ube Ads: Get maximum impact for minimal cost

At SMX Advanced, advertisers were shown how they can improve their YouTube marketing strategy with tried and tested, cost-effective, high-impact methods.

According to digital advertising expert Corey Henke, the secret to creating a high-reach and low-cost environment, as well as making campaigns more successful, lies in four specific variables.

Get high-impact campaigns at low cost

Marketers should focus on four factors as their top priorities:

• Ad Type/ Bid Type: Henke emphasized that these fields were the most important variables, and encouraged marketers to make use of new ad formats. He noted that he had personally experienced tremendous success using YouTube’s newly-launched video ads in-feed. Henke also emphasized the importance of selecting the right bid type to optimize your campaign.
• There is a wide range of creative variables. Advertisers must test carefully. The length of the video is a good place to start but you should also consider creative variables. Henke suggested looking at things like male versus woman, actors, intros, music, product demonstrations versus funny and more.
• Target With intent:Research, strategize and grow your YouTube audience with detailed demographics. Henke believes that this approach will help marketers improve their performance.
• Data Analysis

Henke added

• I think this is the best approach for low-cost, high-reach campaigns.”

How to maximize your advertising budget

Researchers have studied various types of advertising to determine their effectiveness. The most scalable solution:

• Skippable Video Ads: Play Before, During or After Videos. The video can be skipped after five seconds.
• Ads that cannot be skipped: These are ads of 15 seconds or less, which play before, during or after the video. This content cannot be skipped by viewers.
• Bumper Video Ads:Six second or less and played before, during or following another video. This ad is not skippable by viewers.

YouTube recently gave priority to these ad formats while deprioritizing longer forced content. According to Henke they also have the largest inventory.

• YouTube is the most cost-effective platform for marketers.

YouTube Bid Types – Get TV-Level Results

The right bid type will help marketers reach the same volume of success as TV on YouTube. The bid type best suited to your campaign depends on the goals and objectives of your brand. Henke compared two types of bids:

• Primary desktop bid types: Direct Response Bid Types
• Branding bid types: Minimal desktop

CPM (cost-per-mile), conversion rate, view rate and CPC (cost-per click) are the main differences between the two options. Henked said:

• “You will use conversion campaigns if you want someone to fill out a questionnaire or purchase a product.
• “There are many ways to reach large numbers of users for minimal costs within CPM and cost-per-view campaigns. You have your bumpers and non-skippables. Your in-stream will be your skippables. And how do they compare?
• “Non-skippables” doesn’t have any views because no one is able to make it past 30 second. Either 15 seconds or less. They only get impressions, but at a lower CPM. If you do in-stream, which can be skipped, you will get more views for the app and also the number of people who make it beyond 30 seconds.
• I think YouTube understands who will convert.

Create a variation that has maximum impact

Marketers can choose from a variety of ad formats, and users are able to consume them in different ways. Henke talked about the benefits of feed ads, non-skippables and skippables as well as stories, reels, and live television. He said that non-skippable and skippable ads are both great options due to the attention they attract – but he prefers skippable because it has unlimited links.

• “With unlimited links, you can engage a user for a long time. We’re seeing that users are spending more time on their own platforms, rather than the websites of brands. Henke explained that the ability to optimize creatives for view rates and have unlimited links is our biggest advantage.

Henke encourages advertisers to test different video ad formats in order to determine if this is the best option for their campaign. Henke pointed out that people are more likely to complete 2 minutes 24 ads than any other option.

• This is an enormous opportunity. On average, users spend about one minute with your ad – some more and some less. The long form offers the best value because it has a low CPC and a high view rate.

The retargeting and targeting of advertising are “huge opportunities”

Marketers will have an advantage if they can identify the user’s intent through thorough research. This will help them better understand consumers who may be interested in your product or service. Brands that want to increase their reach should consider retargeting.

Henke, reflecting on his own targeting and retargeting approach, revealed that his favorite tool for targeting is the detailed demographic report. This report focuses on age and gender, parental status, and household income.

He said that combining creative with demographics will maximize success.

• These variables, when combined, give you an unique view of which audience converts the best. You can then segment that audience. You should be able to see faster results when you are able to segment instantly. “This is why it’s so important to segment, creative, bid type, and ad types in order to create a high-reach, low-cost environment,” Henke explained.

In-feeds: A successful solution

Google Ads has launched a new product called In-feeds, which is one of the most significant changes since bumpers were introduced five years ago.

In-feed advertisements appear in YouTube’s personalized stream and allow the user to click on the thumbnail ad while the video autoplays. In-feed ads have several advantages over shorts, including:

• More Impressions
• Views Increased
• Spending on Higher Education
• Longer ad length
• Unique Call to Action
• Face to camera authority
• Automatic playback in the feed
• Top of the feed placement for premium content

• “I believe the real value is getting more views that are earned. Henke stated that this is a clear indication that the audience we have is of high quality.

YouTube credit tips

In order to make the right decisions and adjustments, it’s crucial to know what caused your campaign to succeed or fail.

Consider the Halo Effect. Henke offers some implementation strategies in this article:

• Precision Targeting: “When I speak about precision targeting, it means looking at the detailed demographics and dialing in quickly because if you are hitting your target audience they will make Halo Effect type user behaviors. Meaning they’ll go and search,” explained he. They’ll go to a different platform to find your brand, such as Instagram or LinkedIn. They will do other things, which don’t always involve a click. It’s very important. You want to attract your target audience. Check your placement report and make sure that your ads are not running on children’s channels, but that they are mostly running where you want them.
• 
  Trend Analysis
  
  Each advertiser will have a different experience. What is the experience of creative compared to a first-time visit on a website? Second, how would your video compare with someone visiting your website for a first time? Henke said:
  • “I think that your video is competitive and could possibly provide a better experience, because it’s on a platform and in long form.”

Getting started

Are you ready to start using Henke’s low-cost, high-reach approach to YouTube Ads now? What Henke suggested is:

• Targeting “Dialing in those combination audiences right out of the gate,” said he.
• Device : For high reach it is advised to exclude computers, tablets and mobile phones – however, keep them in if your goal is to convert users immediately. He said: “This is a low-cost, high-reach strategy. We’ll probably pay a premium price for these devices.”
• Type of bid This should either be CPV (CPV) or CPM (CPM).
• Ad variation and length:As an overall rule, the longer your ad is, the more effective it will be for your campaign. Henke stressed that it is important to do your own research in order to find what works best for you and your brand. He said that it could unlock some good costs.
• Ad Type: Limit your ad type to in-feed ads, skippable ads, non-skippable ads, or shorts.

The article YouTube ads: High impact for minimal cost first appeared on Search Engine Land.