YouTube Advertising: The Marketing Amplifier

Video marketing is on the rise as more and more consumers watch video content (particularly on their phones). YouTube is a massive platform with unparalleled reach and potential, and tapping into that can amplify your marketing in a huge way. YouTube Advertising can help you connect with your audience while they’re watching and listening to what they love with custom messaging that drives action.

What Are the Benefits of Creating a YouTube Advertising Strategy?

  • Reach— The first answer here is reach. Today, YouTube has over two billion monthly logged-in users, and people watch over a billion hours of videos every day. The scope for YouTube video advertising is staggering.
  • Audience Attention— With YouTube advertising, you’re able to engage with your audience while they’re watching things they’re already interested in and tailor your pitch around that particular content.
  • Data and Tools— YouTube and Google (partnered with YouTube) have tracking tools and insights designed to help you create, test, and measure your campaigns. You can track your ROAS (return on ad spend) and ensure that your ads are producing results and how to replicate your best performing campaigns.

Which Ad Type is Best?

There are a few different ad types to explore, and the best type for you will depend on your marketing objectives and budget. Here’s a quick look at the different ads you can create:

  • Bumpers— These are six-second, in-stream ads that run in the middle of the stream while your user is watching content already, and they are non-skippable. These are best for raising awareness and creating a broad reach.
  • TrueView for Reach— These are skippable, in-stream ads that allow users to choose to engage with the video. These ads are designed for impressions instead of views, and they’re best for driving awareness and generating highly efficient reach.
  • TrueView in-Stream– These are skippable, in-stream ads that allow users to choose to engage with the video. Unlike for Reach, these are billed on a Cost Per View basis. These are best for driving consideration and telling your brand’s story.
  • TrueView Discovery— These are promoted videos that are shown in places like the YouTube home feed. This ad type works in a slightly different way, as viewers click on an ad to watch it versus viewers being shown the ad and then being able to skip it. These ads are best for driving consideration and generating interest.
  • TrueView for Action— These are skippable in-stream ads that drive website actions and include a customized call-to-action (CTA) overlay and an end screen promoting that CTA. These ads are best for driving action and conversions for your website.
  • Mastheads— Masthead ads autoplay on the YouTube homepage and home feed, with a marquee placement. They’re best for driving massive awareness.
  • Non-Skippable in-Stream Ads— These are in-stream ads that users cannot skip. They show before, during, or after partner content. These ads are most like traditional TV ads, and are best for driving awareness and reaching your target audience.
  • Outstream Ads— These are ads that run outside of streams and are great for users who browse on their phone with the sound off. They are a cost-efficient way for you to use your existing video ads to gain more reach on mobile sites and apps. You’ll want to design these ads for people scrolling on mobile, with the awareness that many users will have the sound off.

How to Build the Perfect YouTube Ad Video (Google’s ABCDs)

Google has come up with some creative suggestions for designing the most effective YouTube ads possible. They are:

  • Attract – Hook your audience
  • Brand – Help consumers see and hear your brand
  • Connect – Make your audience think or feel something about your brand
  • Direct – Get them to take action
  1. Attract— Framing, pacing, people, and audio elements are particularly important for hooking your audience. They recommend techniques like: capturing viewer attention with visuals early on, keeping a fast pace, and opening ads with people on screen to speak to the audience directly.
  2. Brand— Integrating products, logos, or audio cues into the ad can help drive home your brand’s message. Some of their recommendations include: introducing your brand within the first five seconds, getting creative with characters by personifying or using mascots, and playing up your brand colors to integrate them into the content.
  3. Connect— Once an ad has hooked an audience, it must maintain their attention by creating a connection with them. A couple of Google’s recommendations here are to: make people core to the story, and to experiment with point of view (say, by “breaking the fourth wall” and using the first-person perspective).
  4. Direct— Directing viewers to take action can ensure the connection your ad creates with the audience pays off. They recommend having a strong CTA and creating a sense of urgency by using words like “limited time.”

How You Can Maximize Your Results

YouTube has a couple of tools that you can use to maximize and track your ad campaigns:

  1. Brand Lift— This tool lets you create experiments to maximize your ads. You can create separate versions of the ad and run a study to test your hypotheses and see what the impact the variations have. This can then influence your creative direction on that ad and future ads you create.
  2. Youtube Analytics— YouTube Analytics helps you look at the effectiveness of your ads among viewers. You’ll be able to track:
    • Who is watching: Track things like the age and gender demographic of your viewers.
    • What people are watching: Analyze watch time and number of viewers for each ad, to see whether your content is resonating with your target audience.
    • Where people are watching: Track where the viewer saw your video, which device type they were using, and how they reached the ad (e.g. by searching on YouTube).
    • How engaged viewers are: Track how well your video holds its audience.

Where Should I Start With YouTube Ads?

YouTube advertising has the potential to amplify your marketing efforts and take them to the next level. It can also feel daunting to branch into the world of YouTube advertising— or video advertising in general— and the good news is that you can take it one step at a time. Don’t feel like you have to create lots of ads or YouTube paid advertising and start tracking everything right away; start small and build up.

Consider starting by creating some simple, trackable goals for your ads, and then focusing on one ad type and one campaign to start with. Also, don’t forget that you can find a professional or YouTube video advertising agency who specializes in YouTube’s ads and algorithms.

Big Storm is a digital marketing company in Bozeman, Montana. We’re well versed in YouTube advertising and implementing YouTube ad campaigns for our clients. Find out more about our video and paid ad services here.

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