What Makes a YouTube Ad Campaign Work? (Archive, 2021)

Recorded in January 2021 during Simon's s.media agency era — a compilation of tips from several members of the s.media team. Published as part of a dated historical record; it reflects the platform then, not current advice.

Why does remarketing need a data analyst?

Top tips on video remarketing first. If you're managing video remarketing in-house on your YouTube campaigns, you need a data analyst — someone with a strong PPC background and lots of Google Ads experience, who can look at your data and understand what's working and what isn't so they can remarket effectively. Look at the demographics, audience type and age range, so you're retargeting your video campaign to audiences that are engaging and likely to convert. It's no good channelling your traffic into audiences that aren't converting — and this is where you need someone in-house who's very savvy with numbers, or an agency partner to lean on.

What do interactive elements do for an ad?

Katie's tip: include interactive elements in your ads, because they drive engagement and drive action — which is the whole point of advertising on YouTube. A study has shown that using interactive elements in ads increases viewing time by 47 per cent. A couple of ways to do it: include calls to action — we'd advise around three throughout an ad — and use cards on your videos to showcase your product or service and push the viewer to act.

How do you make an ad feel native rather than annoying?

Flo's tip: create compelling, human content that feels native. With so much content on the internet and the option to skip adverts, focus on producing video that isn't like the usual adverts — something that doesn't annoy or disturb somebody in the middle of what they're doing, but excites them instead. Pull at the heartstrings with something heartfelt, or make people laugh. Feature people in your advert: it gives your audience someone to connect with and creates relatable experiences that feel natural. And if you're struggling, go and look at your favourite adverts, work out what the hook was that piqued your interest, and apply it to your own efforts.

How far can emotion take you — and where does it backfire?

Using emotions is one of the most powerful things in advertising and marketing. It always has been and always will be, for the simple reason that we're humans and we respond to emotional things — and video on YouTube is a great platform for it. Everything from fear to anger to fun and humour: thousands of emotions you can tap into.

Video gives you the tools to pull those emotions up. Lighting can be dark and broody, or bright, lively and upbeat. Layer over that the pace of delivery — slow and thoughtful lands a different emotion from quick and excited — and the visuals, the pauses, the way people act and deliver. Someone can look genuinely sad and unsure at camera, or really optimistic.

A word of caution, though: get it wrong, in the wrong context, and it can backfire and really hack people off. Be mindful to be telling the truth about what you're communicating, and make sure it's targeted well. But by all means use emotion to effect — it plays a massive part in building your brand and driving sales and engagement over a very long period.

How does targeting plug into the algorithm?

Chris's tip: targeting. The most frustrating thing for a business owner can be finding the right people to sell to — because if you can't make yourself found, everything else is for nothing. Targeting is so interlaced with how YouTube's algorithm works that not taking advantage of it is shooting yourself in the foot. YouTube layers on parameters — demographics, key life events, age, gender, location — and provides analytics detailing what those people watch, what they engage with and what they're passionate about, grouped into markets, sectors and interests. That's valuable twice over: it sharpens who sees your ads, and it tells you — as a marketer or content creator — what your audience actually wants, which feeds the next piece of content you make.

Which ad format should you pick?

Choose your YouTube ad formats carefully. Bumper ads are six seconds, displayed before the video the viewer wants to watch — six seconds with great potential to make a statement for your brand and hit home a strong message. Non-skippable ads must be watched, and can run up to 30 seconds — plenty of space to create an engaging, insightful ad for the audience you're targeting. And the skippable in-stream ad can be viewed before, during or just after a video — skippable after five seconds, but if the viewer's engaged they'll keep watching — which makes it flexible and cost-effective for driving conversions.

What makes viewers actually take action?

The last tip: inspire viewers to take action. One of the best ways to create ads that resonate is to present a serious problem, then show how supporting your business helps turn it around. Start by outlining the problem — share gripping facts or testimonials demonstrating the gravity of the issue — then pivot to what your company is doing to eliminate it. Potential customers see that by purchasing your products they're promoting something positive, which gives them added incentive to buy and feel good about it.

The reference example: the 2015 "Like a Girl" campaign by Always. A series of young women were asked to run like a girl, hit like a girl — and did it half-heartedly. Then young girls, before the age of ten, were asked the same — and ran and hit with all their might. The question the ad left you with: at what point did doing something "like a girl" become a negative? If your product is placed similarly to everyone else's, that kind of positive impact — even just helping small businesses do their jobs better — is exactly what you should highlight in your YouTube ads.