How can your agency create compelling YouTube ads? How can you get the most ROI from YouTube ads? YouTube ads are a strange beast, and the creative landscape of YouTube is continually shifting. But, if you stick to your buyer’s persona and chase your ideal customer, YouTube ads can help grow your agency fast.

In this episode, we’ll cover:

• Why you may need 2 YouTube channels.
• The difference between YouTube and Facebook ads.
• 3 steps for making better YouTube ads.
• Why 5 seconds could make-or-break your ad.
• #1 most important tip for the future of YouTube ads.

Today, I talked with Tom Breeze (A.K.A the king of YouTube ads) who runs Viewability — the highest spending performance campaign agency on YouTube! Tom has been on the podcast before, and he dropped some great insight into performance-based models. I urge you to check out that episode if you haven’t already; it’s one of my favorites.

Tom went over some of the most critical YouTube ad strategies, and how he and his agency position YouTube ads that engage and convert.

Let’s dive right in!

Why You May Need 2 YouTube Channels

Tom talked about splitting your organic YouTube channel and your Ad-based YouTube channel. That may seem strange at first, but, since both require different things for success, splitting them up actually makes a bunch of sense.

When you’re releasing videos on your organic channel, you want to have a ton of views and engagement (subscribers, comments, shares, etc.) to help boost your channels ranking on the YouTube algorithm.

When you’re running ads, you want views, but you aren’t going to have a lot of engagement (and you probably don’t want a lot of engagement.) That’s where a second channel comes in useful.

Splitting them up gives you the freedom to chase different metrics on each account without risking tanking your YouTube rankings on either of them.

The Difference Between YouTube and Facebook Ads

Tom laid out the main difference between YouTube and other ad types. On YouTube, you already have your viewers attention. They’re already there to view and buy. Facebook, TV, Instagram, and other creative outlets all require you to be entertaining and engaging enough to grab the viewers attention.

On YouTube, you don’t want ads that are too entertaining. When you do pre-roll ads (those ads that you can skip after watching 5 seconds before the video you actually wanted to watch), you only pay if the viewer watches 30 seconds of the ad. You don’t want anyone except potential buyers to watch the entire ad because you’ll waste ad spend.

You’ll end up paying for people who aren’t your ideal clients and don’t fit into your buyer’s persona.

3 Steps for Making Better YouTube Ads

YouTube ads can be annoying. There, I said it. So, when it comes to creating ads that are going to nurture customers down your funnel, you have to use a little finesse. Tom shared some of his agency’s biggest tips on how to chase those critical customers without wasting money and people’s time.

1. You want to disqualify people in the first 30 seconds of your ad. You have to pay for pre-roll ads once it hits the 30-second mark. Make sure only your ideal customers get to that point in the ad.
2. Create different ads for each pain point your audience experiences. For example, let’s say you run a social media marketing company. You will want to create an ad that targets companies looking for help running their Instagram accounts. At the same time, you’ll want to run ads targeting companies looking for help with social media metrics on Facebook. If you create ads for each service, you’ll be hyper-targeting people who need your service, so you’ll only be paying for prime leads.
3. Don’t be too engaging! I know, everyone ever has told you that all your ads need to be engaging all-of-the-time, but, when it comes to YouTube, engaging ads are going to waste your money and people’s time. Don’t let people get all the way through the ad because you blew your budget to make a hilarious creative. Be engaging in a way that appeals to your ideal customer, not to everyone. Remember, you already have their attention — you don’t need to fight for it.

Why 5 Seconds Could Make-or-Break Your Ad

Here’s a prime tip for all of you. Adding an extra 5 seconds to the end of your ad can make-or-break your CTA. Tom recalls watching a Monday.com ad on YouTube that was engaging and appealed to him, but the ad ended before he could click the CTA.

Tom’s company has been having major success testing a countdown timer at the end of the ad. This way, customers have time to click that CTA and it adds a sense of urgency. You have to remember that video ads aren’t like landing pages. People only have a certain amount of time to click the CTA — give them an adequate amount of time to click it.

#1 Most Important Tip for the Future of YouTube Ads

The future of YouTube ads lies in AI metrics. You want to keep an eye on your conversion pixel. Gather as much information as possible on each ad you’re running. You want to give the Google AI monster as much food as possible.

The more Google knows about your ad and the people consuming it, the better it’s going to get at targeting your ad to the right customers. Data has become the king of marketing — we all know that.

The future of YouTube ad targeting (and ad targeting in general) is going to be reliant on AIs consuming as much data as possible.

Want more insight on YouTube ads? Check out Tom’s book, Viewability, where he breaks down some of his agency’s time-tested strategies as well as provides tips — like how to find selling moments and capitalize on different customer types.

Ready to Grow Your Agency, but Not Ready to Hire?

Hiring freelancers can be frustrating. You post your job, wade through hundreds of proposals, and hire a few before you find the right fit. You want to scale your agency by outsourcing, but wonder if this dreadful process is worth it. That’s where Freeeup is different. Instead of wading through freelancers yourself, FreeeUp does all that for you.

They have a network of the top 1% of freelancers, so everyone you hire is top notch. Depending on what you need, FreeeUp connects you with a freelancer who can make it happen. And just for Smart Agency Master Class listeners, create a Freeeup account and enter code “JSwenk50” for $50 off.

Need More Advice to Grow Your Agency and Improve as an Agency Owner?

If you want to make your agency the leader in your niche by taking it to the next level, I can share with you the best agency advice from myself and a range of agency experts! You can find these tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs covering all your need to know topics or if videos are more your thing, visit my Youtube channel!