Here is a broad YouTube strategy that works really well and has proven to be successful for many different companies.
Create a good YouTube video that entertains, educates and asks the audience to take action. (brands like Dollarshave Club, Purple and Chatbooks)
Build out a YouTube Ad campaign that will target the right consumers.
Nurture the audience with 8 to 12 touches
Video views on YouTube and Facebook are a lot cheaper than clicks on Google Search Ads. But it’s still a risky investment. That’s because there is a lag between someone seeing an ad and the actual purchase. Few people will see the ad on YouTube and buy a right away. You have to Nurture the audience.
The hardest part of a YouTube ad campaign is the attribution (Tracking buyers directly).
A YouTube campaign my look like a failure the first 30 days, but actually isn’t over a 60 to 90 day period.
This is what Purple mattress was running into when they ran their YouTube marketing campaign.
Luckily for Purple, things were pretty simple when they started out.
Back then, they were only running video ads, so any lift in sales was 100% attributable to those early campaigns. Comparing dollars in vs dollars out gave them the confidence that this was the right strategy to pursue.
Purple Matress saw a direct ROAS of 1.5 on the YouTube campaigns, they knew that the actual ROAS would climb to 4 by looking at a 30-60 days period.
Besides watching sales come in, they also had other indicators that looked promising.
Google has a research survey called Brand Lift which is an experiment that divides the audience you want to target into two. One half will see your ads while the other half doesn’t. Then afterward, they look at the difference in branded search queries between the two groups.
Here are the results Purple found when they ran such a campaign:
People that watched >30 seconds (what Google counts as a view): 30x increase in branded searches.
People that skipped the ad: 6x increase in branded search queries.
These numbers are pretty huge. And the group that skipped the ads still showed a considerable increase, which Purple got for free, because you don’t pay for skipped ads on YouTube.
Here are the best 5 ways to target your audience with YouTube Ads.
1. In-Market
2. Remarketing
3. Placements
4. Brand Search (Keywords)
5. Custom Intent Audience (People who search for our keywords)
Banner ads are kind of a pain but they can make all the difference in your Google Ads Display Campaign. Over that last few years I have been on the constant lookout to find what banner ads work and what banner ads do not work.
Here is my journey
Creating Pretty Banner Ads
Pretty looks pretty, but does it convert? Most ad agencies will create a nice branded banner that looks great and will get the approval of the exectutives, but has an extremely low click through rate. Here are some simple examples.
boring banner ads
I used to do this. Until I saw the results. The CTR (click through rates) were terrible and they just blended in with all the other banner ads.
Display Banner Ads That Convert
Couple months back I decided to create a new remarketing campaigns in Google Ads. Instead of uploading my banner ads I decided to use Google Responsive ads.
I uploaded Infographs and cropped the top section. It was a quick fix because I was able to use something that I had already created. Here is what it looked like.
I was not expecting much, but 2 weeks later I looked into the account and saw I had a lick through rate higher than 1%. That is pretty good. Almost 5X the average.
To test out my theory I had my artist create some other banner ads for companies we work with. Here is one for Twin Home Experts.
Here is what the actual banner ad looks like on a mobile phone. It’s Pretty eye catching.
The next time you are looking for a banner ad that will improve you Click Through Rate and your conversions, reach out. We have the staff on hand that can design the perfect banner ad for you business.
Should you or should you not run Video Ads on Linkedin?
Can you run Video ads on Linkedin?
Of course, you can…
Should you run video ads on Linkedin?
Depends on how quickly you would like to lose your money…
Since we are a Video Marketing Agency it’s important that we continue to test the latest and greatest in video advertising.
So I set out on a quest to see what kind of results I could get from a Linkedin Video Ad.
How to set up Linkedin Video Ads
The video will show you how to create a Linkedin Video ad and the screenshots below will show you what kind of success you can expect from a Linkedin video ad.
Linkedin Stats
Spent $47.84
10 Clicks to my site.
Google Stats
4 Clicks
100% bounce rate
Don’t expect too much. Linkedin has a long way to go.
The battles of YouTube Ads are not won today by men with the largest forces.
Sure they can spend a lot more than you, but that doesn’t mean they are going to win.
YouTube ads have changed and they can be tested in a couple of weeks. There is no long waiting—no serious uncertainty—no drawn-out period when expense overtops result.
One gets his answer immediately. The YouTube campaign is based on exact information that you can see right in your Analytics and Adwords accounts.
What you do in 1 state can be one is all 50, and the views and click will be in proportion to your test states. The law of average is sure. When you expand, you will be spending your money on absolute certainty.
Let’s do a quick recap before we check out whats new.
TrueView ads can be skipped after five seconds—so it’s important that your video is done correctly and will capture attention in the first 5 seconds. Unless you’re optimizing based on action or reach (more on that below), you only have to pay for these ads when the viewer watches 30 seconds or more, which makes them a pretty safe bet for advertising on a budget.
TrueView ads have two formats, In-Stream ads and Discovery ads. Here’s the differences:
It was in BETA but now my accounts have this new feature.
“Soon you’ll be able to reach people on YouTube who recently searched for your products or services on Google. For example, an airline could reach people on YouTube who recently searched Google.com for “flights to Hawaii.” We call this custom intent audiences. Custom intent audiences can be an effective way to move undecided customers to action using the persuasive power of video. To get started, all you have to do is create a keyword list for your video campaign in the new AdWords experience.”
Here’s a simple video tutorial where you can see how to set up a TrueView For Action video campaign.
TrueView For Reach
If you are looking to build brand awareness and increase market penetrations, you may want to look at TrueView for reach.
I would not recommend it because I think TrueView for Action Ads are better.
Actually…
I know they are better.
YouTube Video Ad Reach Planner Tool
One of the big problems with YouTube ads are the unknown. They lack transparency but they are changing. Google has launched the do Reach planner tool.
“Starting today, we’ve made it easier to answer questions like these by introducing Reach Planner, a new tool in AdWords. Now, for the first time, advertisers can forecast the reach and frequency achievable on YouTube and across Google’s video partners, in over 50 countries. This resource will simplify the planning process by providing unique reach across devices, for all core audiences and video formats.
Please for all things practical get on this and start running ads. If you need help, that is what we are here for. Contact us and we would be happy to create a killer YouTube Ad Campaign that will get you more sales, leads, and traffic.
This is going to be the first of many infographics that are going to help your business. Since we love Video Marketing we shall start there. Feel free to make companies and share this with everyone. Enjoy! (more…)
