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How Can In-Stream Ads With Lower-Quality Video Get Better Numbers?

September 2, 2014 by VPM

Here at Video Power Marketing we like testing things.  It is the only true way to know what works and what does not.  In our testing we came up with a question that could have profound effects on the outcome of our In-Stream video campaigns: “What kind of video works the best?”  A.K.A. Does the quality of your ad really matter on YouTube?  So like the Curious George that we are, we decided to test it out.

We started testing different video ads in the same campaign. All targeting groups were the same and the purpose of each was to generate leads.  The ad would take people to a landing page, where they would enter their name and e-mail address.  In return they got access to a free video course in which we would later upsell them to an actual product.

Low Quality In-Stream Ads: Shot From My iPhone

• CTR: 3.14%
• Conversion Rate: 14.3%
• CPA: $0.98

The first of the  In-Steam ads was a lower quality video that was actually shot on an iPhone.  We thought, as most of you are probably thinking right now, this would be our worst performing video.  However, life is full of surprises.  This video was actually our best performing ad.

Let’s compare the numbers of the first “low quality” ad with our next “high quality” ads.  This video ad was both shot on a green screen with professional lighting, filmed with a nice DSLR, took multiple takes, and then had an hour or two of post-production work.  Once again, a conversion was getting a name and an email.

The High Quality In-Stream Ads: Shot On Green Screen

• CTR: 1.95%
• Conversion Rate: 3.6%
• CPA: $1.84

This ad performed the worst between the two ads with a lower conversion rate and a higher cost per conversion.  It is funny that this is our worst performing ad, because most people kill for these kind of numbers in their TrueView ad Campaigns.  We must know what we are doing or something.

Your Campaign Is Only As Good As Your Video

Quality matters, but there is more to a great ad. Learn to create an effective ad with our VIDEO AD FORMULA

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But here’s the Twist…

Now that we have looked at the numbers, let’s take a step back.  We were pretty astonished when we saw the results of this experiment.  It went against everything we thought we knew about video marketing.  So we went digging a little deeper to try and understand how this happened.  The purpose of the campaign was to acquire leads, but the ultimate goal of acquiring a lead is to turn that lead into a customer.  So we took a look into our sales funnel analytics to find what the ultimate conversion value of these new leads were.

Although the Video Ad shot with the iPhone had a higher conversion rate and a lower CPA, the conversions (Leads) that came from the “Higher Production Video Ad” were almost 2x  more likely to purchase later on.

Basically, what this means is that the value of a conversion for the higher quality videos was almost twice as high as the conversion value for the iPhone video.  So, based on leads that converted into customers, the high quality videos were the better performing videos.  At the end of the day we want ads that would get us leads with the highest value.   We are more concerned about the quality of the leads, not the quantity.  We would much rather have the video that produced less leads, but would eventually produce more customers.

The Student Becomes The Teacher

We learned from this that quality breeds quality.  While we may be able to obtain more leads from a lesser quality video, they are lesser quality leads. Quality customers come from quality leads. And yes, that last sentence does sound like something Spiderman’s uncle Ben would say.

Every part of a campaign should be focused on obtaining customers, even the video. That is why your entire video strategy should be based on conversions. It is also why we test, so we can help you create a great strategy, because every little thing matters when you investing in your future customers.

In the words of Tommy Calahan (Tommy Boy)  “I could get a good look at a T-Bone steak by sticking my head up a bulls ass, but I’d rather take the butchers word for it.” We are the butcher for TrueView and In-Stream Ads.

200

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If you want more more info, including 11 instructional videos, checklists and PDF guides on how to start creating and managing your TrueView campaign, check out our Hacking YouTube Course

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* Important Note: This test was ran for 2 weeks with an ad spend a little over $200 giving us a small sample size to base decisions.  These are the results we saw.

About the Author

Filed Under: YouTube Advertising

Year Ago I Quit My Job to Start Video Power Marketing

August 6, 2014 by Jake Larsen

If you’re reading this right now I want to thank you for your support and trust and wanted to include you on this adventure.  One year ago today, I quit my job and started my company Video Power Marketing.

