Advertising on the 2^nd biggest website in the world is a dream for most marketers. Even if you are a small business, you have the chance to reach out to the best buyer persona for your products with Youtube Ads.

But it requires the right knowledge to create the right ad campaign. We agree that art is a key element in advertising but never overlook the science part. Otherwise, your ad spent can go down the drain.

Fortunately, in this guide, you’ll get to know everything about YouTube Ads.

So without further delay, let’s get started!

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Types of YouTube Ads

Before you start targeting the 2 billion logged-in monthly users of YouTube, let’s explore the different types of YouTube ads that you can create:

1. Skippable in-stream Youtube ads

These ads run before or during a video. Viewers can skip them after 5 seconds. You are charged only if the viewer decides to watch it after the first 5 seconds.

2. Non-skippable in-stream Youtube ads (including bumper ads)

According to a report by IPG, 76% of people skip the ads. So it’s a good idea to run ads that can’t be skipped. But do this only if your goal is brand awareness and when you are 100% confident about your ad.

3. Video discovery Youtube ads (formerly known as in-display ads)

Discovery ads show up alongside organic search results. They are a good reminder that YouTube is a search engine as well.

4. Non-video Youtube ads (i.e., overlays and banners)

You also have the following options for creating non-video ads on YouTube:

Display ads: They appear on the right-hand sidebar and include an image and text. They also have a CTA with a link to your website.

In-video overlay ads: appear floating on top of video content from monetized YouTube channels.

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Advertising on YouTube

1. Create Your Campaign

Select New Campaign by signing into your Google Ads account.

Then, select your campaign goal. It can be sales, leads, or website traffic. Choose whatever suits your needs.

After that, select your campaign type as a video. In some cases, you’ll need to select discovery campaigns to reach out to more audiences.

If the campaign type is video, select your video campaign subtype. And then, name the ad. It will help you to manage it in the future.

2. Define Your  Campaign Parameters

In this step, you’ll select a bid strategy that will be determined by the campaign type. After that, it’s the simple things as budget, audience’s language, location, and where the ads will show up.

3. Target Your Audience

Have you created your buyer persona yet? If not, then create it immediately because it will help in creating targeted campaigns with great ROI. The buyer persona is a representation of your ideal buyer.

One pro tip is that you should keep different buyer persona ready all the time. It will help in different marketing campaigns, let alone YouTube Ads.

4. Set Your Campaign to Live

Finally, enter the link to your ad, and hit the Create Campaign button to set your campaign running.

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YouTube Advertising Best Practices

Start a Channel

Yes, you heard that right. It’s not about creating one ad and sitting idle again. Work on building a channel for your brand. This will let people know that you are serious about your business.

Create an ideal environment for people on your channel. It depends on what kind of business you are. But remember that YouTube is a part of your overall marketing strategy.

Grab Their Attention, Immediately

Think of an ad that really hooked you. It might be in which a man was carrying a dozen books in his hands and saying that these books changed his life. Or it might be when a woman grabbed your attention by telling you how you can increase your productivity 10 times.

Take inspiration from these kinds of examples and come up with an intro that will hook viewers fast.

Share Your Brand

The ad should be about how your products or services will solve people’s problems. That doesn’t mean you should avoid bringing your brand in. Just remember that customers are more important than the brand.

Touch the Emotions

Analytics are critical, but at the end of the day, it depends on how your ads connect with people. So keep a balance between stats and emotions.

Telling a story is very important. In fact, some ad geniuses believe that if you tell more, you sell more. So, don’t try to be brief about the story. Tell them how much you want to tell and take risks.

Show Them the Next Step

The purpose of an ad is to compel people to action. Do this at the end of each ad. Even if it’s a step-by-step procedure, show it to them.

Final Words on Youtube Ads…

You have realized the importance of video in your content strategy. Every day, more people are switching to video as their favorite type of content. Arguably, the most important platform for video marketing is YouTube.

YouTube Ads are more targeted and less competitive than Google Ads. The reason is that they are relatively new as compared to print or web banners, but people are focusing more on running video ad campaigns every day.

This article was meant to help you with creating YouTube ads. Hopefully, you liked the strategies that we shared today.

If you want to share something about running ads on YouTube, let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear it!

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