: A quirky take on intros.
Stunt Videos: Where he challenges himself with fun and sometimes dangerous stunts
Junklord Videos - Creative use of copious amounts of a product in unconventional ways.
Philanthropy Videos - Giving away a LOT of money to help out someone or just random strangers for completing super easy tasks
Reaction Videos - Documenting their reactions to trending videos By diversifying your content strategy, you'll be able to reach a broader audience. You will also increase the likelihood of keeping your audience hooked and engaged.
Additionally, it creates multiple touchpoints for your business.. Content resonates when it strikes the right person at the right time. When you have a varied content portfolio, you can be assured that more potential customers encounter and connect with your content.
5. Be Unique
In his interviews, Mr. Beast candidly recalls being labeled a 'freak' for his early obsession with YouTube and content creation when it wasn't as popular. He has made videos that nobody has done before or even copied them today.
From seemingly mundane concepts like “Counting to 100,000” (first viral video), “Spent 50 hours in solitary confinement”, “Watching paint dry”, or “Reading every word in the Dictionary”, Mr. Beast consistently defied norms. He also did a “Hi me in 5 years” video that he shot in 2015 but released only in 2020 where he talks to his future self. You can even hear him say “If I don't have a million subscribers by the time you’re watching this, my entire life has been a failure”. Well, we all know how that turned out! 🙂
But how do you ensure your content stands out? How do you generate these offbeat ideas? It is easier said than done. But here are a few tips inspired by Mr. Beast that can help you out:
Jot down all your quirky ideas, no matter how crazy they may seem.
Bounce off ideas with your colleagues, team, or people around you and get feedback
Prioritize continuous learning by exploring diverse content for inspiration across various genres and channels.
Start your brainstorming sessions right after consuming something that sparks inspiration.
Be ready to experiment, fail and experiment again. It took Mr. Beast nearly 4-5 years of consistent experimentation and failed videos before striking gold with his first viral hit.
As discussed in the previous point, latch on to trends, learn from them, and infuse your unique perspective.
Being different is a journey, and sometimes the most extraordinary ideas emerge from the seemingly mundane.
Oh, and can we talk about Mr. Beast's Feastables? They’re pure indulgence. And no, this is NOT a sponsored post.
Final Thoughts
For me, the whole process of watching Mr. Beast’s videos and interviews felt like a crash course in marketing. This article also serves as my reminder to put these techniques into practice. I hope you found it as enjoyable to read as it was for me to write. On a completely different note, we’re a fine Drupal development company and we build fantastic Drupal websites for our clients. Take a look at some of our past work before you call us at +1-678-806-8004. Let's build something extraordinary together!
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