I recorded myself one hour after I quit my job and went “all in” with Video Power Marketing.  I’ve edited the video down so you can see bits and pieces of it here. Warning: It’s a bit raw and personal and leaves me a bit vulnerable but I’m sharing it anyway.

Looking back a year ago, I’m so grateful that I made the decision to pursue my passion.  Sure it was risky considering I quit my job right before my first child was born, but It was a calculated risk. I knew it would pay off and was the second best decision of my life. (Right behind marrying my wife)
Video Power Marketing has grown from an idea into a small company with a talented team.  I feel incredibly grateful that we’ve been able to help others get their message in front of specific types of people.  This service not only provides unique value to our clients, but allows me to provide for my family as well.

Filed Under: Entrepreneur

Why PPC No Longer Represents Your Best Investment In AdWords

July 29, 2014 by VPM

In 2013, Google made 58.8 billion dollars on advertising.  It  is safe to say that Google is taking over the world, and you are paying for it.  The PPC model is at the heart of this subtle take over.  Keyword bids continue to rise as their demand increases.  Take for example the word “insurance”.  The average bid for the keyword “insurance” is up to 55 dollars per click.  To me that is absolute madness.  How does the average business owner expect to see great returns on such a hefty investment?

ScreenHunter_01_Jan._24_13.42

Avoid the Great Bidding War

Imagine if you had gotten into AdWords in the early part of the millennium (AdWords was introduced in 2000, self service accounts became available a couple years later). AdWords was a new platform. Bids were low and therefore the opportunity to maximize your return was high.  If you look in the right place you can find that this opportunity has re-presented itself to us. In 2006 Google bought YouTube, and just over two years ago they added TrueView (YouTube) Advertising to the AdWords family.  Much like where PPC was 10 years ago, opportunity is ripe in TrueView.  The same bid for the keyword “insurance” would cost you no more than 10 cents on TrueView.  Compared to 55 dollars on PPC ads, that ain’t half bad.  For you PPC buffs thinking you can jump right into this and find success, you need to slow your roll a little bit.  While TrueView is managed in the Adwords platform it is a whole different ball game.  You have to put in the offseason work before you get into a regular season game.  The main reason for the difference in strategies is linked back to the difference in models: PPC (pay per click) vs. PPV (pay per view).

Are You Sick Of PPC Pricing?

YouTube is the answer. Our Hacking YouTube Course is the first step to getting out of the PPC grind.

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PPC vs PPV

Situation 1: PPC

Let’s take a look at what your cost per click will look like in a Pay Per View model.  If we look at a phrase like “Real Estate Investing,” we find that keywords can be pricey.  That specific keyword is around 8 bucks per click.  The average cost per click for related keywords is above $20.  That’s absurd.  If you had a 1% conversion rate, which is actually pretty good, that means for every 100 clicks you get 1 conversion.  Based on a 20 dollar CPC you would be paying $2,000 big ones to acquire a customer.

Real Estate Keywords CPC
Real Estate Keywords

 

Situation 2: PPV

Now let’s look at this from the the PPV point of view. This information comes from one of our clients.  If you look at their campaign, the total cost was $95.10. From that cost they had 83 clicks. That is a cost per click of $1.21. Comparing this to situation 1, if you get a 1% conversion rate it would take $121 to acquire a customer. If you gave me the choice between spending $121 or $2,000, guess which one I would choose?

TrueView_Ads_CPV
Click To Enlarge

Stealing Attention

In a pay per view model you are paying to steal someones attention.  Think about it, these people are not searching for your product with an intent to buy something. They are on YouTube to watch their video.  You can use the perfect keyword or the perfect placement to put your ad in front of the perfect person (someone who should be your future customer), but if your ad sucks they are just going to skip your ad and move on to their video.  They will not click your ad, they will not go to your website, and they will not become your customer.

