As a digital advertising expert with over 10 years of experience running YouTube campaigns, I‘ve seen firsthand the power YouTube‘s massive audience and video ad formats provide for brands.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll share everything you need to set up effective YouTube advertising to drive video views, website traffic, and conversions.
Introduction to YouTube Advertising
With over 2 billion monthly logged-in users, YouTube presents unmatched opportunities for marketers. Digital video ad spend continues to rise year-over-year, and YouTube increasingly attracts those budgets due to its reach, targeting, and performance.
Below I‘ve compiled some key statistics that showcase why brands turn to YouTube as a core advertising platform:
| YouTube Metric | 2022 Data |
|---|---|
| Monthly Active Users | 2 billion+ |
| Ad Reach in U.S. | 230 million |
| Share of Internet Video Ad Spend | 30% and rising |
Beyond sheer scale, YouTube offers finely targeted advertising capabilities thanks to its troves of user behavioral and contextual data. Brands leverage this to drive higher campaign performance.
But where do you start, and how can you ensure your YouTube ads effectively reach and influence audiences to drive ROI?
In this guide, I‘ll break down the key steps to advertising on YouTube to set you up for success.
How to Create a YouTube Ad Campaign
Here‘s an overview of the 6 key steps we‘ll cover to setup and launch effective YouTube advertising:
- Signup for a Google Ads account
- Set campaign goals and budgets
- Choose ad formats and placements
- Target your audiences
- Upload & finalize video ads
- Track performance and optimize
Now, let‘s explore each step in more depth…
Step 1: Signup for a Google Ads Account
Since YouTube is owned by Google, marketing on the platform requires a Google Ads account. This allows you to access YouTube video inventory alongside Google‘s other properties.
Navigate to ads.google.com and login using your Google account credentials:
If you don‘t already have a Google account, create one for free before accessing Google Ads.
With an account created, Google will guide you through additional onboarding steps:
- Select your time zone and language
- Choose campaign goals
- Set initial budgets
- Connect payment method
Take your time going through the intro workflow. The options you select here dictate how your account and campaigns are structured down the line.
💡 Pro Tip: Have your billing details, monthly budget ranges, and high-level campaign goals decided beforehand to speed up onboarding.
Once your payments and account is established, it‘s time to configure your first campaign…
Step 2: Set Campaign Goals and Budgets
Start by outlining what success looks like and the metrics that matter most. Common YouTube campaign goals include:
- Video Views – Maximizing views of your video content
- Website Traffic – Sending visitors to your site
- Conversions – Getting users to take desired actions
Next, think through an appropriate budget. I recommend starting small, around $10 per day, when testing to allow for flexibility.
YouTube advertising budgets can scale up significantly over time. Set ranges that give you upside room to increase bids and potential impressions while maintaining cost control guardrails:
With goals defined, it‘s now time to choose the types and formats of YouTube ads you want to run.
Step 3: Choose Ad Locations and Formats
One of the first big decisions lies in what types of YouTube ad formats you want to utilize across the platform. Based on your objectives, consider blending different video ad formats across YouTube.
Major YouTube Ad Formats
| Format | Details | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| TrueView (In-Stream) | Play before, during or after other videos. Skippable after 5 seconds. | Video views, brand awareness |
| Discovery | Appear on YouTube search, homepage, watch next panels | Video views, traffic, conversions |
| Bumper | Non-skip 6 second video ads | Brand awareness, reach |
Another decision lies in where you want ads to be placed. You can target separately across:
- YouTube videos
- YouTube search results & Watch Next panels
- The Google Display Network
This allows you to focus spending on the specific ad placements that work best towards your YouTube strategy.
💡 Pro Tip: Run YouTube search and Watch Next Discovery ads to keep users engaged across video sessions.
Step 4: Target Your Audiences
One major advantage of YouTube advertising lies in unprecedented audience targeting options. Move beyond simple demographics to focus your ads on specific customer segments that matter most.
You can combine targets like:
- Demographics – age, gender, parental status
- Interests – based on YouTube watch history & Google profiles
- Remarketing – prior site visitors or video viewers
- Custom affinity – find more users that "look like" your existing customers
- Keywords – users searching for related topics
Layer these signals at scale to engage the audiences most likely to drive conversions and ROI.
💡 Pro Tip: Create separate campaigns for audience segments then monitor performance by group. Doubles as a powerful testing method to optimize spending.
Step 5: Upload & Finalize Your Video Ads
What good is a YouTube campaign without the videos themselves? 🎥
Upload the video ad creative you want users to watch and interact with:
Check formatting and playback across devices. Craft engaging ad text including call to actions – you have up to five text lines to support the video.
Confirm additional targeting details and bids to complete campaign creation. Schedule dates, budget and other flight details.
Then launch your ads out to the wild across YouTube!
Step 6: Track Performance and Optimize
As your campaigns progress, closely monitor metrics and trends within your Google Ads dashboard:
Tune bids, update targets and creative in real-time to improve results. Look for high-performing placements, demographics and other trends.
Consider A/B testing different thumbnails, ad variations, captions and more to further boost clicks and conversions. Let data guide your ongoing optimizations.
Additional YouTube Advertising Tips and Insights
Beyond the core campaign setup steps, additional best practices include:
Video Ad Creative
- Hook viewers in the first 5 seconds before allowing skip
- Bring brands into storytelling authentically
- Utilize interactivity options like cards and end screens
Bidding & Optimization
- Leverage Google‘s AI to automatically optimize bids
- Set value-based bidding minimums based on conversions
- Use Bid Simulator to model CPA/ROAS outcomes
Analysis
- Break down metrics by ad groups, formats and audience segments
- Build custom remarketing lists from your best performing videos
- Measure true ROI with UTMs and analytics integration
Scale & Growth
- Let most effective placements and targets drive budget allocation
- Continue growing budgets fueling high-ROI ad groups
- Create sequel videos expanding on top performers
Well-managed YouTube campaigns amplify your message exponentially. Combine audience precision, engaging video and ongoing optimizations to hit goals!
Get Started with YouTube Advertising
The opportunities on YouTube lie directly on the cutting edge of digital advertising, where content meets intent meets impact.
I hope this guide has equipped you to get started effectively advertising on YouTube. Please reach out with any other questions!
