About 2 years ago,
I started testing YouTube ads and I quickly
discovered that one ad format, In-Stream ads, performed very well. The
other two options, In-Search and In-Display, are great if all you care about
are increasing your YouTube video view count. But if you want to
drive leads and sales for your business, then you’ll want to stick to In-Stream
ads.
An In-Stream ad is just
like a TV ad that you probably see every day, but instead of streaming on your
TV, the ad is displayed before someone watches a video online. If you’ve
ever watched a YouTube video and noticed an ad played right before the video
you wanted to watch, then you experienced a YouTube In-Stream ad.
There are obviously a
lot of similarities between YouTube video ads and TV, but there are also some
important differences that in my opinion make YouTube video ads a far better
option for many small businesses. Let’s take a closer look at 7 of these
differences.
#1: Pay Per (Actual) View Of Your Ad
Imagine advertising on
TV and you only had to pay when a prospect actually watched the entire ad.
If anyone fast forwarded (skipped) your ad, then you wouldn’t pay a
penny.
Sounds too good to be
true when you’re thinking about buying TV ad spots. However, this is
exactly how YouTube In-Stream ads work. You only pay for actual views of
your ad!
After 5 seconds, your prospects have the option to click “Skip
This Ad” and when that happens the advertiser is not charged for
the ad spot. We’re talking about literally only paying for views of your
ad.
Clearly, that reduces a
lot of the risk to give this a try. But it gets even better…
#2: No Minimum Investment To Start
In addition to only paying
for views of your ad, there’s also no minimum investment. With
traditional TV advertising and media buying, you’ll have to invest thousands
upfront to lock in your air time. Unless you have a proven ad campaign,
there’s a ton of risk to test TV ads.
But again, with YouTube
video ads, there’s no minimum to get started.
There also isn’t too much
competition (yet) for these ad spots so the costs are still pretty low. In the
markets we’ve tested, for about 10 cents you can get a real view of your ad, which
means a couple hundred bucks will allow you to reach 2,000 prospects. I’m
not saying $200 is necessarily enough for a real test, but you get the idea.
Compared to TV, YouTube video ads are going to be much less expensive to
get started.
#3: Precision Targeting Options
One of my favorite
things about online advertising is all the different targeting options.
You’ve got the basics like demographics, geography, and time of day. Then
you’ve got contextual targeting so you’re showing your ads before relevant
YouTube videos. And finally, you can layer on more advanced targeting
options like retargeting and
interest targeting, based on your prospects’ historical browsing behavior.
If you know exactly who
your ideal customer is, then chances are very good that you can target them
with YouTube video ads.
#4: More Ad Reach
This one may come as a
surprise. According to a Nielson report, YouTube reaches more US adults
(18 – 34 years old) than ANY cable network. Therefore, advertising in YouTube
may actually give you more ad reach than a TV commercial.
Plus, think about user
behavior on this media. My wife and I have a few TV shows we like to
watch throughout the year, but we rarely watch them during their regularly
scheduled airing. We record them. Then when our kids, Violet and Emmett,
are in bed and we have some free time, we watch the show. We
rarely watch the commercials because we can fast forward through them.
With YouTube video ads,
your prospects can still skip your ads, but only after watching 5 seconds of
your ad. That means you could have a better shot at capturing your
prospects’ attention with a YouTube video ad than with TV.
#5: Easier for Your Prospects to Take Action
This is a huge
difference. When you see a TV ad for a product or service you need right
now, then what are your options to take action? You have to go find your
phone and call the business if the time of day is appropriate. Or you can
go find your tablet, computer, or mobile device to load up the company website.
Or you can get off your couch and go to the actual store or office.
All 3 of those options
require a fairly big step. Let’s compare that to YouTube video ads…
For your prospect to
take action on a video ad, she has to muster up the strength to move her mouse
over the video ad (if it’s not already there) and then click. After
clicking on the ad, your prospect will visit your ad’s landing page where you
can further explain your offer and ideally collect contact information or
generate a sale. Since video ads are online, it’s just a whole lot easier
to get your prospects to take action.
#6: Easier for You to Track Your ROI
Again, since video ads
are online and your prospect can take action online, it’s easier for you to
track your return on investment (ROI). Within your YouTube ad dashboard,
you’ll see how many people saw your ad, how many clicked through to your
landing page, and if you have conversion tracking installed, then you’ll see
how many completed your webform or placed an online order.
With TV ads, it’s
obviously not that simple.
#7: Free Organic Ad Impressions
Finally, with video
advertising on YouTube, you get the additional benefit of free organic ad
impressions. Since the ad is hosted on YouTube like any other video, then
it has a chance to rank in YouTube’s search results (by the way YouTube is the
2nd largest search engine so this can be significant free traffic). Also,
your video has a chance to be displayed and clicked on for free as a related
video along the right column when prospects are watching other videos.
And the last, but not least, video ads can be easily shared with friends online by posting to social media or via email. All of these examples give your advertisement even more exposure at absolutely no additional cost. Who doesn’t love free exposure? :)
