In my last post, I explained the huge opportunity with Youtube advertising – how cheap clicks can be, and the relative ease of creating a green screen video.

 

In a quick recap, I explained that we have all seen Youtube ads at the beginning of a YT video – How it’s a win-win for both the marketer and the viewer because the viewer gets to skip the ad if they are not interested with no charge to the advertiser. But if they do watch the video until the end it means the viewer has decided to keep watching because the ad is of interest.

PPC with Youtube

 

So once you have carefully decided your script with your promotional video, and your best route you want to take with your ‘call-to-action’ with your ad. And have the final video product finished, what do you do next?

Firstly, you will need an Adwords account. I recommend starting off with a Gmail account, which makes creating a Youtube channel very easy along with a Business Google plus account (that’s another tutorial), but as a business owner exploring the realms of video marking, these accounts are essential. Once your account is set up, go to adwords.google.com/video to start your Youtube ads campaign. This is where your link your AdWords account to your Youtube account.

Before you start playing around with different demographics, you first need to have a clear understanding of what ‘keywords’ or search terms to target. These will help determine where your ads will be placed. I recommend starting with typing out on a notepad separated with a comma, all the different phrases a potential customer may be typing into Youtube that will probably be interested in your service or product.

From there you can go to the ‘Google keyword planner’

Sign in with your new Google account and copy and paste your keywords from your notepad into the keyword tool and see what other search phrases Google recommends (there are many youtube tutorials on this tool). This is a very important process that shouldn’t be rushed. Targeting the right keywords can be the difference between success or failure.

Make a spreadsheet of all your best keywords, taking note on monthly search volume (pay no attention to the cost per click because the Youtube clicks are much cheaper)

Next, go back to adwords.google.com/video and your interface will lead you to your different settings. There are many different variables to choose from. You will want to start with your daily budget. This means that once your limit is spent, your ads will be paused until the next day. Start off small to test the waters. A $20 daily budget should suffice to start with as long as you are not targeting a super competitive niche like ‘weight loss’ or ‘personal injury lawyer’

Choosing your demographics. This is where you should have a good understanding of your typical customer. Adwords lets you laser target these demographics so it’s important to spend some time doing some proper research first.  You can choose what country to target, what gender, age group interests and more. Its features like this that make television advertising look medieval.

Now it’s time to upload your promotional video ad from your Youtube account.

It is worth checking out the ‘advanced settings’. This lets you choose what time of the day you would like your ads to display. Try and think from a consumers point of view when they would more likely be viewing. As a default, I would generally recommend avoiding video placements late at night and the early hours of the morning.

Another great feature is being able to pre-choose the Youtube videos you want your ads to be placed on. So let’s say you are selling a new type of kitchen appliance, you would probably want your ads to be placed on popular cooking Youtube videos. You can pre-select these by doing some research first, and noting down the URL’s of the cooking videos that have the most sizable ‘views’. A cookery video with over a million views must be popular right? These are money videos you want to advertise on.

Finally, you might want to think about what devices to target. Adwords gives you the opportunity to target them all. If your target audience is younger, you may want to consider testing out only smartphones.

Of course, it’s all about testing, so don’t be afraid to tweak your settings. But be sure to give your ad some time to deliver solid results. A week between testing should be enough.

Remember, this wonderful new genre of advertising levels the playing field against corp giants who were the only ones who could afford TV advertising. So be patient and good luck.

Promotional Video