Why You Need to Invest in Video Ads (and How to Do It)

Video and marketing go together like macaroni and cheese. Google says over 500 million hours of video are watched every day via YouTube, with more than half of all online video being viewed on mobile devices. In short, it’s no secret that video is big, and it’s only going to get bigger.

But just because people love video, there are no guaranteed successes in marketing. Creating videos for your brand requires time and effort; how can you be sure it isn’t going to waste? This blog outlines the need-to-know and good-to-know on why you should invest in video ads.

Why Is Video Advertising Important?

By the time you have finished reading this sentence, users around the world will have uploaded 8 hours of YouTube videos

You read that right. YouTube is the number one online video site and second largest search engine (behind Google). It allows users and brands to share a wide range of videos such as movie trailers, cover songs, fashion vlogs and the ever-popular dog-as-human videos.

Boasting a 44% year-on-year increase in the number of people watching YouTube per day since March 2014 and reaching more 18 to 49-year-olds than any broadcast or cable network combined, it’s no surprise that YouTube is playing an increasingly important role in the marketing mix.

Why Do Businesses Need to Invest in Video?

TrueView advertising is a perfect way to increase your brand awareness and reach an audience who are already searching for – or show an interest in – content similar to your brand.

The beauty of TrueView is that you can target the right audience and not show your ads to viewers who won’t be interested in your brand; you will be able to promote your brand in a softer and more positive way without coming across “spammy”.

Additionally, you can control your budget with pay-per-view ads (you only pay when someone views your ad) and measure your success using a range of insightful metrics such as YouTube Analytics. You can target the right audience at the right time through various targeting methods, such as demographics, placements and/or affinity audiences. Once enforcing engagement and brand lift, you can retarget your viewers using video remarketing lists to improve ROI.

The Effects of YouTube

YouTube ads don’t just make consumers want to purchase a product; they also influence viewers throughout the decision-making process. Consumers use YouTube ads to uncover new brands, discover new products and aid purchase decisions; they then come back to learn more.

Along with paid search and Google Shopping, video ads have a massive effect on social media. Facebook is rated as the social channel on which videos have the highest impact – users watch eight billion videos per day on average. People who see video ads online and find them interesting or valuable may share with their friends or followers on social media – this phenomenon can increase your video’s exposure exponentially.

Story Telling with YouTube Ads

It’s possible to use video campaigns intelligently to tell a joined-up story about your brand, products or services. Pair bumper ads with TrueView or Google Preferred campaigns to drive incremental brand reach and impact.

Tease

Tease a brand announcement with bumper ads and then tell the whole story with full-length videos upon launch. The process should look something like this:

1. Creative

Spotlight a few different product features, characters, spokespeople, etc. from the forthcoming full ad campaign with a collection of bumper ads.

2. Targeting

Reach a core audience using behavioural targeting such as:

• Demographic
• Affinity or custom affinity audiences
• In-market audiences
• Remarketing and similar audiences
• Leverage customer match to hit existing customer base
• Timing

Release bumper ads for 2-4 weeks prior to launching the TrueView campaigns.

Amplify

Looking to amplify the content you’ve created? Consider running bumpers and longer-form videos (TrueView and/or Google Preferred) together for incremental reach and brand impact, as follows:

1. Creative
2. Create “vignettes” from longer form ads that highlight the key message of the longer ad
3. Promote viral behaviour with hashtags and follow links
4. Targeting
5. To “Go Deep”: Target the same audience as TrueView campaigns to increase frequency and pair with Customer Match to re-engage existing base of customers

OR

• To “Go Wilde”: To maximise incremental reach, use similar targeting as TrueView campaigns and negatively remarket to TrueView viewers
• Timing
• Run bumper ads for the duration of TrueView campaigns

Echo

Tell the full story with a full-length video (TrueView or Google Preferred) then remarket to users with Bumper Ads for a follow-on message, call to action or update:

1. Creative
2. Echo visual theme of core campaign
3. Play off any campaign elements that went viral
4. Visually highlight new promotion, announcement, or CTA message
5. Targeting
6. To extend the life of your campaign, use similar targeting as TrueView/Google Preferred campaign
7. To cross/up-sell or announce a new promotion: Remarket to TrueView viewers, channel subscribers and site visitors and use customer match to target existing customers
8. Timing
9. Extend targeting and run Bumper ads 2-4 weeks after TrueView video

Introducing Epic Bumper Ads

Bumper ads were released in 2016 and play in-stream for a maximum of six seconds – they are entirely non-skippable. The beauty of this is that they are designed to generate maximum impact in a quick burst of branding, forcing advertisers to get their message across immediately.

They have been proven to increase unique reach and drive significant lift in ad recall. When married with longer formatted videos, we have seen significant improvements in reach and frequency.

Conclusion: Don’t Wait to Invest in Video

By the end of 2017, video will account for 74% of all online traffic. With Google’s future plans to combine Google Search and Google Maps data to separate audiences, it’s important you get on the TrueView band-wagon sooner rather than later.

Remember to split-test the different ad formats TrueView offers and use YouTube Analytics to understand your audience and how they are engaging with your videos. As with any ad campaign, the key to success lies in targeting the right audience, with the right message, in the right way!