Unedited video ad campaigns could result in a massive loss of money. But minor tweaks in your current video ad campaigns – as given in this guide – can DOUBLE your clientele.
Quite literally.
According to a recent report, 78% of marketers claim that videos resulted in directly increased sales. Another survey by Animoto reveals, 73% of consumers say that a video or two influenced their purchasing decision.
Clearly, the audience LOVES videos.
And the ball is literally in your court. Just execute video ads well, and you should be able to see significant growth in profits.
But how exactly do you execute these videos well? What to do apart from the usual plan-film-publish routine?
Well, this guide is compiled to answer that very question. There’s a lot of difference that slight editing can make. We’ll share some actionable advice on this today.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
5 Types of Video Ads
Before we dive into the best practices to create an effective video ad, let’s quickly revise the basic types of video ads.
1. In-stream Video Ads
These ads play before, during, or after the video content. Imagine the ads that play before, after, or in between your YouTube videos.
These ads further subdivide into linear and non-linear. Here are the details:
Linear Ads
They run in line with the video content – sequentially. There are three types of linear video ads, depending on their placement with video content:
- Pre-roll: Placed before the actual video content.
- Mid-roll: Placed in between the actual video content.
- Post-roll: Placed at the end of the actual video content.
Amongst these, mid-roll gets the most views, while post-roll video ads get the least views. That’s because viewers are likely to watch through the mid-roll ad as they impatiently wait for their video to continue.
It is, for this reason, video experts do not recommend incorporating a fast-forward button in these ads. Some other best practices for these video ads include:
- Keep the length within 15-30 seconds.
- Use a 16:9 ratio.
- Incorporate a CTA in a post-roll video ad that immediately takes the viewer to another landing page. Place your actual video ad on this landing page.
- Offer a skip button in pre-roll video ads.
Non-linear Video Ads
These also run with the video content, but not sequentially. These may run over the video content (as a pop-up) or as a text or graphical ad that’s embedded within the video content.
Some best practices for these types of video ads include:
- Keep the length between 5-10 seconds.
- Offer a close button (X)
Try not to obstruct crucial video information like subtitles and captions.
2. Outstream Video Ads
Outstream video ads are not supported by any kind of video content or tied to any blog post. Hence, they are non-intrusive and independent in nature. This means if the viewer wants to scroll by, they can do so.
These video ads are further subdivided into the following:
- In-page: They occupy a significant space on the web page and are usually static.
- In-banner: You’ll find these ads welcoming you on a website, and they are often collapsible. Imagine a car website. In the hero section of their website, they may offer a small video ad box. If you click on it, the box expands in size, and the video starts to play. But if you do not wish to watch it, you can simply scroll down to the bottom of the page.
In-text: These out-stream video ads are usually between two paragraphs of a blog post or web copy. Again, you can scroll by if you want to. And these are silent by default. Web visitors can turn up the volume if the ad catches their eye.
3. In-Game Video Ads
These ads are incorporated in between levels and when the game is loading. So, in a way, these are non-intrusive and less annoying for the viewer. It is a good idea to keep these ads 15-30 seconds long and offer the gamer deals to buy tokens, upgrades, extra lives, or bonus items – depending on their current gaming journey.
Also, make these ads non-skippable.
4. Interactive Video Ads
So far, these are the most beneficial types of video ads for all industries. In these ads, the viewer is prompted to take immediate action. It could be signing up for a newsletter, clicking their favorite products to automatically add to the cart, trying a new game, or clicking for more information.
We recommend adding these ads before or after the main content. If you incorporate these in between the actual content, there’s a high chance your audience will get frustrated.
5. TV Video Ads
As an online video marketer, this video ad type might not interest you. But it is essential to educate yourself about the science of TV video ads. That’s because TV video ad strategies can help improve online video ads drastically.
Browse this detailed guide before you hop onto the best practices to create effective video ads: Using TV in Your Digital Marketing Strategy for the Ultimate Win.
6 Best Practices to Create Effective Video Ads
Now, let’s hop onto video ads best practices.
Note that we’re assuming you already have a video ad strategy in place. The following are some edits that you can make to your existing plan and up your performance by ten levels.
If you don’t have a video marketing strategy, check out: Guide to Viral Video Marketing. It’ll help you frame a strategy right away.
1. Understand your target audience & pick the right video ad type.
Before you produce video content, make sure you understand your target audience thoroughly. Build an ideal customer profile that will likely watch your video ad.
Note that an ideal customer profile is NOT the same as a buyer persona.
Here’s HubSpot’s guide on their difference: Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Personas – How are they different?
So, given the differences, we recommend:
- Focus on the ideal customer profile if you are creating a video ad for the first time or trying a marketing idea for the first time.
- Focus on buyer persona if you’ve run a similar video ad campaign before. And you only want improvised results in this one.
