Marcel Sattler is an entrepreneur and Founder of an agency. He is the brain behind many profitable brands with his sustainable strategy.
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Let’s be completely honest: In the last few years, everybody has been talking about Facebook ads, how well they work and how brilliant the algorithm is. Most of this is true, but as we’ve seen in the past, Facebook has a dark side, including fake news and questionable dealings with advertisers.
Instead of focusing only on Facebook, it is time to think outside the box. This article shows the possibilities that exist with YouTube Ads, something our agency uses quite a bit for our own business and our clients.
YouTube works great if you sell stuff online or want to generate leads. In this article, I’ll give you a quick overview of the power of YouTube Ads in 2021.
1. YouTube is relevant for many different audiences.
Founded in February 2005, YouTube has become one of the most popular sites on the web. With more than 1.9 billion monthly active users, it’s likely your audience is already engaged with the video platform.
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A lot of different customer groups search for a solution or follow industry influencers on the video platform. To research if your audience is on YouTube, you have multiple options. You can:
1. Use a keyword research tool for YouTube like keywordtool.io and search for keywords in your niche.
2. Search for influencers or channels in your industry.
Whether you sell stuff online, need app installs or want to generate leads, it is possible to drive conversions with YouTube Ads.
2. It’s the world’s second-largest search engine.
Behind Google, YouTube is the second-largest search engine with billions of searches per month. Brands should use this to their advantage — especially if you have a product or service that fixes a problem.
Think about what problem or desire your product or service solves and use that for keywords that people are searching for.
Here is a quick example: If you sell shoe insoles and help with back pain, then either “shoe insoles” or a broader term like “back pain” may be relevant.
3. The platform offers information and entertainment instead of feeds.
When people open the YouTube app on their smartphones or tablets, they use it to get entertainment or further educate themselves. Users are ready to spend the next minutes or hours on YouTube.
Compare this with Facebook or Instagram, which is an entirely different approach. Most people are opening these apps to chat with their friends and family or scroll through the feeds while waiting for the bus. Often, they do not want to invest time into the platforms — it is merely a matter of passing the time.
4. It includes simple campaign management via Google Ads.
Google bought YouTube in 2006. This means that you can create, monitor and manage your YouTube ads through the Google Ads website or the mobile app. If you already run Google Search Ads, Display or Shopping ads, it will be easy for you to run YouTube ads.
5. There are different types of campaigns for your goal.
You can run different types of ads on YouTube. Here is a quick overview:
• In-Stream ads: Most people are familiar with in-stream ads. They run before a video starts, and you can skip the ad after five seconds.
• Discovery ads: Discovery ads are also often mentioned as “TrueView Video discovery ads” and are often shown in the search results and watch pages.
• Bumper ads: Bumper ads are short videos — they are not longer than six seconds — and viewers can’t skip these ads.
Long story short, there are several target projects for advertisers that serve different purposes. In-stream ads are often very good for conversions, while bumper ads are more suitable for growing a YouTube channel.
6. There are different ways to target your audience.
The possibilities to target audiences are exciting. There are three ways in which you can use targeting on YouTube:
• Keywords: Keywords work like a regular Google search. Someone types in a keyword you want to rank for and your ad will be shown.
• Placements (videos, channels): With Placements, you can run your ad in front of a dedicated video or on a channel — for example, from an important influencer of your niche or your competitor.
• Audiences (affinity and in-market): Affinity and in-market audiences are ready-to-use audiences by Google. With affinity audiences, you reach people based on their specific interests. With in-market audiences, you reach people who actively research or compare products and services across the Google network.
You can use one way to target your audience or all of these possibilities together to create a highly relevant target for your ad.
7. YouTube ads are easy to produce.
Maybe you think that YouTube ads are interesting but you can’t afford professional equipment. Here is some good news for you: Your smartphone is more than good enough to create a YouTube ad.
The most modern smartphones like the iPhone have 4K cameras and good sound quality. YouTube is an amateur platform. Therefore, amateur-style ads work well — sometimes much better than a fancy, spectacular ad. If you have a smartphone, you are ready to go for your first ad.
Take Action Now
There are a lot of changes in the advertising world. YouTube can be a significant and profitable traffic source for you, but you can only find out if you test it.
You don’t need expensive equipment or Hollywood-style cameras. Find a YouTube tutorial on how to get the most out of your smartphone camera and start your first YouTube ad.
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Author: Marcel Sattler, Forbes Councils Member
