Introduction To YouTube Advertising For Lead Gen Agencies

So, you want to learn how to advertise on YouTube, ey?

If not, why not? Here’s an introduction to YouTube advertising for lead generation agencies (or anyone, really).

My next post is going to be more about the technical stuff but. For now, I’ll tell you why advertising on YouTube is 100% a fabulous idea for everybody and anybody (and especially lead generation agencies).

First off, some stats.

YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the planet, just after Google.
YouTube has 1.5 billion active users
Users make about 3 billion searches per month (that’s more than Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and Ask.com combined)
300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
YouTube streams 1 billion hours of video to users every day.

(Psst: Google actually owns YouTube, so the platform’s video content ranks on Google pretty well).

As you can see, YouTube is a force to be reckoned with.

The Different Types of YouTube Ads

This article is gonna focus on TrueView ads, but there’s no harm in telling you the difference between the two main types.

First up, you’ve got non-skippable ads that make people watch them until the bitter, bitter end. These ads are limited to 15-20 seconds long.

On the one hand, these ads get a better engagement rate (you know, ‘cus if you want to watch the new Katy Perry music video, you don’t have any choice).

On the other hand, they also get a higher video abandonment rate.

If you use this type of ad, you need to make it entertaining. A poorly-targeted, annoying ad is just going to make people resent your brand.

That said, a funny or well-thought-out ad will get shared on social media as entertainment in its own right.

The other type of ad is called a skippable or TrueView ad.

YouTube doesn’t set a length for TrueView ads, so they can be as long as you like.

That said, users have the option to skip after 5 seconds. So, if you want to get their attention, do it quickly.

On the plus side, if you do manage to get past the infamous “skip” option, 72% of TrueView in-stream ads are watched to the end.

So, why is YouTube advertising a must?

#1 YouTube Advertising Is Harder To Break Into

Sound like a negative?

Nope.

Every man and his dog can log onto the Facebook platform and throw up a lead generation ad.

Thanks to Facebook’s new Dynamic Creative tool, it’s incredibly easy to make up to 6,250 ad combinations with just the following:

Text options x 5
Images x 10
Headlines x 5
Link descriptions x 5
CTA buttons x 5

A decent video ad is much more difficult and time-consuming to create, which is why many SMBs don’t bother.

Take the time to plan, film and edit a TrueView YouTube ad, and you’ll soon reap the rewards.

#2 YouTube Advertising Is More Consistent

While we suggest you change your Facebook creative every two weeks, a successful YouTube ad can run for months.

Even better, it can run for months with a consistent cost per lead. YouTube is the second biggest search platform in the world, and people are constantly searching for new solutions to their pain points.

Thanks to the nature of video search, your target audience is being continually refreshed. This means you can run ads at a great cost per lead for a very long time.

#3 It’s Easier To Get YouTube Ads Approved

Thanks to Facebook’s strict violations policy, it’s getting increasingly difficult to write ads that pass muster.

Google’s video ad requirements are more relaxed than Facebook’s, giving advertisers more of a free reign.

We’re sure that YouTube’s ad restrictions will grow tighter as the years go on but, for now, it’s the perfect opportunity to make video ads without jumping through hoops.

#4 YouTube Advertising Has Great Targeting Options

Five years ago, the Google AdWords platform was just plain confusing. To master it, it was almost as if you had to have a degree in computer science.

Luckily, Facebook’s user-friendly interface changed the game for Google AdWords. Not to lose out to another advertising platform, Google radically changed-up AdWords to stay in the competition.

Now, you can log into AdWords, click into Video Ads, and it’s so easy to break down interests, audiences, topics, keywords, custom intent, and the rest.