With Facebook Ads and AdWords, it’s easy to forget there are other forms of advertising online. One of the more often overlooked forms of advertising is through YouTube.

YouTube should definitely be a serious contender in your advertising strategy. YouTube boasts over 1 billion unique users every month. That’s some serious audience you could be reaching. Furthermore, visual content is continuing to rise in popularity. People already spend hours consuming visual content every day. Why not take advantage and raise awareness of your brand?

If you’ve thought about advertising through YouTube before, but don’t know where to start - don’t worry! We’ve got all of your questions answered.

What type of advertising can you do?

YouTube offers various types of advertising for you to choose from:

• Display ads: this ad appears on the right-hand side of the video you’re on, above your video suggestions.
• Overlay ads: this ad pops up over the bottom 20% of your video.
• Skippable video ads: this is a video ad that plays before the video the viewer selected to watch. This can generally be skipped after 5 seconds.
• Sponsored cards: this is content that is relevant to the video playing. It will appear as a card for a few seconds, and then viewers can click the top right hand corner to browse the card.
• Non-skippable video ads: in the same format as skippable video ads, but unable to be skipped. Viewers will have to watch a 6 second “bumper” ad, or a 30 second ad. Note that YouTube is removing non-skippable video ads in 2018 to increase the user experience.  

Who will see the ads?

Before you start any advertising, you want to have a target market. After all, if you’re investing money in advertising, you want to make sure you’ll be getting a good return on investment. It will also mean you can more accurately tailor your marketing material and receive more views and clicks.

To do this, you should build a Buyer Persona. This should include demographic information such as age, gender, salary and location, to name a few. You also want to know information such as their interests, what else they are subscribed to, what are their influences and what keywords do they use. This will help you to target a more accurate audience and will have more success with your ads.     

How much does it cost?

YouTube is a pay per view system, so you only pay if someone watches your entire ad. If they skip your ad before 30 seconds, you don’t have to pay. Your daily budget is completely up to you, so you can spend as little or as much as you like. YouTube advertising doesn’t have to be completely unaffordable.

How do I set up ads for YouTube?

So you’re convinced it’s worth making ads for YouTube - great! There are a few steps to complete before you grab a camera and start making your ad.

First, you’ll need to create a Google AdWords account. You need to make sure your AdWords and YouTube accounts are linked. Navigate to the “Linked YouTube accounts” section to do this.

Once you’ve done this, navigate to the AdWords dashboard and click on “+Campaign.” Next, give your campaign a name, and select which type of format you want your ad to run - in-stream or video discovery ads, or bumper ads.

Under general settings, you can select the budget for your ad. It’s a good idea to start small, you don’t want to blow out your budget right away, especially if you’re new to YouTube advertising.

You’ll also be able to set which geographic location your locations will be shown. This can be as specific as post codes, or cities, regions, or countries. The more specific you go, the better, as you’ll be able to tailor your content specifically for a certain region. Make sure you also select which network your ad will run in, with options including YouTube Search or YouTube Videos.

You can even use advanced settings to choose what days and what time your ads run. Consider when your target audience is most likely to be online - chances are they won’t be on YouTube during work hours. If you’re targeting a specific geographical area, you can also turn off advertising overnight.

If you want, you can also include “device targeting”, which allows you to target people using a specific device - desktop, laptops, mobiles, tablets. If you know your audience are all using mobiles, then why not use device targeting.  

How do I make a YouTube ad?

Once you have these settings in place, it’s time to make your YouTube ad. Make sure to take a look at Google’s video ad requirements before starting to create your ad.  

Things to consider including in your ad include:

• A clear story: make sure you have a script for your ad and it has a clear story that plays out from start to end.
• A call to action: what action do you want viewers to take? Visit your website? Sign up to emails? Purchase an item from your sale? Whatever it is, make sure it is communicated clearly, so people know what you expect them to do, and you have a good conversion rate.
• About your business: if you’re wanting to raise awareness, let the audience know a bit about your business. When did it start, what did you do, how are you helping the community. Don’t leave viewers questioning who you are and what you do.
• Demonstrations: if you’re selling a product, consider including a demonstration. Seeing the before and after helps to prove your product works and achieves the desired results.        

Now all you have to do is let your creativity shine and start making your business’ YouTube ad! Once your ad is up and running, remember to use YouTube Analytics, and track your data. This will ensure your campaign performs well and you get the best possible results.