YouTube is one of the pioneer platforms when it comes to video sharing and social media. With over 247 million users in the U.S. alone, many marketers consider YouTube a powerhouse advertising platform due to its massive audience. If you’re looking to generate brand interest and uniquely connect with your customers, YouTube ads are a great option.
This article will discuss the several different YouTube ad types and how to create them. Let’s get started!
It’s worth familiarizing yourself with the six main YouTube ad types if you want to advertise on the platform. Let’s discuss each ad type in detail:
In-stream ads are YouTube ads that appear at the beginning, during, or after a video. For non-skippable in-stream ads, the ads have a 15-second duration, and viewers don’t have the option of skipping them.
Think of non-skippable in-stream ads as mini-commercials where you present your product/service as a viable solution to your customer’s pain points. Since viewers don’t have the luxury of skipping the ads, you benefit from increased ad exposure, making them ideal for generating brand interest.
As the name suggests, skippable in-stream ads are YouTube advertisements your viewers can skip. These ads have no duration limit, meaning you can create an ad that lasts anywhere from 15 seconds to 3 minutes (depending on the goal you want to achieve).
According to Google, skippable ads perform better when they’re under the 3-minute mark, so keep that in mind when creating them. Since viewers have the option of skipping your ad, you want to create an advertisement that hooks them up for the first 5 seconds of the video. These ad types are perfect for brand storytelling, lead generation, product awareness, and sales generation.
If you’ve seen a YouTube ad appear after typing in your search query, it’s mostly like an in-feed video ad. These ads revolve around keywords and appear whenever users type in relevant search terms.
The great thing about in-feed video ads is it connects you directly to your audience, who are more likely to watch your advertisement instead of in-stream ads that are more for the general public. In-feed ads are an excellent option if you have an upcoming product launch or want to spotlight a particular product/service.
Outseam ads often show up on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. These ads appear on publisher websites and apps that are part of Google video partners. Typically, outstream ads don’t run with audio, so you need to create an ad that delivers on the visuals to captivate your audience’s attention.
Brands use outstream ads to generate leads, sales, and web traffic.
Bumper ads are similar to non-skippable ads, except the video is only 6 seconds long. The short duration makes bumper ads excellent for brand recall, as businesses often use them to create strong, memorable messages. Bumper ads are the way to go in helping to generate brand awareness.
Looking for immediate brand recognition? If so, you may want to use masthead ads. Masthead ads display right on top of YouTube’s homepage, making them visible to every user even before they start searching for a video. The desktop version of these ads shows an information panel on the right side to lead users directly to your channel.
However, you can only use masthead ads by contacting a Google sales representative and working with their advertising team. These ads are very expensive, and only the big brands are usually capable of securing masthead ads for major advertising campaigns.
Now that you know the different YouTube ad types, let’s discuss how to create unique ads that help achieve your business goals.
Before you create a video ad, it helps to identify your main goal first. What do you want to achieve by using YouTube ads? Do you want to acquire new leads and send them to your website? Or do you want to drive interest for an upcoming product launch?
When creating a video campaign on YouTube, you have an option to choose the campaign goal from one of the following:
The content of your video ad should align with your goals to maximize its effectiveness, so plan accordingly prior to making YouTube ads.
Most small businesses don’t have an in-house production team to create YouTube ads. But you don’t need an expensive team to get started, as plenty of online tools are available to help you create eye-catching videos. Online video makers like Canva, Biteable, and Animoto are great examples where you can produce professional-looking advertising videos in a few simple steps.
Take advantage of these resources and read their tutorials to polish your ads to perfection.
You need to keep two things in mind when using YouTube ads. First is your budget, which will determine how often your ads appear on the app. Second is your bidding strategy, which will determine how your budget is spent.
When entering a budget for YouTube ads, you can choose between a Daily Budget and a Campaign Total Budget. The former will spend your budget faster when you get more clicks and conversions, while the latter will distribute your budget evenly throughout the campaign, depending on your ad’s performance.
The goal of every ad is to encourage the user to take action. With YouTube ads, you want to focus on using attention-grabbing headlines, strong call-to-actions, and other triggers that generate a response from the viewer.
A couple of things to consider when writing ad headlines are:
Creativity speaks volumes about the effectiveness of YouTube ads. If it’s your first time creating video ads, don’t worry. It’s the perfect opportunity for you to unleash your creative juices and resonate with your target audience. You can take inspiration from other brands and add your own flair to make it appealing.
The most important thing is to get a better understanding of their audience. What drives their interests? What form of communication do they prefer? These factors play a huge role in making your YouTube ads pop. Different brands use different visuals and tones to get their message across. Tinker around and find what works best for you and your audience.
We discussed only the surface of YouTube ads, as the advertising platform requires a great degree of knowledge and understanding to execute correctly. You can launch your first YouTube ads campaign and generate more brand awareness by conducting adequate research and a bit of trial and experimentation.
Hopefully, this introduction to YouTube ads gives you a basic understanding of each ad types and how you can leverage them for unique purposes.
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