What Does it All Mean?

There are two morals to the story.  The first, I believe, can be described in the words of Mr. Robert Goulet (or Will Ferrell on SNL), “You wouldn’t hire a clown to fix the John.”  In other words do not believe for a second that just because you know PPC that you can do PPV.  Second, while PPC is great, it does not offer the opportunity that is currently available with TrueView.  I don’t know about you, but I like lower costs, free traffic, and the possibility of higher returns.

tumblr_mtu9adFcJ91sx7thko1_500
If you have had success with PPC, then you can likely find that same success with PPV (if you know what you are doing).

Are You Sick Of PPC Pricing?

YouTube is the answer. Our Hacking YouTube Course is the first step to getting out of the PPC grind.

Click Here For Access

About the Author

Filed Under: YouTube Advertising

TrueView Advertising Case Study: Marketing ROAS 646%

May 15, 2014 by Jake Larsen

If a machine existed that took $1 and made it into $7, what would you do to get it?  That’s like asking what would you do for a Klondike Bar, pretty much anything. While the idea seems farfetched,  it is not unattainable.  This is what we have done with our client Real Truck.  For every dollar of ad spend they put into their TrueView Advertising Campaign, they are getting back $7 in sales.  Real Truck is an e-commerce company that sells truck accessories.  This case study can teach you to get a consistent ROAS using TrueView Advertising.  (Those Ads on YouTube that you can skip after 5 seconds)

The Background

RealTruck.com is one of the 20 fastest growing e-commerce sites on the web, which is attributed to their visionary leadership and talented team.  They had only dabbled in YouTube advertising before they met us and they struggled trying to get some decent results on this new advertising platform.  After spending tens of thousands of dollars in TrueView Advertising and seeing no results, they contacted us.  Five months later we turned their campaign upside down and helped produce a money making machine.

We took their “traditional” video and applied our TrueView Video Ad Formula to create a campaign that gets people off of YouTube and onto their website.  This Video Ad Formula is secret combination that, through a lot of time and a lot money, we have created to bring conversions and customers to our clients. Our numbers speak for themselves.  Check out this graph of what Real Truck has done with a little help from their friends…

TrueView ROI Chart
TrueView ROAS Chart

The Play-by-Play

Month 1: Before

The first month of the graph shows what Real Truck was doing before contacting us.  They spent around $5,000 and received no return. We found that their campaign was very unorganized, making it impossible to measure how effective the different parts of the campaign were.  They were also over-paying for views on targets that were not relevant.  Most importantly, their videos lacked certain elements that make a campaign successful and create a high click through rate.

Month 2: The Experiment

This was our first real month dealing with the campaign.  There are a lot of factors to consider in a campaign including your targets, your videos and your landing page.  In month two we had to spend money to see what targets and ad groups were draining money.  From there we filled up the holes of this sinking ship.

Month 3: Turning Heads

Trueview Case Study Stats (RT) 

We completely overhauled Real Trucks strategy.  We implemented new videos built around engagement.  Click through rates went from 1% to 3%.  The traffic tripled at a quarter of the cost from the previous month.  Since we plugged the holes in the campaign the ad spend dollars were going a lot further. This once sinking ship was burning across the Atlantic without an iceberg in sight.

Month 4: Let The Good Times Roll

In month 4 we kept the good times rolling and posted another huge gain. We did some small things like adjusting our bids to maximize efficiency but for the most part we just let the campaigns momentum continue pushing it through the month.

Month 5: Shake Your Money Maker

This is where we really shook our money maker.  We tweaked where we were spending our money by doubling the daily ad spend on all campaigns that were getting a low CPA ($75 or less) and cut spend in half on campaigns with a high CPA ($150). Our goal was to make this campaign a money making machine, and we did.

Check Out These Results

YouTube TrueView Campaign ROI Graph
YouTube TrueView Campaign ROAS Graph [Click to Enlarge]

 

This Success Can Be Duplicated In Any Industry, As Long As You Are Using The Right Methods.

