Youtube started just like everything else, with a simple idea. In 2005, three PayPal employees decided to create a platform for video sharing, and one year later, sold it to Google for over US$1.6 billion.

Between 2008 and 2011, the volume of videos uploaded to YouTube jumped from 10 hours every minute to more than 100 a minute. By the end of 2011, according to Marketingland YouTube had generated more than 1 trillion views; people were watching over 3 billion hours of video every month, and creators were earning real money and a lot of it via Google AdSense.

In 2018, a select few of creators working within YouTube’s top-tier advertising platform would make more than US$1 million a month.

When watching a video on YouTube, many of you will have noticed that they have instream ads. These are in no way connected to the YouTuber you’re watching, and YouTube provides them.

You may also have noticed that some of your favorite YouTubers will talk about companies during their video. Sometimes, giving you a discount code.

Today, I want to discuss what are the benefits of both options. And if you’re thinking about YouTube marketing, which option is going to be best suited to you.

Sponsoring YouTubers

Friendly advice

Even though ads always surrounds us, we don’t necessarily like them all. Some of them we can skip, others we can’t, and many of us pay for services like Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV, which means we never have to see them on these particular platforms.

However, even though we don’t always enjoy being exposed to advertisements, many of us will be happy to listen to what our friends recommend to us. I know that YouTubers aren’t technically our friends, but when we know about their life and watch their videos all the time, it can feel like we know them personally.

So a YouTuber talking about your product may come across as friendly advice rather than advertising.

Brand loyalty

Having customers is good. But having returning customers is even better.

When you’re buying a product because your “friend” is recommending it to you, you’ll be far more likely to associate this product with being of high quality and good value instead of something that was promoted to you.

As a result, people will be more likely to avoid your competitors as they will feel a personal connection to your brand. And this is true, no matter what it is you’re selling.

Support the little guy

These days, being a content creator on YouTube can be a big business. People like PewDiePie are regularly taking home millions of dollars.
But there are thousands of smaller YouTubers who have a loyal following, and continuously put out high-quality videos.

Rather than paying YouTube, which is owned by one of the largest corporations on the planet, you can instead be paying the little guys. The people who are constantly working hard to produce content that people enjoy watching.

Many of your leads would look at you favorably if you were to be on the side of the creators and not the corporations.

No skipping

When you advertise using in-stream ads, there is a high chance that a “skip” button will accompany your video.
People will only need to watch 5 seconds of your advert before they can continue watching the video.

But when you sponsor a YouTuber, they’ll pause in the middle of their video to let their viewers know about your business. People who are watching a video they want to are less likely to skip than if they were watching a video they didn’t ask to be watching.

The YouTuber may also be capable of adding your product promotion smoothly into their video.

Specific YouTubers

Different companies are going to have customers who have different interests. You could be targeting people of a certain age, gender, or demographic. Or you could be targeting people who share the same passions or hobbies.

When you sponsor YouTubers, you can decide who will be promoting your products. You can choose people whose audience is likely to be the type of people who are likely to buy from you.

For example, if you own a clothing brand, you might want to sponsor YouTubers who talk about fashion or style. If you own an ebook service, you may wish to sponsor educational YouTubers.

In-Stream Advertising

Ad Groups target people

“Ad groups” are when you decide what audience you want your adverts to be shown at.

For example, if you choose one of your keywords as “Housing”, then YouTube videos with “Housing” as one of their keywords will be more likely to place your advert at the start of their videos.

If someone has been watching many videos with “housing” as a keyword, the YouTube algorithms will be more likely to show your advertisement to that person.

You don’t need to worry whether the audience of any YouTuber will fit your clientele, because the algorithms will do that for you.

Relate to categories

For example, if you’re selling website design services, instead of just targeting people who are into website design, you can also target people who have shown an interest in websites in general.

Similarly, you can also select the category of video you would prefer YouTube to place your advertisement in. This is like the aforementioned “placement targeting”, with the difference being that you’ll be able to reach a more extensive scope of people with a broader variety of interests.

Doing this is incredibly easy.

Better lead management

If you run an online-based business, good luck adding a lot to your customer base if you don’t have leads.

Leads are essentially potential customers. They have not yet given a single penny to you, but they’re the type of person who is most likely to buy your services.

YouTube’s algorithm is going to keep on track on what all of their users are interested in. This algorithm is more likely to send better leads in your direction. You will therefore stand a higher chance of turning your leads into customers as they’ll be more likely to be exposed to your company.

No skipping

We mentioned earlier that people can skip in-stream ads after just 5 seconds. But this is not all of the time.

Those of you who regularly watch YouTube videos will know that there are some videos that you can skip and other videos which you will need to watch all the way through.

Should your ad be one of the ones the viewers can’t skip, this can be beneficial compared to having a YouTuber pause to talk about your company.

Many viewers will know that the YouTuber has been paid to talk about you, and will just skip right ahead, past your promotion to the end of the video.

Show off your skills

And the final benefit of in-stream advertising is that it allows you a better opportunity to show off your skills and abilities when it comes to creating video ads.

You may have done much research about how to advertise effectively, and potentially even hired people to help with that aspect. Your adverts are fun, uplifting, and engaging.

Likely to bring in more customers!

Conclusion

The purpose of this article has not been to persuade you of one way or the other. However, hopefully, now, you’ll have a better understanding of what the best option for you and your company is going to be should you choose to market via YouTube.