3 Essentials You Need to Know About Online Video Ads

video advertising online

Advertising is not cheap and deciding how to spend your budget can be stressful; TV, radio, sponsored Facebook and Google ads … what’s the best route? Sure, any great advertising strategy should be well-rounded, but when one medium pulls ahead of the rest, do you invest the bulk of your budget there? Here we will talk about online video ads.

In a recent article, Business Insider reported, “Online video ads are one of the fastest-growing ad mediums, far outpacing growth in spending on television and other digital formats.” In a digital world, consumers are moving to the Internet and the highest ROI is in online video ads; however, if you have zero experience or knowledge on the topic, do not take a shot in the dark. First, there are three foundational factors you need to know.

#1 Stay Relevant

Relevancy is crucial to guarantee that you don’t waste your money. This builds trust in your brand. The consumer needs something, you’ve got what her or she is looking for.

That said, buyer personas are your new imaginary friends and, as they evolve, clue you into who you’re trying to target and how to go about targeting them. You can go about developing buyer personas that match your business by interviewing your customers and learning what they want, what they’re interested in and what they’re talking about. General information is necessary, but you reach maximum relevance with your audience when your advertising approach matches what they’re talking about.

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#2 Study Your Competition

Anyone who knows about marketing will tell you to look at what your competitors are doing. After all, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you just have to make it better. Some of the biggest corporations have adopted comparative advertising, a strategy of comparing the benefits and costs within an advertisement itself. If you sincerely believe you have the superior product, you could launch an online video campaign comparing yours and the competitors’ products. However, this kind of ad is tricky, because your audience may not respond as expected. This brings you back to relevance.

#3 Get Social Media Savvy

If you’re new to the world of social media, you need to take a look at the social media strategy of successful companies. Take for example LifeLock’s YouTube channel. The identity theft company shares its commercials, videos of real success stories and helpful tips and tricks. One of the most important things the channel has is links to its other social media pages, which is key; you want customers to know where to find you at all times.

So with those basics in mind, your next move is figuring out what kind of online video ad is best suited for your brand and your audience.

Below are a couple of examples:

– Jamie Casino’s law firm advertisement went viral overnight. His audience? Men and people who are seeking justice for lost loved ones.

Branded webinars from the folks over at Moz. Audience: Marketing professionals.

You’ll need to put in a ton of research to figure out exactly what route works for your company, but once you do, you’ll minimize your spending margin of error and convert those advertising dollars into leads sooner rather than later.