We have spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours learning what works, and what doesn’t. So why not save yourself time and money

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About the Author

Filed Under: YouTube Advertising

Turn YouTube Advertising into a Cash Making Machine

April 29, 2014 by Jake Larsen

While everybody knows about YouTube advertising, not many people know how to utilize it. The real question is, how can your business benefit from YouTube Advertising? In my opinion there are two reasons why people do not advertise on YouTube.

VideoPowerSquareLogoNumber one is the obsession over the viral video.  If you can get a video to go viral, good for you.  You might as well stop reading this right now.  For those who want to make money without having to wait for a viral video (which will most likely never happen), then keep on reading.  

The second reason people do not use YouTube advertising is because they do not understand how it works, nor do they understand the opportunity that comes with it.  I want to share with you this opportunity.

 Proof That It Works

 I currently have a client that is going gangbusters using the Trueview advertising platform.  Trueview is the technical term for YouTube advertising.  So, when we talk about Trueview advertising, we are referring to  YouTube advertising. This is all done using Google Adwords.  The first thing you should know about this campaign is that it took 3 months for us to start seeing a return on ad spend.

TrueView ROI Chart

It starts out like an experiment.  You have to spend money to find out what works and what doesn’t.  However, when you find what works, it works well.

It’s not like a Viral Video that gets a huge spike in traffic and then goes away.  We’re talking about consistent guaranteed results.  Where you put in a dollar and get back a dollar fifty.

In the first two months with this client, we had an ROI of almost negative $14,000 dollars.  In month three we finally figured it out and started seeing a return on our ad spend.  In months three to five we have had an ROI of $30,000, $30,000 and $60,000 respectively.  So while for 2 months we lost money, today we have a total ROI of over $100,000 dollars solely based on the clients Trueview ad spend.  For every $1 we spend on YouTube advertising, we make $7 in revenue, so basically we’ve built a money making machine.

3 Secrets to a Good Campaign

There are certain things when you and your business need to think about when starting your campaign.

  1. In your video, have a great hook.  How many of us have gone on YouTube and when the ad comes up, we skip it after 5 seconds.  You need a hook.  You need the people who are possible customers to keep watching you. People who aren’t possible customers are gonna skip it no matter what.  How you keep the possible customers watching is what makes a great campaign.

  2. Targeting possible customers is an amazing part of TrueView advertising.  You can target any demographic you want.  It is also possible place your ads on certain YouTube channels and videos.  So go ahead and take your ads and put them on your competitors videos.  You can literally hijack traffic and customers from your competitors.

  3. The main secret that many people do not realize about the YouTube ads is that they are clickable.  If you click them, people will be brought to your site.  The most beautiful part is, you do not pay for clicks, you pay for views.  For those that are familiar with Google Adwords, you are paying buckets for a click.  With Trueview (YouTube advertising) you are begging these people to click.  As long as they click before 30 seconds, you get them onto your website, for free.  I will say that again for you… Free.

Want to Take Advantage of YouTube Ads For Yourself?

There is so much more I can teach you. Sadly, it cannot all be put in one article.  The things I wrote about are just the tip of the Iceberg.  I guess you could say they were the “tips” of the iceberg (get it?).  If you really want to do this right, check out the Video Power Lab. It’s a collection of all of our tactics and strategies presented in easy step-by-step tutorials that will help you set up successful, converting Video Ad Campaigns.

If you’d like to work together, or if you’re unsure what you need, fill out an Opportunity Brief and we can discuss how to best help you over a Free Consultation

Filed Under: YouTube Advertising

Rich vs Poor Mentality

February 7, 2014 by Jake Larsen

I’ve always been very concerned with price. Before I ever knew the benefits or value of anything, I would always ask, “How much does it cost?”. Spoiler Alert: this is not how rich people think.

