There are different types of effective YouTube ads, and many of them don't even seem or feel like an advertisement. Image: RODNAE Productions, Pexels License, Pexels.
There are different types of effective YouTube ads, and many of them don’t even seem or feel like an advertisement. Image: RODNAE Productions, Pexels License, Pexels.
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Being creative is an advantage

Whatever tools you have, good creativity is the last unfair advantage of ads that work. It’s natural for marketing and creative teams to develop their own “rules” for what constitutes practical creativity on YouTube ads. The truth is that successful YouTube brands use innovative strategies and mindsets that challenge assumptions. Here are a few beliefs we’ve come across, as well as some ideas of how to reframe them into best practices for YouTube ad creative.

1. Finding YouTube success is a complete guessing game

You should take risks on YouTube without a doubt. However, this doesn’t mean that you should try everything until you find anything that works. Making good YouTube ads requires some basic concepts, and these ideas will help you decide which risks are worth taking.

  • Attract: Attract attention from the start.
  • Brand: Naturally integrate your brand.
  • Connect: Emotion and storytelling can help you connect with your audience.
  • Direct: Make a direct and clear call to action.

Ads that use the ABCDs as a guide have been demonstrated to increase short-term sales likelihood by 30% and long-term brand contribution by 17%. There’s still lots of room to add to those foundations creatively, but remembering them can help you take those risks and make more effective creative decisions.

2. Good YouTube ads have a distinct look and style

We discovered that focusing on what your ad says and how it makes people feel is more important than the way your ad looks.

An undercover investigation, a user product review, or an interview with the CEO are all examples of effective YouTube advertising. It can even be an anime series starring the product as the protagonist, which sells out quickly, exceeds the team’s KPIs, and increases year-over-year product sales by more than 100%.

While there are some basic creative rules when making YouTube ads to follow, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all strategy to execution. Image: Jakob Owens, Unsplash License, Unsplash.
While there are some basic creative rules when making YouTube ads to follow, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all strategy to execution. Image: Jakob Owens, Unsplash License, Unsplash.

3. Lower-funnel ads aren’t as creative as those in the upper-funnel

Ads that are supposed to motivate people to take action sometimes get a poor rap. Lower-funnel advertising is thought to weaken the story or sell the brand short. Brands, on the other hand, have gotten incredibly creative with their calls to action. It’s as simple as thinking of the ad as the beginning of the viewer’s next step, which allows the work to go beyond that impression. This is especially true on YouTube, where 63% of viewers said they purchased something after seeing it on the platform.

Aligning with the viewer’s passion points and making a more directed offer is a unique way to customize lower-funnel ads. You might even use reverse psychology, as McDonald’s did in Malaysia when the team instructed viewers not to look for a product, knowing that this would pique their interest and push them to do so.

4. Experimenting with creative campaigns requires too much time and effort

An experimental approach to video production can pay off in the long run by reducing your reliance on assumptions. Image: Chokniti Khongchum, Pexels License, Pexels.
An experimental approach to video production can pay off in the long run by reducing your reliance on assumptions. Image: Chokniti Khongchum, Pexels License, Pexels.

There is a difference between taking an experimental approach to creating video ads and running a one-time test. The former is a mindset that allows deep insight while preventing you from relying on long-held assumptions. The latter is something you do on occasion and is best for campaign-specific understandings.

An experimental mindset does not have to slow you down or cost you more money in the long run, and it will pay off in the long run. Consider every campaign your company launches as an experiment. Examine what you discover, what new questions appear, and what needs to be optimized. Advertisers who used Video Experiments successfully saw a 60% increase in ad recall from the better performing creative.

Begin by adjusting one variable (large or small), such as the pace, framing of your opening shot, or a variety of copy tweaks. Even minor changes can have a significant impact. The more you experiment, the better you’ll understand not only what creative levers to pull for your brand but also more profound insights about your audience.

5. My TV spot is successful on all platforms

Most brands and creative teams don’t have the resources to create assets optimized for each platform. Starting with a digital audience in mind, catching attention right away, developing for mobile with a tighter frame, large-type text, and color contrast for visibility on smaller displays, and turning on sound, your advertising performs better everywhere, including TV.

Breaking limits

Now that we have a better understanding of how these beliefs limit us from being better advertisers on Youtube. Why not give yourself more ease and not limit yourself by doing all the targeting and audience location work manually? Remove the weight on your shoulders by using TubeSift. There will no longer be wasted time manually looking for the right audience to target and choosing where to place your Ads. 

Visit TubeSift.com to learn more.

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