YouTube is becoming the favorite advertising platform of marketers. Currently, it has 2 billion active users–promising a wider reach of potential customers for businesses.
YouTube is also the leading video-sharing platform in the world, 2nd best social media channel for influencer marketing, and the 2nd top search engine online. All these statistics lead us to one idea–YouTube is a great platform to grow your business.
How can you use YouTube ads to improve your brand awareness and increase your sales? You’ll find the best tips here. But first, let’s look at a brief concept of YouTube ads.
What Are YouTube Ads?
As mentioned earlier, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the Internet, second only to Google.
YouTube advertising is done through Google Ads along with Gmail Ads, Remarketing, and Search and Display Ads.
Any content you see before viewing another video or showing up on your YouTube search results are considered video ads. To advertise on YouTube, you need to allocate a certain budget on your Google Ads account.
Now, there are three main types of YouTube advertisements:
- Bumpers
- TrueView Ads
- Non-skippable Instream Ads
Bumpers
Bumpers are unskippable video ads that play before a YouTube video. They’re 6 seconds long or less and are paid on a CPM basis.
TrueView Ads
A TrueView ad is YouTube’s standard advertising format. It can be 6 minutes long or 12 seconds short, depending on the advertiser’s preference. TrueView Ads are classified into two types: instream ads and discovery ads.
TrueView discovery ads appear on YouTube’s search results and watch pages. Users can either click or ignore them if they’re not interested.
On the other hand, TrueView instream ads play before a user’s chosen video. These are the common videos you see with a “Skip Ad” option, website link, or banner.
With TrueView ads, marketers don’t have to worry whenever their advertisements are skipped or ignored. You only have to pay when users watch your video for at least 30 seconds, click on your link, or view the entire ad. That way, you can ensure that your advertisement goes to a more targeted and interested audience.
Non-skippable Instream Ads
Non-skippable instream ads or preroll ads play before, in the middle, or after the main YouTube video. They can be 15-20 seconds in duration and can only be placed on videos that are longer than 10 minutes. The purpose of this is to roll the ad in the middle of the main video.
As the name suggests, non-skippable instream ads can’t be skipped. This means that you have the viewer’s full attention the moment your ad shows. Hence, you must create interesting content, show your viewers your ad is attention-worthy, and drive them to take action.
Using YouTube Ads to Grow Your Business
Now, you know what YouTube ads are and the different formats you can use for your marketing strategy. It’s time to go deeper into our main agenda–using YouTube ads to grow your business.
It can be an overwhelming task, especially if you’ll be starting from scratch. But if you want to leverage your online marketing, you must include YouTube advertising in your strategies. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Plan and Set Your Goals
Whether you’re advertising on Instagram , Facebook, YouTube, or any social platform, the first step is to always plan and set your goals. A campaign without an objective will have no direction, and a campaign with no direction won’t succeed.
Planning may include your marketing budget, ad storyline, video shooting and editing, and your advertising strategies.
Determine short-term and long-term goals and list your expectations from the campaign. Identify the key metrics you’ll use to measure your ad’s success. Remember, it all begins with careful planning, so take your time and brainstorm with your team.
Create Valuable Video Content
YouTube ads are limited, and it’s crucial to convey your message in one short video. To create valuable content, your video must be interactive and not annoy the viewers.
Be straightforward and have a clear call to action. Most importantly, ensure that your ad contains the answer to your potential customers’ needs or it will be ignored.
Whether you’ll create bumpers, trueview ads, or preroll ads, the key is to have definite goals in mind. Is your ad meant to build awareness, grow audience interest, or drive action? Start from there and create video content that will attract and connect your viewers to your brand.
Optimize Your YouTube Channel
Creating valuable video content wouldn’t make sense if your YouTube channel isn’t optimized. Build a good first impression and make sure your channel is organized.
Add a company logo, business name, social media links, contact information, and your official website link. In the “About” section, include a short description of your brand–your products, services, niche, special offers, and other important details.
Remember, YouTube ads don’t only increase your sales or grow your website traffic; they bring you more subscribers and new customers. This is especially true if your business isn’t just into ads but entirely into YouTube marketing. An optimized YouTube channel shows viewers that your brand is authentic and visible online.
Familiarize YouTube’s Targeting Options
To maximize your YouTube ad returns, you need to learn how to target a specific audience. Some of the ways you can do are remarketing, using affinity audiences, and targeting life events.
Remarketing is the process of sending non-converting visitors to other sites they visit. These could be YouTube’s partnered video sites or other social media networks where your audience watched a video. Remarketing can also be done by targeting people who have done YouTube-related actions, including subscribing to a channel, viewing certain video ads, and sharing any video from a channel.
On the other hand, affinity audiences are the traditional audience targets. You target this group based on common interests, behaviors, and lifestyles. Lastly, life events focus on reaching a specific audience based on certain occasions like marriage, graduation, and special holidays.
Know Your Competitors
Before producing a YouTube ad, check your competitors’ content and determine how you can stand out in the market.
It’s easy to find similar video content on the web especially if your business niche is famous. To be on top, incorporate relevant keywords to your ads through Google Ads, be unique, and stay true to your brand. Create a YouTube ad that aligns with your brand image, values, and marketing efforts.
Review and Assess Your YouTube Ad Results
Every campaign should have an assessment stage. This will help you determine the strengths and weaknesses of your YouTube ad campaign–what worked and what didn’t.
When you assess your ad results, make sure you have specific key metrics in mind. These may include reach, engagement rate, clicks, website traffic, ROI, and sales.
Some businesses would also include subscriber growth and the number of new customers in their campaign analytics. The bottom line is you need to know whether YouTube advertising is a great fit for your brand.
The Takeaway
YouTube ads can be a great marketing strategy when you know how it works. It can grow your business and give you optimal results.
Like any marketing endeavor, you need to familiarize YouTube’s algorithm, learn how to create video content that converts and be passionate about your goals. It’s easy to start any campaign; the hard part is maintaining it and getting positive results out from it.
This guide serves as your ticket to successful YouTube advertising. Just follow the tips above and produce your own YouTube ad now!
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- How to Use YouTube Ads to Grow Your Business - February 22, 2021
