YouTube strategist Aniket Mishra, formerly of Dallas-based Raffiti Media, is launching an independent consultancy after six years of advising global brands and a Fortune 500 company on video content strategy.

He brings experience spanning markets from India to New Zealand, focusing on North American clients. His transition to independent consulting comes amid the creator economy’s pandemic-era expansion.

Aniket’s path in the industry wasn’t traditional, though. A former 110-meter hurdler, he pivoted to digital marketing after a hamstring injury ended his athletic career. He credits social media entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk for introducing him to the space’s potential.

Aniket’s focus on YouTube strategy stems from his belief in the platform’s sustainable business model. “YouTube was the only platform that was giving good creator revenue, which can make you a full-time creator and make a living out of it,” he says. “YouTube will be long-term, and that’s where you build the brand.”

His new venture includes a newsletter focused on YouTube strategy, marking his first public steps since leaving Raffiti Media.

Inside the YouTube Strategist’s Playbook

Aniket’s methodology for developing YouTube strategies combines granular competitive analysis with psychological insight, particularly for business clients ranging from startups to a billion-dollar corporation.

His approach begins with understanding a client’s core objectives. “First and foremost, what we do as consultants is find an agenda,” Aniket says. “There are people who want a lot of fame, views, engagement, and then there are people who want conversions, leads, and sales—and it applies to both [creators and corporations].”

Aniket employs the “theory of ten” – a systematic analysis of immediate competitors and industry leaders. “Find five immediate competitors, five larger competitors. I’m going to write down everything and start finding the patterns,” he explains. This includes analyzing the top ten videos on each channel to identify common factors, keywords, and content themes that drive engagement.

The process extends beyond surface-level metrics, including thumbnail design patterns, title optimization, and content timing. However, Aniket maintains a pragmatic view of viral success. “If any consultant, strategist, or anyone across the board says that I have a viral formula for YouTube, they are lying,” he says. “There are good ideas that you back either by intuitions or data or by both.”

On the other hand, working with larger organizations frequently requires multiple approval layers and specific content restrictions. “There’s a lot of red tape,” Aniket notes. “There is a legal department that watches the video, then the marketing department, and even if everything goes right, the video production guys may have problems with it.”

His strategy development process considers multiple factors, including demographics, cultural relevance, and market-specific nuances. “If it’s a Canadian thing, you need to understand the Canadian market really well,” Aniket explains. Now, the U.S. is not just the U.S. There’s Texas, which has a different culture altogether. Then there’s California, New York…”

Content verticals often include challenging conventional wisdom to drive engagement. For example, with SaaS clients, Aniket might develop content that contradicts common industry assumptions while addressing specific pain points.

The final strategy is always customized, even within the same industry. “Even with two SaaS platforms that both sell email marketing tool[s], we’ll have a different strategy,” Aniket says. “We’ll have some confluence between them but still have a different strategy.”

Short-Form’s Double-Edged Impact

The rise of YouTube Shorts has fundamentally altered the platform’s content strategy, though Aniket warns of potential pitfalls in the rush to embrace short-form content.

“YouTube Shorts is a double-edged sword,” Aniket says. “People love it, but it’s also hampering a lot of channels.” 

He cites a case where a client’s long-form content viewership dropped from 100,000 to approximately 15,000-20,000 after aggressively pursuing Shorts content. The challenge lies in audience segmentation—Shorts viewers often don’t convert to long-form content consumers despite YouTube’s efforts to bridge this gap.

The development of the creator economy has also changed monetization. With brand sponsorship deals becoming more selective, creators are adapting their approaches. According to Aniket, many are pivoting to ultra-long-form content to maximize ad revenue, though he cautions against conflating viewership with earnings.

“A lot of creators think that more viewership means more ad dollars. It’s not,” Aniket explains, citing a case where a video with 200,000 views generated $4,800 while a video with 650,000 generated $2,500. “The difference lies in CPM rates, which vary significantly by topic and content type.”

Platform Dominance and Future Trajectory

Despite emerging challenges, Aniket maintains that YouTube will retain its position as the premier platform for content creators, primarily due to its sustainable monetization model and evergreen content potential.

“YouTube has the partner policy and can make you a full-time creator,” Aniket notes. “YouTube is the only platform where you can have a catalog of evergreen content that can bring you leads, sales, and more businesses across the board.”

The platform continues developing, with new features to enhance community engagement. YouTube’s recent introduction of shared playlists and expanded community features signals its intent to address previous limitations in creator-audience interaction.

Aniket points to YouTube’s expansion into traditional television territory as another strategic advantage, acquiring rights to major events like NFL games, Coachella, and creators developing episodic content.

In July, YouTube became the first streaming platform to exceed 10% of total TV usage, reaching 10.4%, up 7% from the month before.

These developments and YouTube’s proven monetization model suggest continued dominance. “Every time you read any data by any other platforms, whatever, if it’s an agency or a brand or just a data company, you’ll always see all the creators make the most from YouTube, irrespective of which niche, which sector, what audience base that they belong to,” Aniket says.

Strategy Fundamentals: Testing, Timing, and Building Audience Trust

According to Aniket, timing is crucial for creators and brands considering professional YouTube strategy guidance. He advocates for a foundational period of self-directed learning before seeking expert help.

“I would never recommend that creator to start working with a strategist or someone like me right away,” Aniket says. “Just produce as much content as possible for three to six months. Make all the mistakes, learn how to edit, learn how to make thumbnails, learn how to do titles, learn how to do the research.”

This approach, however, changes for established creators or businesses with resources. 

“There are business owners; there are creators that have the money. They are big creators on other platforms… they can hire the strategists directly right off the bat so that they launch the YouTube channels in a blow-up way,” Aniket explains.

For long-term success, the strategist outlines three core principles: maintaining an audience-first approach, building an evergreen content catalog, and owning the audience through multiple channels.

“If you keep the audience first as your priority and work towards making them ride behind you, it’s a game changer. You don’t have to depend on the platform,” he says. “You need to be dependent on the audience.”

Aniket recommends an 80-20 approach: 80% evergreen content and 20% trend-focused material. He stresses the importance of platform diversification while understanding each platform’s unique characteristics.

“Different platforms have different algorithms and user behaviors,” he says. “So understanding the user behavior is also very important.”

Above all, Aniket advocates for rigorous testing. “It’s an A/B testing game. There is no rule,” he says. “If you can A/B test religiously, aggressively on each element until you find the right answers – that’s how you go about on YouTube. There’s no right or wrong formula. There’s something that works for you.”