YouTube Marketing: Your Ultimate Creative Guide (2024)
This guide to YouTube Marketing is part of our Ultimate Guide series on social media video marketing best practices. Learn more about how harnessing the power of video marketing helps brands stand out on other platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Pinterest.
Take a moment and think: how much time have you spent on YouTube this week?
According to YouTube, users consume an average of more than 1 billion hours of video content every day. Plus, more than 2 billion users log in to YouTube a month, making it the second-largest website today.
Those numbers may not quite reach the monthly active users of Facebook, but people don’t expect the same experience on these two platforms. YouTube isn’t a place to share memes and status updates. Instead, as their mission statement says, YouTube is a space “to give everyone a voice and show them the world.”
For the last 19 years, YouTube has been the preeminent video-sharing platform, inspiring the next generation of content makers to produce fun, informative, and engaging content for its massive audience.
It’s extremely popular with users of all ages, making it a powerful channel for brands and video marketers to reach a wide array of audiences. And, since 71% of U.S.-based YouTube users say they visit the site daily, you have countless opportunities to make a connection.
With one-third of our total time online now spent watching videos, it should be abundantly clear why YouTube must be a central pillar for your brand’s social media video strategy to break through the noise. Thankfully, it’s easier than ever for organizations like yours to create glossy, high-performing video ads, it’s time you refocus your efforts on YouTube marketing to stand out.
This ultimate creative guide will help you learn YouTube video marketing, the suite of ad placements you can leverage, as well as some best practices and tips to help you succeed in raising brand awareness, growing your community, and driving action on the video-dominated platform.
YouTube Platform Overview
YouTube Marketing Ad Placements and Specs
YouTube Marketing Creative Best Practices
What Is YouTube? Platform Overview
What was the first YouTube video you watched? I can track mine way back to high school. A friend had sent me a link to a new website that was hosting a viral video from “Saturday Night Live,” featuring comedians Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell rapping about muffins and “The Lord of the Rings.” The skit had me cracking up, but what truly blew my mind was that I was able to instantly stream a video, even though the only internet access I had was incredibly slow dial-up.
The initial idea for YouTube came when makers Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim realized it was difficult to find videos of current events online, so they wanted to create a platform that streamlined the process of uploading, sharing, and viewing video content. YouTube’s simple interface stripped away the complexities of uploading videos online, making it easy for everyday users to seamlessly share their content.
What’s so incredible about YouTube’s evolution is how the user experience of its early days has hardly changed. Today, YouTube is still a destination for audiences to seek out and share entertainment, information, and inspiration. It’s where we go to research projects, teach ourselves new skills, or catch up on the latest news, from politics and technology to gaming. YouTube continues to expand features to make it easier for users to find videos they love. YouTubers can create their own channels that act as hubs for all of their video content, which can be cataloged even further into playlists. YouTubers can extend their content’s reach by adding description text, keyword tags, and programming their videos into unique Categories, like science and technology or pets and animals.
YouTube is a great avenue to build a community and content hub focusing on your brand’s niche. Just take the success story of Ryan Kaji. He made over $20 million dollars in 2019 alone for his channel by reviewing children’s toys. The wildest part of all? He was nine at the time.
Clearly, YouTube is a powerful channel for entertainment, education, and community. But how does that translate into a tool for digital marketers looking to grow their brands? By leaning into the platform’s creative, educational ethos — as well as a robust suite of ad placements — you can take potential consumers on a journey with your content that ticks the boxes for everything a user wants from the platform.
For example, healthcare brand NURX created video ads that were both educational and uplifting, two of the hallmark feelings you look for in YouTube video advertisements. These ads used real customer testimonials to illustrate how their service made healthcare more accessible while taking the viewer on a journey of how to use their product and its benefits.
With clear objectives, YouTube can be an incredible channel to grow brand awareness (through organic or paid video content) and push potential consumers down the path to purchase. And as YouTube has a lot of insight into audiences based on viewing habits, the channel can be an effective new marketing tool to target consumers who are becoming increasingly harder to reach.
Let’s dive deeper into the YouTube video ad placements to help give you a clearer picture of everything you can do to cost-effectively execute a successful video marketing strategy on the platform.
Related: How Does the YouTube Algorithm Work?
YouTube Video Ad Specs & Placements
When it comes to YouTube ad specs, there are three distinct placements across the platform:
Related: YouTube Video Ad Specs & Placements
Skippable Video Ads
YouTube’s Skippable video ads play before, during, or after videos on YouTube. Viewers have the option to skip the ad after 5 seconds, so you must frontload an attention-grabbing hook in your creative to keep viewers engaged and discourage skipping. These ads are shown on desktops, mobile devices, TVs, and game consoles.
Video Ad Specs
- Aspect ratio: 16:9, 1:1, or 4:3. We recommend 16:9 as more and more viewers are consuming YouTube on their CTVs.
- Video length: Skippable video ads do not have a minimum or maximum length, but YouTube states video ads 3 minutes or less perform best.
- File type: .MPG (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) is recommended, but many other formats are accepted
The headline accompanying a Skippable video ad must be 15 characters or fewer without a CTA, or 10 characters or fewer with a CTA.
Need help with other networks? Check out our complete Social Media Video Ad Specs & Placements Guide
Non-Skippable In-Stream Video Ads
As the name suggests, YouTube Non-Skippable ads cannot be skipped and must be watched before a video starts or continues. Because of this, you have the opportunity to focus your creative less on that immediate hook, and more on taking the viewer through a longer narrative arc. Like with Skippable ads, these video ad examples will play before, during, or after the content you clicked on. These assets are shown on desktops, mobile devices, TVs, and game consoles.