Whether you opt for ICP or buyer persona, you’ll have a bunch of details about your target audience. This data should help you pick the right type of video ad.
If you are dealing with teens looking for entertainment, mid-roll linear ads or interactive ads might be a good idea.
Similarly, if you’re dealing with an individual who’s responsible for their own (or their business’s) finances, a non-linear video ad might work well. How so? Suppose they are on your page to grab some product information, and you pitch an alternate cheaper solution in an embedded non-overlay graphical ad. They’re likely to consider their second option and give it some thought. Just make sure you place the ad in a noticeable place.
However, if you place interactive ads in between a YouTube video on the latest news, there’s a high chance you will lose traffic. Middle-aged adults are watching these videos and they want to quickly grab what’s happened.
So, make sure you consider your audience and pick a relevant video ad type.
2. Choose the right platform for your video ad
There are two approaches to extracting the maximum possible profits from a video ad. These are:
- Optimize it for every platform and run it on all your channels
- Optimize it for a specific platform and run it on one channel (i.e., this will target a very specific segment of your audience)
The first one is good for you if you are a small business with minimal reach and clientele.
The second one is good for you if you are a medium to large company with an experienced marketing team and ample reach.
To be honest, the second promises more returns than the first one. But it is also risky in the sense that you have to be perfect at targeting and crafting clear, compelling messages. The ad HAS to reach the right people and HAS to be compelling enough to get the target segment to respond as you want. Failure means losing money and time.
But here’s a hybrid route you can pull:
- Pick two platforms where your target audience spends most of their time.
- Subscribe to editvideo.io monthly video editing subscription. Go for the basic plan. It only costs $295/month.
- You’ll get a dedicated video editor. Ask this editor to optimize your video for the two platforms you’ve picked.
- Test run the video ad on both these platforms for the first half of your campaign. For example, if you plan to run the ad for 30 days, run it for 15 days only.
- After the 15th day, check out the traction you’re getting. Quit running ads on the platform that gives no returns.
- Invest the rest of your budget in running the ad on the winning platform.
We’ve also made a guide on repurposing video material. You might want to browse that to make more money out of the same video ads.
3. Use subtitles and captions
Subtitles and captions are important because 85% of people watch videos with the sound off. There’s a high chance all your efforts for the video ad script will go in vain if there are no captions.
Apart from this, surveys prove that videos with subtitles:
- Make it easier for the audience to retain your message even after they’ve finished watching the video
- Understand your message better
Subtitles also boost engagement rates significantly. It’s recorded that videos with subtitles got 17% more reactions as compared to videos without subtitles.
We know it’s difficult to add accurate captions and subtitles for videos, so we offer these for FREE to all our customers. If you’ve subscribed to editvideo.io and get any video edited from us, you’ll always receive the edited files with subtitles unless you specify you don’t want them.
4. Include a catchy thumbnail.
Most so-called video experts on the internet would only recommend you to work on thumbnails when recommending Facebook video ads best practices or YouTube video ads best practices.
The truth is video thumbnails are important for all platforms. Be it YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, or Instagram.
In fact, 90% of most viewed videos have the best thumbnails. Some best practices for creating super clickable thumbnails are as follows:
- Use vibrant colors that sync with your brand palette. Ideally, go for a bright background and contrasting shades. Do not crowd the thumbnail with more than 2-3 colors.
- Use 2-4 words to explain what’s in the video
- Use an image from the video or your own image.
- Choose a readable font size and style.
- Be consistent with your designs.
Suggested read: How to make your YouTube thumbnail pop?
5. Include clickable CTAs
You can CTAs throughout your video ad. But generally, it’s best to include a clickable button at the end of the ad.
Make sure this button is prominent, has 2-3 action-inspiring words, and takes the viewer to a sales page. If you’re a YouTube content creator or the goal of your ad campaign is only to create brand awareness, you might want to direct your viewers to other relevant content (such as videos on related topics or free resources).
6. Align TOV with TOV of landing pages & socials
Amongst our entire list of best practices to create effective video ads, this is the most important one. It has long-lasting benefits.
What we’re asking you to do here is to align the tone of your messaging in video ads with the tone of your brand – as witnessed by your audience on your social media pages and website.
Say you have a super informal and humorous voice on your socials and website. But your video ad gives off formal corporate vibes, your audience will have:
- Trouble trusting you
- Trouble recognizing you
- Doubts when considering a purchase
So, make sure your video ads align with your brand voice. Be it the tone, selection of words, images, colors, or overall vibe.
The same applies to video to video. If you have a super cheerful tone in one video and a super dry tone in another, the audience will be disturbed by the lack of consistency and might not return to you.
End Note
By now, you have the top 6 best practices to create effective video ads. We hope you put them to use soon! If you have any questions, drop us a message right now.
And stay tuned! We’ll soon share how to test your video ads and how you can align your video ads with your sales funnel.
