YouTube is one of the most promising platforms for advertising for a number of reasons. Its enormous user base of 2.3 billion is reason enough to consider the site a goldmine for marketers and brands.
Video ads are also extremely effective — video ads generate 1200% more shares than text and image content. Video ads also tend to drive more action, with consumers 184% more likely to convert after clicking on one.
While YouTube and video ads offer an enormous opportunity to help grow an audience and build your brand, YouTube marketing is a new landscape to many. Here are 5 tips to get your YouTube advertising working for your company or business.
1. Use a mix of different ad types
To achieve maximum success with YouTube ads (and avoid ad fatigue), it’s best to aim for a strong mix that takes advantage of their different types of ads. There are three main types of video ads on YouTube:
Bumpers
Bumpers are 6-second video ads that can’t be skipped. This is the perfect way to get your brand message in front of your customer in a quick, succinct way. Bumpers last 6 seconds, so the challenge with these ads is packing as much information and value as possible into that small window. Bumper ads are also often more cost-efficient and improve the reach of your campaign.
Non-skippable ads
As the name suggests, these ads can’t be skipped. Unlike bumpers, non-skippable ads can last up to 15 seconds. The advantage here, of course, is there is more time to share a story. However, the difficulty here is making sure that the story presented in the ad is worth your audience’s attention for 15 seconds.
It’s important to keep your audience top of mind when using Bumpers and non-skippable ads. People don’t exactly go to YouTube with the intention of watching ads, that is why it is so crucial that your ads enhance the user’s experience. Whenever possible, leave your audience delighted by your brand messaging and eager to learn more.
Skippable ads
Perhaps the most popular type of YouTube video ad, skippable ads allow a user to skip ahead to their video content after viewing it for 5 seconds. While a forced view might seem great for getting your brand in front of consumers, it’s important to remember that users are going to YouTube to discover and experience the content of their choosing, so your advertising should ideally be a compliment to their experience as opposed to a hindrance. This is where skippable ads can come into play by allowing the user more choice in how and if they interact.
Here’s an example:
Video completions are an essential metric to look at when evaluating the success of video ads. If you’re seeing low video completion rates, that may mean that you’re going after the wrong target audience or your message isn’t resonating with your ideal consumer. Conversely, a strong video completion rate may indicate that your story is aligned with your audience’s needs or wants.
2. Cater your ads to YouTube
Every platform is different. What works on Facebook or TV may not perform well on YouTube. It’s important to tailor your ads appropriately so they match the platform.
For example, skippable ads are common on YouTube but less so on some other platforms. With this format of advertising, you’ll need to show your brand’s personality and capture the essence of what you’re about in just a handful of seconds.
Another factor to consider is sound. Unlike other platforms, 95% of YouTube videos are watched with sound on, which gives you more opportunity to appeal to your viewers’ senses through full experience storytelling. This also presents a chance to experiment with features like voiceover, which can be a great tool to drive home key takeaways or differentiators that you want to get across to your consumer.
3. Have a testing mindset
YouTube is packed with a range of analytics tools, and these can provide valuable insights into advertising strategies. By using these tools, you don’t have to pigeonhole yourself into one specific creative or message. Just like it’s important to have a strong media mix in terms of video type, also consider testing different video variations.
Using data-backed insights to inform your advertising strategy means you don’t have to resort to guesswork. Data can also help with nailing down your ideal audience. By setting up different ad sets with various audiences, data can give important learnings about which target audience best responds to your YouTube video ad campaign.
Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment. If you’re hyper-focused on a niche audience because that is who you think should like your brand or product, you risk missing out on valuable insights, driving up costs, and restricting your reach.
4. Tailor your campaigns to the marketing funnel
YouTube campaigns can be tailored to different parts of the marketing funnel based on business needs including awareness, consideration, and conversion. If you’re new to YouTube, awareness might be a good place to test the waters and will be effective for various verticals.
For an awareness campaign, you might consider looking at Video Completion Rate (VCR) as a KPI. This will help you understand if your message and content are resonating with your target audience. Again, video ads on YouTube should enhance a user’s overall experience on the platform rather than deter from it and if users are choosing to watch ads over their intended content, that’s a great indicator of success.
Of course, VCR will not be as strong of an indicator for non-skippable ads, so you may also consider looking at cost per view for an efficiency or scale play.
5. Make the most of trends in the space
User-Generated Content
Your users and audience members can generate excellent marketing ideas all on their own. People tend to trust their fellow consumers more than brands. 47% of millennials and 36% of baby boomers trust user-generated content compared to just 25% of both demographics who say they trust branded content. This means if you have engaged users, do your best to encourage them to repost or share your content. Try creating an ad campaign that creates a competition where users can share information about your products in exchange for the chance to win a prize.
You don’t necessarily need a sleek and highly produced video to drive results. As consumers look for more emotional connections with brands, creatives that feel genuine or raw can create strong brand affinity. For example, Airbnb’s recent campaign uses still images and music to create an emotional experience recapping a vacation experience.
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Brand Activism
More and more, consumers want to know that the brands they are spending their money with align with their personal values. From social and political issues, consumers look to brands to take a stance and be vocal on where they stand.
YouTube Audio Ads
With the increased popularity of podcasts and music streaming, YouTube is finding a way to incorporate audio ads. While we typically think of YouTube as strictly a video platform, tons of users tune in for the listening opportunities the platform presents such as music video streaming. Audio ads are YouTube’s solution to reaching this user base, with ads that are composed of audio that does the heavy lifting of storytelling with a static image or simple animation in the background.
YouTube video ads are a powerful tool that allows businesses to connect with their audience on one of the biggest sites in the world. Harnessing the power of Google’s analytics and their various ad options will help marketing teams target the right audience and maximize the ROI of the ad creation.
To learn more about how Booyah can help you connect with your audience across the internet and grow your brand more effectively, get in touch with us today.
