“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” -Ronald E. Osborn
YouTube’s advertising network is one that most performance marketers fear. Historically sold as a network to raise awareness, performance marketers struggle to gain positive ROI directly from YouTube ads online. In this article, we will discuss three effective performance strategies which you can use to boost the performance of your YouTube advertising. But first, here are some reason we like YouTube advertising better than other networks:
- SIGHT, SOUND & MOTION: Powerful advertising is able to tap into your innate senses and nowhere is this more apparent than on YouTube. These ads include visual and auditory stimulation that can forge a deeper connection with your brand.
- Opt-In: As opposed to other video networks like TV, OTT or others that have a low cost barrier (I’m looking @ you Facebook), YouTube ads allow for free brand impressions before a user decides if they want to engage with your ad which can still drive brand lifts.
- Mobile: YouTube is a largely mobile platform with more than 50% of views coming from handheld devices.
Now that you understand the importance and power of YouTube as an ad network, let’s dive into the three performance strategies every marketer should know to conquer youtube.
- Intent targeting: YouTube is a Google owned and operated network, which means they have integrated data from all of their 1B+ user platforms – the most important one being Search. Google search data is a performance marketers dream because what other platform can indicate such strong intent. We all know that Google Search is the premiere destination once someone is ready to buy or at least has moved from awareness to consideration.
With Google Search data being able to be leveraged by marketers, it creates a strong performance capability. With Google’s Custom Intent Audiences you can target users based on the searches they have recently made.Another benefit of this kind of targeting on YouTube is the cost savings of reaching this audience. In industries like Insurance CPC’s can cost as much as $57! For a fraction of the price (average Cost per View is < $0.10) insurance companies can reach the exact same users who are showing intent and can reach a whole lot more of them! You can then retarget those users across the GDN to drive overall lower cost per visits to a website. - Algorithmic Targeting: Google’s Similar Audience targeting has historically underperformed in comparison to Facebook’s “Lookalike” targeting. But, on YouTube, Google’s Similar Audience targeting has a secret that you need to know if you want to get better targeting. The interesting thing about Google’s Similar Audience targeting is that you can actually create different types of these “algorithmic audiences” and no, the seed list is not the only factor.The main way marketers create Similar Audiences on Google is with a Pixel (either Analytics or Adwords) BUT the best way you can create a Similar Audience is actually through something called “Customer Match”. Customer Match allows you enter existing customer information such as emails, phone numbers even addresses. Google’s AI then ingests this data and creates new user pools based on this information. This is a much strong list index of similarity because Google has more information on an email address than a pixel.Based on utilizing a similar audience from a Customer Match list as opposed to a pixel list, we have seen almost 50% conversion rate improvements. Another way to further improve the conversion rate is to segment your Customer Match lists for even greater performance. For example, you can upload a list of your HIGHEST lifetime value customers, repeat buyers, highly engaged customers etc.Don’t do what’s easy and just target the similar audience list that Google Automatically creates. Take the time to cultivate your CRM lists and upload them for better performance.
- Audience targeting: The best prospect is one that is already familiar with your business or brand. Remarketing is powerful tool that works on almost all ad networks, so why wouldn’t it work on YouTube? Here are some best practices for utilizing YouTube advertising with remarketing
- Segment your audience lists: Starting with all site visitors 540 days may not be the best place to start. We recommend creating a 30 day cart abandoner list and utilize YouTube to drive them back to the cart to check out.
- Customize your videos: Do you have the ability to customize the message? DO IT! Find any way you can to personalize your messaging for remarketing audiences. This can mean a new customized video or even a new companion banner, headline or call to action.
- Remarket to existing customers: You can remarket to existing customers to buy again. If they love your brand then it’s an easy sell!
There are many, many more remarketing strategies to name but I think starting with these will serve you well.
Now that you have a foundation of three YouTube advertising strategies that you can put to work for performance test them out and let me know how they worked! Did you find a new way to target? Let us know!
