YouTube Ads: Why and How to Make them!

If a picture worths a thousand words, then imagine how much a video can say about you and your business, as long as it’s smart and well shot!

Audience: as said before YouTube is a platform with billions, who are ready to consume audio-visual material either to be entertained, to be informed, or just to relax. With the right targeting, surely within this audience you can find many customers for your products and services.

• Sales: 70% of YouTubers have bought a product they’ve seen in a YouTube ad at least once!
• Corporate Identity: A YouTube video is a unique way not only to increase your sales, but also to communicate your philosophy and corporate identity.

Remarketing: On YouTube you have the opportunity to run remarketing ads that can be shown either to users who have already interacted with your content, or on Google’s Display Network.

The first thing that probably comes to mind when you think of an ad on YouTube are the skip button ads that play at the beginning of a video. However, there are other types of advertising that we will analyze below:

TrueView Ads
Unskippable ads
Bumper Ads
Overlay ads

Unskippable ads are the ones that “force” users to watch them to the end. They are relatively short lasting from 15 to 30 seconds. These ads usually play before the video (pre-roll), but can also be inserted in the middle (mid-roll) or at the end.

The billing method for this ads is per thousand views and are the ideal choice if you want to immediately present your business to a large audience, using a short and powerful video whose message will be immediately perceived!

Bumper ads have an even shorter duration than the previous category (only 6 seconds). They are usually shown at the beginning of a video and are also costed per 1000 views. If you decide to use a bumper ad you must keep in mind that the time you have to communicate your message is very short, which means that the production of the ad must be done keeping in mind from the start that it is intended for the bumper ad format.

Overlay ads are only available for desktop and laptop screens. In overlay ads, the text and image of the ad play like banners in the form of dynamic text and image.

How do I advertise on YouTube?

To run an ad on YouTube there are two basic conditions. You must first have a YouTube account to upload your ad video. You must also have a Google Ads advertising account in order to create your campaign, but also to have access to all the data regarding its progress.

It is understandable that creating an advertisement on YouTube may seem to you a rather difficult task, which requires the handling of a professional marketer, and you are partially right. Turning to an experienced digital agency that is a certified Google Partner will surely save you from unnecessary effort and money, as you will not be wasted on unnecessary tests.

Sign in to your Google Ads account and choose to create a new campaign.

You will then be asked to choose the goal of your campaign from the 7 options that Google Ads gives you:

1. Sales
2. Potential customers
3. Website traffic
4. Research product and brand data
5. Brand recognition and reach
6. Application promotion
7. Create a campaign without the guidance of a goal

You will then be asked to select the type of campaign you will run and here as you can imagine you will have to click on the “Video” option. Then you have to choose an ad type from those analyzed above

Note: Display ads can also appear on the YouTube platform, but of course they are not in the form of video but dynamic text and image.

In this step you should customize your YouTube ad! The variables you will be asked to specify are the following:

Bidding Strategy: Your bidding strategy will be determined primarily by the type of campaign you are running (i.e. whether it is targeting conversions, clicks or impressions)

Budget: Here you can choose how much money you want to spend either per day or once for the entire duration of the campaign.

Location: Here you choose the location where you want your ad to be played (country, state, city). You still have the opportunity to set a kilometer radius from your business.

Audience: In other words, who would you like to show your ad to (Users can be targeted based on age, gender, interests and searches).

Content Exclusions: Excluding parts of the audience you don’t want your ad to appear on e.g. guys, you can save a large part of your advertising budget.

We’ve reached the final step before publishing your ad! Here you select the video you want to promote by copying its URL in the corresponding field. By clicking the “Save” option, your ad will pass Google’s quality control and start serving!