Growing up we were that family that would never buy drinks at restaurants because it cost too much. My Dad would always say, “Why should I pay $1.85 for a small coke when we can get it for 75 cents at the gas station?” It drove him nuts when we ordered cheeseburgers, because the cheese cost an additional 15 cents. Can you relate?

“I was so focused on the price that I was completely missing out on the value.  This mindset keeps people from being successful.  Rich people focus on value, poor people focus on price.”

Warren Buffet on Being Rich Value vs PriceA couple of months ago I was invited to join a business coaching program that would teach me how to create, manage and grow my own business. Naturally, my first question was, “How much does it cost?” My mouth dropped when they told me how much it was. The price was high four figures. I could buy a car for that much! Why would I pay that when Google gives me access to the world’s information for free?!

This coaching program promised great results that were backed up by case studies, testimonials and current clients. A lot of these programs are sketchy and scam people out of a lot of money but I also had a good friend who was involved in this program and I trusted him. He told me he thought it would help me out but he didn’t want to push anything on me. I thought about it for a couple of days.

“I often thought, where do I want to be? What do I want to be doing?”

My Why 2014Running my own company and having it provide health, security and opportunities for my family has always been a dream of mine. I was working at a great company for four years while trying to balance and grow a side business as well. Every year I would always tell myself, “This will be the last year I work here.” But year after year I was still there.

I had my own marketing consulting company but I was never able to justify leaving my day job for it.

I wanted three things…

  1.   Quit my day job
  2.   Grow my current Marketing company
  3.   Be able to provide Food, Health, Security, Shelter and opportunities for my family.

Money wasn’t on my list of wants, but was necessary to provide for my family.  Money was not my end goal but a means to an end.

“Naturally, I asked myself, ‘How much would I be willing to pay to get these things?’  It was a no brainer. I would easily pay $xx,xxx if I could get these results.”

After just a few months into this program, I’ve accomplished almost everything I wanted to do. I quit my job and grew my own company. I can honestly say that it has provided nearly everything that my family needs plus a little bit extra.

Last month I made more money than I ever have. What would have taken me five months of work at my old job I made in a month! I’m not writing this to brag but to show you that it’s possible. The American dream is alive and well for those willing to invest in themselves.

By no means am I making the kind of money to be flying on a private jet and traveling the world but to be honest, I don’t need that kind of money.

The information I learned in this program is priceless and has allowed me to design my life how I want.  It’s the kind of information that you can’t find on Google.

This experience has changed my perspective on value and price.

“You should never make a decision based on price but on the value it provides.”

Looking back on it I would have easily paid double to get the results I have now.

Rich People Favor Value Over PriceI also find it amusing when people complain about our membership site that costs $497.  They’re so fixated on price that they lose sight of the real value.  Even if the content teaches them how to blow up their business with YouTube Ads.  When you’re so worried about paying the bills you blind yourself to bigger investments AKA opportunities.  Stop thinking small and start thinking big.

Would you pay $25,000 if it taught you how to make $50,000?

If you’re saying, “I would never spend $25,000 on anything that’s a lot of money.” Slap yourself.

“The point is not how much money you’re spending, but the value you get in return”.

This is also known as an investment; spending money now so you can make more money in the future.

You may also be saying, “I don’t even have $1,000 how can I afford $25,000?” Everyone knows at least one person with a lot of money. Use their money to finance it. You could say, if you give me $25,000, I will give you back $30,000 in a couple of months. If you’re smart about your investment, your rich friend is now richer because you just made him an extra $5,000 and you’re well on your way to becoming rich yourself.

I know there’s a lot of questions and “what if” scenarios, but you get the picture. It takes money to make money.

“Rich people make decisions based on value, not price.”

I’ve always been very concerned with price, but now I’m more concerned with the value I’m getting. When I’m faced with a purchasing decision, my first question is, “What value does this bring to me?  How will this make my life better, faster, easier, stronger?”

When was the last time you invested in yourself?
What do you want?  What would you pay to get there?

Filed Under: Entrepreneur, YouTube Advertising

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