A Step By Step Guide to Advertising On YouTube

how to advertise on youtubeYouTube is the biggest video search engine; therefore, using it for advertising can bring your products and services in front of millions of eyeballs, thus resulting in more profits and a better awareness for your brand.

As YouTube belongs to Google, advertising on it is correlated with other services, such as AdWords.

By including this channel in your digital marketing plan, you’ll benefit from more exposure in the online environment, more qualified leads, and eventually, more sales.

This article is a step by step guide for business owners who want to learn how to advertise on YouTube.

Types of YouTube Advertising

YouTube advertising is not all the same. You can have four types of adverts: TrueView in-stream, TrueView in-slate, TrueView in-search, and TrueView in-display.

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In-stream ads are videos that forcefully start playing before another video. When users click to watch a video, they are shown an in-stream ad before. They have to watch the first five seconds of it, and after that, they are able to skip it if they want. You only pay for views that pass at least 30 seconds.

In-slate ads are inserted before videos that are at least 10 minutes long. You only pay for users who actually watch the video.

In-search ads appear just like AdWords ads appear in text searches. They are positioned either on top of the page or in the right sidebar ad they are clearly labeled as advertising. You pay only when a user watches your video.

In-display ads are shown on partner websites that display YouTube content. Here, you only pay for users who watch your ad.

How To Advertise on YouTube – Target Ads

Good marketers know that targeting is extremely important for the effectiveness of each and every advertising campaign, be it online or offline. YouTube offers advertisers the possibility of segmenting their target market according to demographic criteria, as well as by interest category, topic, or contextual keywords.

If you consider it useful, you can also use managed placements, which means you can choose your ads to be displayed on specific pages that convert well for you. There is also the option to exclude certain categories; therefore, you can easily avoid associating your brand with inappropriate topics or pages.

As an advertiser, you can choose which type of devices your ads will be showed on. If, for some reason, you don’t want them to show on mobiles, you can enable them on desktop computers and laptops only.

How To Start Advertising On YouTube

Each advertiser needs to have a YouTube channel. You don’t have to upload videos, but the channel is required for all types of adverts except for in-display ones.

When you create videos, you need to make sure they are compliant with the technical and editorial guidelines from Google AdWords. This is the main requirement. Regarding the video quality, you don’t need special equipment; you can shoot ads with your mobile phone if you wish, but you do need a steady hand to avoid the image from shaking.

When producing your videos, it’s useful to draw a storyboard first so that you have a clear picture of how the story is going to flow. Don’t forget to add a call to action because you are making an advertisement and not an entertaining video for your audience. Product demonstrations are also very useful, especially if your product isn’t something everybody knows how to use.

After you’ve got your ads, you need to set them up in video campaigns in Google AdWords. Re-marketing campaigns are also a good idea because they bring back users who visited your page but did not buy anything.

AdWords will provide you data about your campaigns. By studying it, you’ll be able to fine-tune your ads and your campaigns for being more focused and for making more profits. By signing into your channel, you’ll have access to YouTube Analytics, the tool that gives you precious information about your visitors and their behavior.

You’ll be able to learn how users discovered your videos, which parts of your ads engage the audience most, and which videos were the best in driving people to subscribe to your channel.

By continuously analyzing your YouTube advertising campaigns, you’ll be able to optimize them for maximum performance and profits.

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