YouTube Ads Increase Sales

I’ve been doing YouTube advertising for one of my clients for six months, and it’s increased our business by an estimated 10%. While I had done Google and Facebook pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, I was new to video. Viewers are now spending up to six hours/day watching video, so the time is right. 

Be prepared for a learning curve 

The YouTube ads creation tool is the same as that for Google ads. But there are significant differences and some subtle nuances. I did a lot of reading as I was working on this. It’s also helpful to watch videos that explain processes. 

We created a series of explainer videos

Our videos were about 60 seconds or less. I wrote the scripts, and this is key—keep them crisp and focused on a single topic. A quick how-to that explains a process or, in our case, the benefit of using a product/service. 

Professional-looking videos can get expensive, but I turned to Fiverr—a website that hosts contractors offering a wide range of services. I found a graphic designer from Pakistan who created our videos for between $100-200/each. The quality of these is excellent. We’ve developed a good working relationship, and it helped that he’s creative and clearly takes a lot of pride in his work. Turnaround time is generally a week or so. 

I also made a few of my own little videos using Promo.com

I love this little application. Easy to use, you can produce a polished video with music and three-five frames in a couple of hours. Keep your message simple and focused. 

Keywords are critical to the success of our ads

This is where it starts. Keywords are fundamental to a successful campaign. I use Google’s Keyword Planner. You want to use words and phrases for which there is a significant amount of search, but relatively little competition. Identify how much you want to spend per day and per view. 

Your keywords/phrases need to be grouped into adgroups.

Ad groups  organize your ads by a common theme—the types of products/services you’re advertising. An ad group contains one or more ads that share similar targets. Set a bid, or price, to be used when an ad group's keywords trigger an ad to appear. 

Identify your target audience

Really think about age, gender, education and interests. Think about where your audience is hanging out. These will be the websites where you place your ads. You can also create custom audiences based on these values. 

Measuring success: Make sure you’re tracking your website traffic with Google Analytics

I created a landing page to sign up for our newsletter, monitored Google Analytics and watched our numbers increase for our range of services. We were clearly driving traffic to our website. By synching your Google Ads account with Google Analytics you can see the effectiveness of your campaign from a single sign-in that streamlines your effort.

Interested in YouTube/Google advertising? Contact Top of Mind Marketing. We’re writers and content marketing specialists. 

Clubhouse: The Hot, New Audio-Only App

Clubhouse is the hot new social app that’s generating buzz from those who suffer from FOMO-disease (Fear of Missing Out). This invite-only, audio-based iPhone app is like listening in on someone else’s phone call. After a year of Covid privation, Clubhouse fills a need by creating community. 

What sets this social app apart: It’s audio-only 

Clubhouse has gotten some media attention from celebrities who’ve joined the Clubhouse rooms and immediately drawn big crowds. The biggest draw was uber-rich Elon Musk, whose Clubhouse appearance broke the 5,000-person limit for a room. Users tuned in to secondary listening rooms and live-streamed on other platforms to follow the Musk conversation. 

Clubhouse lets you listen in, or you could get called on as a participant in the chat. But this is a virtual clubhouse; each discussion takes place in a different room of the house. You can host chat rooms, browse the discussions going on in each room, look at who’s participating in each, and pop in and out of chats.

Clubhouse has also hosted a live reading of The Lion King, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg recently joined a Clubhouse chat. Other Clubhouse celebs include Oprah, Kevin Hart and Chris Rock. California Congressman Ted Lieu and retired Yankee pitcher CC Sabathia have also joined the Clubhouse discussions. 

At the Clubhouse, it’s celebrities who draw attention

Clubhouse hype and its audience continue to grow. Some stats that will get your attention

This app is still in its infancy—it will celebrate its first birthday in April 2021. 

• Clubhouse has about 2M weekly active users, as of the beginning of March. 
• Clubhouse has just nine employees.

The app was initially valued at $100M. How is this possible?

• It began with 1,500 beta users in April 2020.
• Clubhouse’s owners haven’t done any significant press; it doesn’t have a real website. 
• Yet Clubhouse was valued at $100M in May 2020 after an initial round of Series A funding with a $12M investment from VC Andreessen Horowitz.
• Clubhouse has a large population of celebrities and elite users—exclusivity is, of course, a large part of its appeal. As it grows, it will lose some of that exclusivity. How will it continue to set itself apart? 
• Clubhouse remains invite-only. New users can allocate a select number of invites to whomever they choose. Some are selling Clubhouse invites on eBay for up to $125 each.

Join in the after-hours house party

At 10ish every night, there’s a group of 30-50 people in The Back of the Bus room. What goes on there? A host makes sure there’s no tech talk. Topics can range from dating advice to tarot card readings. 

Further contributing to the app’s exclusivity: No Android version yet

Given the app’s rapid growth, it’s easy to see why investors are watching Clubhouse closely. The app recently raised a new round of funding on a $1B valuation. As Rachel Maddow says, “Watch this space!”

Time to talk marketing? Contact Top of Mind Marketing. We’re writers and content marketing specialists.