Your Elevator Pitch

 Your Elevator Pitch

Every streamer has heard the following questions  “What is your channel/stream about?”. When you are just starting out, you might not have an answer to that question and that is ok. This article was written to help you come up with a concise and interesting way to describe your channel to newcomers, raiders, and anyone else who might be curious enough to inquire about your channel. 

If you have been streaming for a little bit, you have a slight idea about your style, you have noticed some trends in your channel, and know more about where you want to take your stream. Anything that you are doing can be summed up to its most basic level in one sentence, no matter if you are an art streamer, focusing on one game or playing through your entire game library. For example, for my channel, I can say “I play Fortnite with the occasional Valorant thrown in”. It is certainly an answer, but it does not make me or my channel stand out from the thousands upon thousands of other streamers doing the same exact thing. We need to take it a step further and add our own twist to it, and what you do with the game. 

Don’t allow yourself to fall for the classic response: “I’m a variety streamer”. It is important to keep in mind that anyone who plays two or more games could be classified as a variety streamer, myself included. This description doesn’t differentiate your channel from the multitude of other so-called “variety streamers”. 

All that being said, you should not have a one-sentence description of your channel. To help you refine your channel’s identity, here are things we need to consider.

Target Audience

To answer the question of what is my channel about, you first have to determine who you want to reach with your content. When making these decisions, it is important to remember that nothing in this world is for everyone, and you will never please everyone. Your content could have the broadest premise and will still not resonate with an entire group of people. A real-world example that comes to mind is country icon Shania Twain who with over 100 million records sold worldwide, became one of the most successful recording artists of all time. Her music is enjoyed by a lot of people and yet, there is a large group of people who actively dislike her music and refuse to listen to it. She built a very successful brand for herself as a country artist targeting country music lovers worldwide. All this to say that if even the top-selling female country artist of all time is not catering to everyone why should you?

Refining and Defining

To be transparent, I have yet to truly define my channel’s true purpose. I often overthink and therefore, I am constantly exploring new ways to improve and better the experience for those viewing my channel. You need to find something about your gameplay, your game selection, and your passions, that will set you apart and help you define who you are, and makes you unique. When it comes to gameplay, look at what you enjoy, is it being competitive, or are you more of a casual player? For game selection, do you enjoy retro games, playing multiplayer games with viewers, or maybe you enjoy story-based games? What sets you apart could be something unrelated to gaming such as you drinking coffee on your stream, dancing when you win, or maybe you like singing while you play. I’m positive there is something that you do to set yourself apart from others. Remember that the point here is not how many people are playing Fortnite while singing, it’s about how many people are advertising they stream Fortnite while taking requests for an original rap. The more targeted your description of your channel is, the more it will attract people/your target audience to your stream, as it will be inherently more interesting. 

My Experience

You will often find me playing multiplayer shooter games with friends. My streamer is not geared solely to one game, so I could easily say I’m a variety streamer. However, there is so much more I could include. For instance, I’m not a professional gamer and play games to have fun but at the same time, I’m a little bit competitive. Overall I don’t take gaming too seriously and love introducing games to people. If I had to describe my channel it would be:

Mediocre gameplay with friends focused on fun with a hint of competitiveness. Love introducing community members to the games I love such as Fortnite and Valorant and inviting them to play and share in the fun. 

None of this is unique but the fact that I’m setting the expectation of what my channel offers makes the description more compelling. It allows someone coming to your channel to decide quickly whether they found what they are looking for and want to interact or if they are not interested at all. The last thing I want to do is mislead anyone into thinking I might play a game story-based game regularly. 

Final Thoughts

Branding encompasses all areas of your channel, from your description, your logo, your emotes, your name, and so on. All of these things help newcomers understand your channel but what will make you stand out the most is your elevator pitch. Coming up with a compelling way to describe your channel can be difficult at first, but it is your first step to creating a personal brand. There is always something about you worth highlighting. Any aspect of your personality regardless of how small you might think it is that comes out on stream can be used to strengthen your brand.  

It is important to remember that there is a big audience who will not enjoy your stream and that is okay. Having an accurate channel description allows you to be yourself and those who share your interests and passions will be enticed to stay in your stream, chat, and be entertained. It is amazing how a few short sentences can give new people coming into your channel a lot of information. There is no right or wrong answer on how to define your channel because all streamers are unique and having a descriptive elevator pitch simply helps you stand out. Remember if you can’t describe your channel who can?

Leave your best elevator pitch in the comments below and let’s see if we can get more people into your streams.