Working on planning your next video campaign? Wondering what tactics successful marketers implement when creating their YouTube pre-roll ads?
We all know that YouTube pre-roll ads are powerful. Audiences retain 95% of your message when they get it through video and 80% ad viewers remember content they’ve viewed within the last 30 days. YouTube ads can be personalized around your viewer’s interests and they can be modified to target viewers throughout all stages of the sales funnel.
Let’s go over how successful marketers are using YouTube:
1. Take full advantage of the first five seconds.
For longer pre-roll ads, viewers are able to skip them after the first five seconds. When creating video campaigns, successful marketers assume their viewers are definitely going to press that skip button once it pops up. So make sure you’re making the most of the first five seconds. Give them the most important information they need.
2. Guide viewers with a clear call to action.
Having a clear CTA is one of the main variables that can make or break an ad. You don’t have to come right out and tell viewers to buy your product, but actually encouraging them to interact with your ad makes them more likely to do so. If you don’t provide your viewers with an attention-grabbing CTA, it’s very likely that they might not get any further than simply viewing your ad. Directing them to your website to learn more about your business, or linking them to some of your other video content they might be interested in, are two good examples.
3. Track viewers for remarketing.
When you’re building your ad, you want to make sure you’re targeting your ideal customers. But don’t stop there. Make sure to include tracking pixels on any pages that you’re linking viewers to with your CTA. This way you can follow up on these viewers with remarketing. Say you implemented an awareness-level ad that included a CTA to click on a link to a landing page with more information. That landing page should have a tracking pixel. Now you can retarget the viewers who visited the landing page with a second video that goes into more detail about how they can benefit from your product or service.
4. Create ads with intent.
Many YouTube marketers are focusing on creating ad content based on the videos their viewers are already watching. This is because relevance is another major factor that can influence the success of your campaigns. 48% of US mobile users prefer seeing a pre-roll ad that is related to the content they are watching. For example, an ad for a skincare brand would be more successful if it was played before a beauty-related video. This can be accomplished with placement targeting on YouTube. Placement targeting allows marketers to target viewers based on what specific videos and channels they watch. Now your content is more relevant to your viewer and you’re reaching them at the moment of intent.
5. Use humor to acknowledge that your ad is a pre-roll ad.
Another rising tactic among marketers is acknowledging that your audience is essentially required to watch your pre-roll ad. Humor is in. Using a combination of placement targeting, and quickly pointing out that you know your viewer is being forced to watch your ad before their chosen video, is a fun and easy way to make your ad stand out and stick in their memory.
YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, so you want to make sure you’re taking full advantage of it when marketing for your business. Remember these tips while creating your next YouTube campaign!