Katelyn James · Case study

Helping Katelyn build a 100,000-subscriber channel.

I’d followed Katelyn’s teaching for years and thought she would be great on YouTube. I pitched the idea, helped launch the channel, and spent more than four years planning, filming, editing, and publishing the videos. We kept learning as we went.

100K+subscribers, grown from zero

7M+channel views

4+ yearsrunning the channel end to end

90+ weekspublished without missing an upload

01 / THE OPPORTUNITY

Reaching new photographers.

Katelyn’s courses and email funnels were already working. What she needed was a way for more people to find her. I’d learned a lot from her blog as a photographer, and I thought video would help new viewers connect with her the way I had.

I pitched YouTube and helped launch the channel. When we planned topics, I kept coming back to what I would have wanted to learn when I was starting my photography business.

02 / MY ROLE

Running the whole channel.

For more than four years, I handled the channel from planning the videos to hitting publish.

Strategy & programming

Choosing topics, trying formats, preparing scripts and outlines, and planning the upload schedule.

Production

Filming, camera and audio, lighting, on-camera direction, and making each production day efficient.

Post-production & packaging

Complete edits, graphics, titles, thumbnails, descriptions, and final uploads.

Publishing & improvement

Reviewing YouTube Studio, learning from each upload, and keeping the weekly schedule.

Tyler and Katelyn reviewing the camera during a filming day — Working through a filming day with Katelyn.

Celebrating Katelyn’s 100,000-subscriber milestone.

03 / WHAT WE MADE

Content for growth and course sales.

Gear videos brought people in. Katelyn’s teaching gave them more to watch and a way into her courses.

REACH

Gear through a working photographer’s eyes.

The Canon R6 and RF lens videos helped new viewers find the channel. Katelyn explained the gear as a working photographer, and those videos kept getting views long after we posted them.

TEACHING

The things people came to Katelyn to learn.

Wedding Day 101 and Behind the Image let viewers see how Katelyn works and teaches. We gave away useful lessons, then pointed people toward her courses when they wanted to go deeper.

04 / THE RESULT

Channel results.

The channel grew to more than 100,000 subscribers and seven million views. Katelyn was reaching new photographers and hearing from longtime followers again.

The goal was always to support her education business. Views mattered, but so did helping people get to know her teaching before they bought a course.

Selected videos