How Small Businesses Can Successfully Use YouTube Ads to Boost Sales

If you think YouTube is only a video-sharing platform you’re mistaken; it’s the second most popular website in the world after Google. The platform is so popular and engaging that you simply can’t afford to ignore it from inclusion in your online marketing strategy.

A whopping 48% of marketers invest in YouTube ads. And it ranks as the third most preferred platform for paid social media marketing.

For small business owners, influencers, and marketers, YouTube offers unlimited opportunities to get their content in front of 126 million unique monthly viewers.

In this article, I’ll take you through interesting facts and share tips and tricks about how to boost sales using YouTube Ads.

Why YouTube Ads Works Great for Small Businesses

I love YouTube ads because they work so well for small businesses and influencers. If you’re looking for reasons to start with paid marketing on YouTube, here are five benefits you’ll find useful:

1. Low Advertising Cost

Advertising on YouTube is insanely affordable which makes it a preferred choice for small businesses. When running ad campaigns, you pay only for videos that users choose to watch and engage with. Deepening on ad goals and targeting, typical video ads on YouTube cost $0.10 to $0.30 per view.

2. Active Product Searches

According to Google, viewers are interested in watching videos on YouTube to purchase inspiration. This explains why there was a 2X increase in watch time for videos about “which product to buy” between 2017 and 2018.

That’s why small businesses and influencers who want to sell products should start running YouTube ads.

3. Brand Discovery on YouTube

According to Google, 90% of shoppers have discovered brands and products on this platform. This proves the power of YouTube as a marketing platform to drive purchase decisions of people and benefit from it.

4. People Watch Ads on YouTube

How many platforms do you know where users are interested in watching ads? I can name YouTube. 72% of people watch in-stream video ads on YouTube till the end! We can clearly interpret that people are interested in engaging with YouTube ads.

Hundreds of thousands of marketers, small businesses, and influencers use YouTube ads to actively promote, sell products and services, and generate leads. From gardening to health and fitness to business influencers to tech, all small businesses can benefit from advertising on YouTube.

How Many Types of YouTube Ads are Out There

YouTube offers an array of ad campaign formats and choices. You can choose any of the ad types based on your preferred ad placement, target devices, and budget. 

Five of the most popular video ad formats are:

1. Skippable Video Ads

As the name suggests, Skippable video ads let viewers skip ads after a duration of 5 seconds, if they choose. This ad type is compatible with desktops, mobiles, TV, and gaming consoles. Skippable video ads are shown before, during, or after the main video.

2. TrueView In-stream Ads

TrueView in-stream ads work on YouTube and all sites that come under Google Display Network (GDN). With these ads, you can target users on mobile devices including Android and iOS, and TVs.

Like skippable videos, TrueView in-stream videos can be skipped after 5 seconds if the viewers want. If they don’t skip and continue watching the video for 30 seconds or interact with it, YouTube will consider the view count.

If you want to track view counts, make the videos run for at least 12 seconds long because YouTube analytics doesn’t track views if they’re less than 10 seconds.

3. TrueView Discovery Ads

If you want your ads to show on the YouTube search results and watch pages, go for TrueView video discovery ads.

These ads run on desktop and mobile, and the app page.

TrueView discovery ads have the following elements:

• Image thumbnail 
• Text of up to 3 lines

4. Bumper Ads

Bumper ads work on desktop and mobile devices. These ads are non-skippable in nature, meaning viewers can’t skip these ads. Bumper ads can run for up to 6 seconds. 

5. Non-Skippable Ads

Non-skippable video ads don’t allow users to skip video ads. They appear before, during, and after viewing the partner content. Starting in 2018, these ads can be 15-20 seconds long.

Non-skippable ads are chargeable on the basis of cost per 1000 impressions (CPM).

Tips to Convert More using YouTube Ads

Here are three golden rules to generate more conversions with YouTube ads:

1. Capture Viewer’s Attention

People don’t like to spend too long on content that fails to grab their attention. As there is too much content floating around with too many choices, your potential customers are becoming selective. If your ad can’t establish a connection with viewers, they’ll simply ignore or skip your ads.

2. Create a Sense of Urgency

This is a great tip if you want quick conversions. Tell your buyers that their time is running out and offer them something they simply can’t ignore.

Here’s a case study:

Yoox created an ad with a title: “06 secs before it’s gone” and featured products that are hard to and there’s a huge demand. They also made an easy route for more conversions by adding “Shop Now” as call-to-action (CTA).

As a result, their campaign drove thousands of conversions and helped them achieve six-figure sales results. Yoox’s ad had a 23% higher view-through rate than the average ads in the e-commerce industry.

3. Invest in Creating Great Ad Content

As you can see from the example I’ve shared above, your ad copy plays a crucial role in getting your conversions. Whether it’s the concept, text, video, or CTA, you need to be at your creative best. The choices you make and the actions you take for creating your ad will directly influence the conversion rate.

3 Common Mistakes You Should Avoid When Advertising on YouTube

As much as you want to increase profit by doing what’s right, you need to avoid mistakes that might ruin your campaigns. I’ve outlined 3 major mistakes which can hamper your growth and revenue:

1. Not Using High-Quality Videos

People love high-quality, high-definition videos. Poor-quality videos not only ruin your ad campaigns but also leave a bad impression on hiring your brand reputation.

2. Not Being Persistent

YouTube ads work great, as we’ve learned earlier but remember, great results come with great persistence. If your brand is new, you may need to invest more time and effort in generating revenue. Be patient and don’t stop.

3. Choosing The Wrong Ad Type

As you know there are various types of ad choices, you need to choose the one that fits your budget. Choosing the wrong ad will only cost you time, effort, and money but won’t give the expected return on investment (ROI).

When done correctly, YouTube ads can become one of the top sales channels for your small business. Follow the tips and get started with YouTube Ads today!

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