YouTube Marketing For Dummies

Advice from a YouTube insider on how to creative effective campaigns

YouTube is the top destination for online video. With over a billion viewers around the globe, it's also valuable real estate for marketers looking to get their message out. YouTube Marketing For Dummies shares insight from a former YouTube employee who helped large and small businesses create effective marketing campaigns. 

Inside, you’ll discover proven game plans for buying advertising, launching a content marketing campaign, building a branded channel and community, and evaluating the results of your work. Plus, you’ll find trusted, proven ways to get the most bang for your buck from the internet’s #1 destination for video content.

• Create a plan that fits your business needs
• Launch an ad campaign
• Find video creation strategies
• Launch a branded channel

Are you ready to identify, launch, and measure a YouTube marketing campaign? Everything you need is a page away!

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started with YouTube Marketing 5

Chapter 1: YouTube in the Marketing Mix 7

YouTube Is Important for Marketers 7

YouTube is big and growing fast 8

The benefits of YouTube’s big data 8

YouTube’s place in your marketing mix 9

Using YouTube in Marketing 10

Advertising versus content marketing 10

Picking a lane 11

The Secret Formula for YouTube Success 12

Creating a brief to reach the right people 12

Harnessing the power of video ads 13

Developing your content strategy 13

Making great videos 14

Mastering YouTube management 14

Measuring success 15

Chapter 2: Using YouTube for Your Business 17

Capturing All Your Business Challenges 17

Defining Your Campaign Type 19

Brand awareness and reach 21

Brand and product consideration 22

Engagement 22

Conversion 23

Loyalty and advocacy 25

Determining Your Budget for Media and Production 27

Breaking down your annual budget 28

Taking the 70/20/10 approach 28

Calculating your production budget 28

Setting your media budget 29

The Necessary Nature of the Brief 30

Developing the Key Components of a YouTube Brief 31

About the campaign 31

Campaign or initiative’s needs 32

Deliverables and considerations 33

Chapter 3: Targeting Your Audience 35

Creating a Picture of Your Target Audience 35

Gaining Insights into Your Audience 37

Insights 38

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty 39

Developing Audience Insights 40

The Four C Framework for Insights 41

Consumer 41

Category 42

Competitor 43

Culture 43

The Best Tools and Resources for Insights 44

Trending on YouTube 45

Google Trends 47

Google Surveys 52

Social media and comments 56

Part 2: Advertising Campaigns on YouTube 57

Chapter 4: Advertising Formats 59

YouTube’s Ad Format Offerings 59

Display ads 60

Image ads 61

Skippable video ads 62

Nonskippable video ads 65

Midroll ads 66

Bumper ads 66

The YouTube Masthead 68

Google Preferred 69

The Google Display Network 70

Being Aware of the Ad Policy 71

Prohibited content 72

Prohibited practices 72

Restricted content 73

Editorial and technical quality standards 74

Chapter 5: Developing Your Ad Strategy 75

Developing Your Marketing Messages 75

Discovering Micro-Moments 76

“I want to know” moments 78

“I want to do” moments 79

“I want to buy” moments 80

“I want to go” moments 80

Buying Paid Media 81

Doing it yourself 82

Using a media agency 83

Exploring Pricing Models 84

Cost per thousand (CPM) 84

Cost per view (CPV) 86

Cost per acquisition (CPA) 87

Placing Your Media Buy 88

Auction 88

Reserve 90

Scheduling Campaigns 91

Chapter 6: Ad Creative Fundamentals 93

YouTube Is Not TV 93

The story arc of a TV spot 94

The story arc of a YouTube ad 95

Gathering Your Marketing Essentials 96

Your messages 96

Your brand assets 97

Existing video assets 98

Your mandatories 99

Following the Rules of a Great YouTube Ad 100

Getting attention 100

Clearly branding 103

Making a connection 103

Giving specific direction 104

Testing Video Ad Creative 105

Testing marketing messages 105

Testing video creative 106

Chapter 7: Buying Paid Ad Media 109

Getting to Know Google Ads 109

Signing up with Google Ads 110

Getting a tour 110

Setting Up Video Campaigns 110

Driving leads 117

Delivering website traffic 118

Growing product and brand consideration 118

Creating brand awareness and reach 119

Designing your own custom campaign 121

Navigating the Google Ads Interface 121

Overview 122

Recommendations 122

Campaigns 123

Ad groups 123

Ads & extensions 124

Videos 127

Landing pages 127

Keywords 127

Audiences 128

Demographics 129

Topics 129

Placements 130

Settings 131

Locations 131

Ad schedule 131

Devices 131

Advanced bid adjustment 132

Change history 132

Exploring More Google Ads Features 132

Tools 133

Bulk actions 133

Measurement 133

Setup 134

Part 3: Planning Your Content Strategy 135

Chapter 8: Exploring Video Content Formats 137

Educate, Entertain, Inspire 138

People Visit YouTube for Education 138

Is an educational video the right format for your content? 140

Types of educational videos 140

The distinction between edutainment and how-to 148

A checklist for making educational videos 149

People Visit YouTube for Entertainment 150

Is an entertainment video the right format for your content? 151

Types of entertainment videos 153

Lean in versus lean back 163

A checklist for entertainment videos 164

People Visit YouTube for Inspiration 166

Case studies 166

Is an inspiration video the right format for your content? 170

A checklist for making inspirational videos 171

Connecting Formats to a Content Strategy 172