Video Ad Specs
- Aspect ratio: 16:9, 1:1, or 4:3. We recommend 16:9 as more and more viewers are consuming YouTube on their CTVs.
- Video length: 15 or 20 seconds in length, depending on regional standards.
- File type: .MPG (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) is recommended, but many other formats are accepted
Bumper Ads
YouTube Bumper ads, also called pre-roll ads, are non-skippable short messages delivered before, during, or after a video plays. Even though bumper ads cannot be skipped, still aim to capture attention in the first few seconds to keep your viewer engaged as they wait for their video to begin. Bumper ads are shown on desktops, mobile devices, TV, and game consoles.
Video Ad Specs
- Aspect ratio: 16:9, 1:1, or 4:3. We recommend 16:9 as more and more viewers are consuming YouTube on their CTVs.
- Max length: 6 seconds or fewer
- File type: .MPG (MPEG-2 or MPEG-4) is recommended, but many other formats are accepted
Related: Learn about the best time to post on YouTube.
YouTube Video Marketing Best Practices
There are two core themes to keep in mind when creating video for YouTube: sound on and mobile-first. 95% of videos seen on YouTube are played with the sound on and 70% of watch time takes place on mobile devices.
Text is also an important factor to consider when producing YouTube video ads. You have flexibility in your options, but you should keep primary text and animations near the center of the screen so the YouTube interface can appear concurrently with the text assets.
We’ve compiled a few key additional best practices and tips to consider when conceptualizing your video advertisements for YouTube marketing.
Hook Your Audience Immediately
Ask yourself: what will catch the user’s attention? Audiences increasingly have dispersed attention spans, so your video ad should immediately grab your audience with a captivating hook. Edit your videos to maintain a fast pace, aiming for at least two shots in the first 3-5 seconds to energize your audience.
Use tight framing — which is when you put a frame very close around your subject — regardless of whether your video stars a product or a person. If real people are in the video, open with them on screen. If it fits your concept’s narrative arc, have the talent address the audience directly as a way to facilitate connection and further draw in the viewer.
These approaches help your video ad conform to the visual styles adopted by most YouTube makers, making your creative feel native to the platform.
Here’s another standout video marketing idea from NURX. In this spot, a provocative script immediately grabs the viewer’s attention to keep their eyes on the screen.
Use Narrative Storytelling
Humans inherently resonate with narrative storytelling, so craft a clear story to grab viewers’ attention and leave a lasting impression. Take your audience on an emotional journey — with a beginning, middle, and end — where your brand (or product) is the star.
That said, a full story doesn’t mean a more complex one. Don’t be afraid to keep your narrative simple, building towards a creative payoff to drive action in the viewer, enticing them to learn more about your brand and your products.
This ad from Backcountry illustrates how you can effectively tell a simple, engaging story in just 30 seconds.
Need help making videos? See how our video production platform can help your business.
Branding, Branding, Branding
When it comes to YouTube (and most other social media platforms), you’ll need to incorporate branding in order to drive views. According to QuickFrame analysis, videos on YouTube with visible branding had an average view count that was 76% higher than videos without.
Aim to show your product or brand logo within the first 5 seconds of your video ad. Our analysis also found that audio mentions of brands by on-screen talent also perform higher than mentions by off-screen talent.
This ad from Mars Candy opens and closes with a shot of their branding while using their product to drive the video’s eye-catching motion.
Drive Action
One key purpose of video marketing on YouTube is to drive your viewer to complete some action, like purchasing a product or visiting your website. So ask yourself: how am I convincing them to do this?
The best way to drive action on a YouTube video is through strategic CTAs that inspire urgency, like a limited time offer for a subscription food delivery service or a limited edition run on collector sneakers. Another way to drive action is to include call-out links at the end of your organic YouTube video, directing viewers to subscribe to your channel, watch more videos, or visit an external website. These can appear as end cards, simple animations, or through voice-over.
Through a targeted performance marketing plan, you can find the most effective CTAs for your audience. Testing your YouTube creative will surface insights about your audience and allow you to sharpen your creative approach.
Learn more: WTF is Multivariate Testing?
Cast Relatable Talent
Consider the audience you’re trying to reach when casting your on-screen talent. You want your audience to relate to your brand, and you can do that by casting talent that reminds them of themselves.
Beyond the authenticity you will build, our video analysis of organic best practices tips for YouTube found on-screen talent drives organic performance, leading to more views and engagement.
Interestingly, videos with just one person drove the highest engagement rate on YouTube. The dominance of vloggers and other solo content makers on YouTube has likely conditioned audiences on the platform to connect with a single on-screen talent. That said, visual diversity still wins out since videos with 3 or more people sustained attention and drove more views in our analysis.
YouTube Marketing: The Takeaway
YouTube completely changed the online video landscape in 2005. The platform continues to unlock ways brands can better reach their target audiences, which continue to be vital following new data privacy regulations. In November 2020, YouTube expanded its ad-supported content, increasing the ad inventory on the platform, which has created an improved opportunity for advertisers.
It should be no surprise that YouTube, the number one video-sharing platform, is the best channel to get your mesmerizing video content seen and shared. Video is simply the most effective way we communicate today, and as video consumption continues to rise, YouTube marketing can be a cost-efficient way to stand out.
Combine the platform’s power with a creative eye hungry for innovation so you can start generating mesmerizing, high-performing video content that will give your organization an advantage in our rapidly evolving digital world. Learn more about YouTube video production today.
Get original data-driven YouTube ads: Learn About the QuickFrame + YouTube Partnership
Check Out All of Our Social Media Marketing Creative Guides
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