Successful brands are constantly trying to find the best way to build trust and credibility with their target customers. While there are many channels and formats that can work, YouTube ads are proof that – from an eCommerce perspective — seeing is believing.
As Google’s research has shown, for example, 70% of viewers say they have bought a product after viewing YouTube ads about it.
Part of this success can be attributed to the reach and immersive nature of the platform. Just over 27% of consumers admit they watch more than 10 hours of YouTube video content each week. The rise of smartphones and tablets, meanwhile, means retailers investing in YouTube ads can reach their audience from any location. This could be why research has shown that paid YouTube advertising is 84% more likely to capture viewers’ attention than TV.
This means brands have an opportunity to treat online video as more than an extension of their sales and marketing strategy. Instead, they can begin selling on YouTube by managing it as a virtual storefront in its own right.
Secrets of Selling on YouTube
Creating YouTube video ads doesn’t necessarily depend on hiring an agency or aiming for the kind of production values we associate with movies and TV shows. A simple clip created on a smartphone can work, provided it tells a compelling story about your audience and how your product aligns with their wants and needs.
Once you’ve developed video content you’re ready to market via YouTube, make sure you’ve addressed the areas below:
1. Apply SEO Best Practices To Boost Organic Visibility
When people type queries into Google today, a YouTube clip is as likely to pop up in the results as a link to a page of text. Make sure you haven’t overlooked any opportunities to be on the first page of search results by optimizing your content accordingly.
People aren’t just watching content on YouTube, for example. They’re also often reading the description below the video for more context and to find out more about who created it. This is where you can embed popular keyword phrases and links back to your site and even direct them to specific product pages or e-commerce URLs.
Remember to focus on the common aspirations or problems your target customers face as you write these titles and descriptions. “Best,” “ultimate” or “top” may reflect the kind of goods luxury shoppers are seeing. “Why,” “How” and “Where” might address difficulties they’re having finding a specific kind of product.
2. Leverage In-Feed Video Ads To Drive Discovery
You might be trying to drive awareness of your brand and its products. Maybe you’re trying to boost consideration of your products over the competition or have specific revenue targets to meet. Regardless of your eCommerce marketing objective, in-feed ads offer a highly effective means of achieving it.
Formerly known as video discovery ads, in-feed ads on YouTube maximize your exposure to potential customers in places they’re most likely to notice your brand. This not only includes the YouTube home feed but in search results when people are browsing for specific video content. In-feed ads can also make your video the “Watch Next” clip YouTube recommends, allowing viewers to continue an experience they’re already begun by exploring your brand and its products.
Rather than content that is simply a hard sell, make sure videos served through in-feed ads provide high value to YouTube’s audience. This could include a tutorial about how to address a common problem, answers to frequently asked questions, or review-style walkthroughs that showcase the details about a product.
3. Save Viewers Time and Drive Interactive Engagement with Shoppable Ads
Brands understandably want to drive people directly to their site as often as possible, but that’s not where most people want to spend the majority of their time. A better customer journey would be to let them stay on YouTube – or social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest – and make purchases directly. In this sense, social media platforms are also channels for social commerce. This is the core value shoppable ads offer eCommerce merchants.
Though they vary depending on where they’re featured, shoppable ads on YouTube (also known as Video Action Campaigns) streamline the process of viewers taking the next step after a clip has sparked their intention to buy. By bringing product feed management into YouTube ads, for instance, prospects can instantly view your inventory and click to purchase without leaving YouTube.
TrueView for Shopping is similar in that it allows retailers to directly connect a Google Merchant Center (GMC) account to their product feed, developing a more sophisticated call to action (CTA) for selling on YouTube, where the content can expand into a series of links to your inventory.
Getting Started With YouTube Video Ads
Treating YouTube as a virtual storefront offers plenty of room for creativity and a variety of approaches in marketing your products to a highly engaged audience. That makes it easier to experiment and measure the results of selling on YouTube and to continuously optimize your approach.
Highstreet.io has already helped our clients realize the potential of YouTube for brands in fashion, consumer electronics, and many other categories. Talk to us about how to simplify connecting GMC and product feed listings to YouTube ads so you can focus on enhancing customer relationships and boosting eCommerce sales. Get in touch with our team to get started.