Companies operating in B2B sectors often consider video a secondary medium and do not invest much in their respective communication channels and more specifically in YouTube.
And yet! Their audiences expect more and more visualized information in the form of product videos, “How To” , Tips and advice as they try to learn about a brand or discover new partners.
And just in case you need an extra incentive to add YouTube to your digital strategy, consider that every day its users watch over 100 million hours of video, and according to a recent Google survey, nearly three quarters of B2B customers search and watch a video before making a purchase or partnership decision.
YouTube is the 2nd largest platform in the world in terms of traffic
Having a YouTube channel with properly formatted content also benefits something even more important, SE0. Let’s not forget that the YouTube platform is essentially owned by Google so if for example you have a video that brings good results and uses the right keywords that your audience is searching for and incorporate it into a blog post on your website, this will also help your website’s SEO.
Similarly, adding a video to your blogpost also increases the likelihood of a user staying on your website , which in itself is an indicator to Google that your content is of high value and therefore you have a better ranking.
Video as a medium has many forms. It is educational , it is entertaining, it is informative, but it is always a potential marketing tool to help users in their decision making.
So combining all of the above, it makes perfect sense for a B2B business to want to advertise on YouTube, the world’s largest video viewing platform
What are the targeting opportunities a business has on YouTube?
As Google’s platform, YouTube has many sophisticated options for targeting the audience your business is interested in. You can choose where your ad will be shown based on demographics, user interests , specific topics or even targeting based on specific YouTube channels.
What are the types of ads a business can use on YouTube?
1. Skippable in-stream ads
These ads have a minimum duration of 12 seconds with the user having the option to “exit” the ad after the first 5 seconds. They can be shown before the start, or during a video.
You are only charged if users decide to continue viewing your ad after the first 5 seconds.
2.Non-skippable in-stream ads
If you want to limit the number of users who skip your skippable in-stream ad you can choose the version that does not allow skipping.
This will help you especially if the purpose of your advertising is not to sell directly but to build your brand awareness. These ads can last up to 15 seconds.
You are charged per CPM, i.e. per 1,000 impressions of your advertisement.
3. Bumper ads
A more specialized form of non-skippable in-stream ads are bumper ads which have a maximum duration of 6 seconds, cannot be skipped by the user and are mainly used to convey a very short and concise message to the audience in order to capture their interest.
You are charged per CPM, i.e. per 1,000 impressions of your advertisement.
4. Video discovery ads
This type of advertising is very similar – both visually and functionally – to the results of Google search ads.
It appears with the organic results when the user performs a search on YouTube.So if your video and its description is relevant to the user’s search it will appear at the top of the results.
You are only charged if the user clicks on your ad, where they are taken to your channel where the video is located to watch it.
5. Outstream ads
This is a type of ad that is only available on Google’s partner network and not on YouTube. They are specifically designed for mobile devices and aim to attract potential customers at the lowest possible cost.
In practice, these ads automatically start playing without sound, giving the user the option to either click on the ad to turn on the sound or swipe past it.
You are charged per CPM, i.e. per 1,000 impressions of your ad that have played at least 2 seconds of your ad.
6. Masterhead ads
This type of advertising is available on a flat rate basis as its cost is particularly high for an SME. It is essentially a rental of the specific space for an agreed period of time.
It is mainly used by very large companies to achieve maximum exposure in a short period of time when they want to promote a new product, a sectoral activity such as an exhibition or to create brand awareness for mass consumption products.
Pro tip: Video ad sequencing:
Video ad sequencing is not an additional type of ad but a setting that can be applied to several of the above ads.
It practically allows the user to view a group of videos in the order you want. This group can consist either of different videos or of a video that has been cut into several pieces.
In this way, we can initially avoid audience fatigue, which can be caused by seeing the same advertisement from your company over and over again. We can also use the sequence of these videos to create a narrative in the form of a story where the user will want to see the continuation or to describe a step by step process, where each step will be a video with the user watching the next one afterwards and so on.
Creating a successful YouTube channel as well as targeted ads doesn’t necessarily require a large budget. But it certainly requires planning, time and perseverance for continuous improvement.