Chapter 9: Developing Your Content Strategy 173

Having a Brand Purpose 173

Applying Brand Purpose to Your YouTube Channel 174

Choosing Your Themes 175

Generating theme ideas 176

Lowe’s Home Improvement 177

Enjoying a Popular Niche 180

Benefitting from a popular niche 180

Finding a popular niche 182

Exploring Trending and Evergreen Videos 184

Trending videos 185

Evergreen videos 185

Making the choice 187

Distributing Content 187

Giving Structure to Your Content Choices 188

Hero videos 189

Hub videos 190

Help videos 193

Mapping Video to Your Marketing Calendar 196

Chapter 10: Content Fundamentals 197

Make Your Videos Shareable 198

Take a Conversational Approach 200

Involve Your Audience with Interactivity 201

Always Be Consistent 203

Target Your Audience’s Interests 205

Make Sure It’s Sustainable 206

Maximize Your Chances of Discoverability 207

Make Your Videos Accessible 208

Strive for Authenticity 208

Part 4: Making Videos for Ad Campaigns and Content 211

Chapter 11: Creating Video 213

Gathering Your Gear 213

Cameras 214

Audio 216

Lighting 218

Tripods 220

Preparing for Production 221

Developing your idea 221

Storyboarding your vision 222

Crafting your script 224

Developing your shot list 225

Choosing locations 226

Creating the call sheet 226

Tallying up costs 227

Ensuring legal compliance 227

Shooting Your Video 227

Planning the shot 228

Composition 228

B-roll 229

Continuity 229

Editing Your Video 230

Editing process 230

Exploring Advanced Video Options 232

Livestreaming 232

360-degree video 233

Virtual reality 234

Chapter 12: Curating, Collaborating, and Outsourcing 235

Getting Someone to Make Videos for You 235

Advertising and marketing agencies 236

Video production companies 237

Local freelancers 237

Online marketplace services 238

Video creation tools 240

Collaborating on Videos 240

Email a YouTuber directly 242

Work with a multichannel network (MCN) 242

Use a YouTuber marketplace 242

Curating Other People’s Videos 243

Part 5: Working with YouTube Channels 245

Chapter 13: Launching Your YouTube Channel 247

Creating Your YouTube Channel 247

Customizing Your Channel 249

Adding a banner image 250

Adding links to your banner 251

Editing your channel icon 251

Adding your channel description 252

Digging Deeper into Channel Customization 254

About tab 254

Channels tab 255

Discussion or Community tab 256

Home tab shelves 258

Channel trailer 260

Making Money from Your YouTube Channel 261

The YouTube Partner Program 262

Other ways to make money 265

Chapter 14: Publishing Your Videos 267

Writing Compelling Titles 267

The hook, explanation, and information 268

The question 268

The statement 268

The clickbait 269

Crafting a Quality Video Description 269

Adding Tags 270

Customizing Your Thumbnail 271

Uploading Videos 272

Improving Your Videos with Advanced Customization 275

Applying enhancements 276

Adding audio 278

Adding end screen and annotations 278

Adding cards 280

Modifying subtitles/CC 281

Chapter 15: Channel Management 283

Introducing Creator Studio Classic 283

Dashboard 285

Video Manager 285

Live Streaming 285

Community 286

Channel 289

Analytics 291

Translations and Transcriptions 291

Create 292

Your contributions 293

Auditing and Updating an Existing Channel 293

Channel art 293

Text areas of your channel 294

Video organization 294

Being in Good Standing 295

Copyright strikes 296

Community strikes 297

Part 6: Measuring Success 299

Chapter 16: Ad Campaign Metrics That Matter 301

Getting to Know Google Ads Reports 302

Using predefined reports 302

Creating a custom report 308

Creating a custom dashboard 309

Scheduling reports 310

Measuring the Metrics That Matter 311

Brand awareness and reach metrics 312

Brand and product consideration metrics 313

Website traffic and leads 315

Optimizing Your Ad Campaign 317

Tweaking your creative 317

Experimenting with ad formats 318

Targeting new audiences 318

Modifying campaign settings 319

Altering bidding and budgets 320

Chapter 17: Content Metrics That Matter 321

Getting to Know YouTube Analytics 321

Revenue Reports 323

Watch Time Reports 324

Watch time 324

Impressions and click-through rate 325

YouTube Premium 326

Audience retention 326

Demographics 326

Playback locations 327

Traffic sources 327

Devices 327

Live streaming 328

Translations 328

Interaction Reports 329

Subscribers 329

Likes and dislikes 330

Videos in playlists 330

Comments 330

Sharing 331

Annotations 331

Cards 331

End screens 332

Using Reports to Optimize Your Videos 332

Increasing watch time and views 332

Growing your audience 332

Getting more subscribers 333

Maintaining your YouTube Channel 333

Part 7: The Part of Tens 335

Chapter 18: The Ten Biggest Mistakes People Make 337

Trying to Do Too Much 337

Failing to Set Success Criteria 338

Forgetting about the Audience 339

Neglecting to Make Creative for YouTube 340

Thinking Paid Media Is Optional 340

Copycatting 341

Ignoring the Basics of Quality Video Production 341

Making Once, Distributing Once 342

Giving Up Too Early 342

Slacking Off Optimization 343

Chapter 19: The Ten Most Popular YouTubers 345

PewDiePie 346

Dude Perfect 346

Smosh 346

Markiplier 347

Nigahiga 347

Ninja 347

JennaMarbles 348

Logan Paul Vlogs 348

Shane 348

Jake Paul 349

Index 351

Will Eagle spent four years at Google creating brand and marketing strategies that leverage YouTube. He assisted Fortune 500 clients in developing and executing their plans. He has lent his talents to several leading marketing firms and has been a guest lecturer at various universities.