Nowadays, those who have the internet usually have an account on YouTube. You, us, and everyone else use YouTube for everything from watching how-to videos, listening to our favorite music, following favorite vloggers, to searching up just about anything that we think is entertaining.
If you have a target audience in mind that you are dying to advertise to, YouTube’s 2 billion monthly users worldwide will most likely have you covered. It is widely known that YouTube is second only to Google in terms of the most used search engines of all time.
If everyone is on YouTube, then is it not just logical as any business to learn how to advertise on YouTube? YouTube’s reach is just unfathomable, and having your YouTube ads on the video-sharing platform might just be what your business needs to break through to the level of success you have always dreamed of.
Let’s set you on your way to adding YouTube ads to your current marketing strategy so you and your business won’t be left out in this day and age where social media presence matters a whole lot.
YouTube advertising is advertising your brand’s video and image content on Google’s video-sharing platform, YouTube. Users will be able to view your video ad content before, during, or after a video they chose to view.
Video ads you create will also be searchable on YouTube that if YouTube users want to view all your video ads in full, they will be able to.
You can start a YouTube advertising campaign after you have started an account with Google Ads and YouTube.
Starting a YouTube ad campaign is not free and will cost you some money to run. At this point your brand or business has spent some considerable cash on making professionally done video ad content and spending some more to get these ads out on YouTube should be the natural next step.
How much will YouTube advertising set you back for? What are the rates I will be charged with? Let us discuss all that and more in the next section of this short read.
YouTube charges advertisers through a per-click and per-view pricing system. This means that Google, which is YouTube’s mother company, bills you depending on YouTube users’ interaction with your ads.
You are only charged for users who either click your ad and users who watch your entire video ad. The exact rates per click or view cost between $0.10 to $0.30.
The actual cost of advertising on YouTube will rely mainly rely on one thing; the daily budget that you set for your YouTube ad campaign. An average business sets an investment of $20 and up for their YouTube ad campaign.
Setting a daily budget for your YouTube ad will be one of the first things you will decide on as you learn how to begin an ad campaign on YouTube. Remember, though, that setting a maximum amount to spend on views and clicks will guard you and your YouTube ad campaign against overspending.
There are several types of ads you can run for your YouTube ad campaign. Each type of ad has its key features and benefits. Choose the type of ad that you think will be a good fit for your goals for your brand or company.
Here are the YouTube ad formats:
Learning the differences between these types of YouTube ads will highlight what benefits each can afford you. Let us have a more detailed discussion of each type of ad.
A TrueView ad is the quintessential YouTube ad. It is what the common person thinks of when they hear the term YouTube ad. With TrueView ads, the advertiser only pays when YouTube users view the ad or do a call to action embedded in the TrueView ad.
A view is counted as a view if a user sees at least the first 30 seconds or the entire video. A TrueView YouTube ad is required by YouTube to be between at least 12 seconds to 6 minutes long. Users have the option to skip your TrueView ad after the 5-second mark.
Since these ads are skippable, make sure you make good use of your available time with your audience. Make sure that you have had said your most important info in the first non-skippable 5 seconds. To make sure YouTube users don’t skip your ad, reel their interest in with a message that will entice them to watch through most of your video ad.
The TrueView type of ad is the most cost-efficient and most high-reaching type of YouTube ad even if 76% of viewers skip them, the remaining 24% who view, click and engage your calls-to-action will be money well spent on your part. You will be sure that 24% of viewers are interested viewers that will be converted into actual business for your brand.
TrueView ads will also play on the GDN (Google Display Network) and websites that have acquired Google ad pace.
These types of ads usually play before, after, or mid-roll of a YouTube video and last anywhere between 15-20 seconds long. Non-skippable in-stream ads appear only on YouTube videos that are at least 10 minutes long. When these non-skippable in-stream ads play mid-roll of a YouTube video, a 5-second counter commences advising the viewer of the incoming ad.
Note that non-skippable in-stream ad space is sold by Google Ads and YouTube at a pay-per-click rate. This does cost you more for the benefit of having your viewers’ attention for 15-20 un-skippable seconds. Just make sure that your video ad best represents your brand with this limited time of interaction with YouTube users. Maximize each non-skippable in-stream ad with a clickable call-to-action.
Bumpers in video production terms are content that plays before the main video. YouTube in-stream ads are the same in the sense that these ads also play before a YouTube video.
Bumper ads are only 6 seconds long and are also non-skippable. Six seconds are not exactly great in carrying a complete message for your ad campaign and are usually used to compliment a YouTube ad campaign as teasers to pique YouTube user interest. Use your 6 seconds well with a well-produced bumper that leads viewers to your main ad campaign.
These small non-video ad popups appear to serve as unobtrusive calls to action. They do not play before, mid-roll, or after a YouTube video like most of the examples in this list but instead are only accessible through clicking the “i” icon in the top-right corner on a YouTube video screen.
Once users click the “i” icon, clickable sponsor cards slide out to entice the users with your choice of call-to-action. These sponsored card ads are barely noticeable and are rarely clicked by YouTube users, and we think that the money you could be spending in this aspect of YouTube advertising might be better off spent in other types of YouTube ads that will garner you more reach.
The prevailing trends of YouTube see sponsored card slots used by YouTube content creators as another avenue for their viewers to go see other videos from the same creators.
These are clickable non-video ad boxes that show up on the bottom of a YouTube video screen. They are somewhat transparent and are laid over a video with the option to close the overlay ad by clicking the X icon.
These overlay ads are simple and effective and YouTube allows content in these popups to be text, images, or a combination.
They are somewhat unobtrusive and will be able to display your message to your target audience for the duration of the video a user is watching or until that user clicks the “X” icon.
These are the virtual YouTube equivalent of the classified ad space in a newspaper. These non-video display ads are seen on the upper right-hand side on top of the suggested/related videos. They are somewhat small but big enough to contain your brand’s name, some imagery, more info in text form, and a clickable call-to-action.
This form of ad is compact, unobtrusive, and the clicks you will garner will almost only include interactions from genuinely interested YouTube users and will convert to actual business for your brand.
Now that you have a clearer picture of what YouTube advertising is; its cost and the types of ads you could use for your brand, it is time to create a YouTube ad campaign. Here is a comprehensive step-by-step guide on how to do just that.
This is ground zero for your YouTube ad campaign. You will not be going anywhere with regards to advertising on YouTube if you don’t create a Google Ads account and a YouTube channel for your brand. You can’t have just one. You will have to have both to get you started.
You need not be intimidated by this part of your ad campaign because you should be able to decide exactly how much you will want to spend on your YouTube ad campaign. YouTube recommends an average budget of $20 per day and if a view will cost you $0.20, then your daily $20 budget will get you a considerable reach.
When you are satisfied with your budget allocations, then it is time to launch your YouTube ad campaign!
Here are 3 simple reasons why YouTube Ads will be great for your brand:
Succeeding in YouTube Video Advertising may not be too intuitive for beginners at first that’s why we have here a comprehensive list of tricks and tips to have the best YouTube ad campaigns you can have.
Hire professionals to write, produce, and shoot your video ad. Work closely with these professionals so your vision for your brand and business gets properly translated into a video ad for your YouTube ad campaign.
Hire an ad agency for your regular advertising needs. Hire a YouTube ad agency for your YouTube advertising needs.
YouTube Ads is as powerful as any marketing tool on the internet. Taking advantage of this modern marvel is a fairly easy way any brand can use to get ahead in the advertising game.