YouTube Success Stories

Should You Start Your Own Channel?

One of the hottest topics of today is social media marketing, and if, when, and how much should be done by a business. It’s almost mandatory nowadays for a company to have a Facebook and Instagram presence, even if it’s just a seldom-visited placeholder page. One of the new trends we’re seeing pop up however is for businesses to actually open a YouTube account for the company to showcase new products, shop vehicles, reduce tech calls, or just to document daily life around a shop or manufacturing facility. We’re arguably living in an age where the best “TV” is reality TV, and the best TV is on the Internet.

What’s Right For You

When it comes to YouTube channels, there are basically two types. The first model consists of usually one or two people talking and running around with cell phone cameras, and taking lots of video selfies. The second variety of YouTube channel involves a video person, well edited videos, and often additional information presented onscreen. One of the first questions you should be asking yourself when it comes to YouTube, is “How do I want to present myself to the public?”

Fortunately, there are already a number of diesel companies that have made the plunge into video, with a good amount of success. Perhaps the most identifiable success story has been Banks Power, which is one of the more successful diesel-based YouTube’s, with more than 130,000 subscribers. Owner Gale Banks is a figurehead in most of the videos, which concentrate on engineering, hard core tech, and dyno runs. Almost all the videos are well edited, and feature other big names from the diesel industry. As a result, Banks has acquired a large group of followers, that only continues to grow.

Another success story comes from Power Driven Diesel (PDD), a shop based out of Cedar City, Utah. PDD early on started a pretty heavily funded YouTube channel, complete with just about every trick in the book: parts giveaways, tech pieces, shop vehicle builds, and even turbo theory. What’s interesting about PDD is that they operate in what many might consider a niche market, focusing mainly on older 12-valve Cummins trucks, race trucks, and pre-common rail 24v pickups. They had to get the word out somehow, and YouTube became their platform. With some videos in the hundreds of thousands of views (their “Double the Horsepower of your 24 Valve Cummins” has over 500,000 views) PDD got a huge bump in exposure.

One company that has come on strong in the past year has been Firepunk Diesel. Firepunk has been known mostly as a transmission building company, but in the past year they’ve really ramped up their YouTube channel. Even though the channel has been around for 12 years, almost half the videos are from the past year, and cover much of the behind the scenes action at the shop, including full truck builds and features. They also have done quite a few events and shenanigans, including spraying nitrous on a brand-new Dodge pickup, and running a Pro Mod no prep race with their drag truck. All of which netted them more eyes on their products.

When it comes to YouTube, shops like these have realized that YouTube is basically free advertising, that you have complete control over. Even small channels like Haisley Machine (about 1,500 subscribers) are beneficial, as they’re using they’re YouTube as a free spot where their pulling customers can see their hooks at most big events. So should you as a shop start a YouTube? In our opinion, it could be quite beneficial. If you’re ready to dive into the world of SEO keywords, tags, and data analysis, do some research and start up a channel. Remember that it’s free, and in the long run can even make you money.