As you know, I’m no stranger to YouTube ads. It’s been an obsession of mine since 2016.
But, I love talking shop and swapping ideas with other YouTube ad experts.
My guest today is Brian Moncada. He and his team run YouTube ads for other marketing legends like Frank Kern, John Asaraf, and others. Brian knows his stuff!
Brian has worked mostly with info marketers and influencers. We work almost exclusively with DTC brands. So our combined perspective on YouTube ads is pretty powerful.
Here’s a look at what we cover:
- Brian’s ad framework.
- How to harness intent-based targeting.
- How to create urgency and scarcity.
- Why most YouTube ads fail.
Mentioned in This Episode:
Brian Moncada
7-Figure YouTube Ads Swipe File & High-Converting Script
YouTube Advertising Masterclass
Transcript:
Brett:
Well, I am so excited about today's topic. I'm going to geek out today more than usual, if you can imagine that. This topic is one of my favorites, it's been one of my favorites for years. We're talking YouTube ads and I have a YouTube ad expert on the show today. And we actually met through my business partner, Chris Brewer, the man himself, Chris heard my guest today speaking at War Room and was blown away and he's like, "Brett, I know you're the YouTube guy, but you got to hear from Brian." And so Brian and I connected, instantly hit it off, kindred spirits on the YouTube side of things.
Brett:
This episode of the eCommerce Evolution Podcast is brought to you by OMG Commerce Resources. That's right. Here at OMG Commerce, we want to help make sure you're educated and in the know to capitalize on the latest tips, tricks, and strategies to help you grow your e-commerce business. So if you go to omgcommerce.com and under resources click on 'guides', we have some cutting-edge free information for you on things like how to dominate with Amazon DSP ads, or how to use Amazon sponsor brand video ads and how to craft the perfect ad. We have several guides on how to capitalize on YouTube ads, from creating the perfect ad to knowing when you're ready to scale. Plus, there's the newly updated Google shopping guide, plus more. Check it all out at omgcommerce.com and click on 'guides' under resources. And now back to the show.
Brett:
I'm delighted to welcome to the show Brian Moncada and Brian is the founder, the visionary, the leader of adspend.com. Fantastic URL. So with that quick intro, Brian, welcome to the show. How you doing, man? And thanks for taking the time.
Brian Moncada:
Dude, Brett, thanks for having me, man. I'm glad to be here and I am doing phenomenal.
Brett:
Yes. We were just talking about this. I don't know what time of the year you'll be listening to this podcast, because this will be... have some longevity. I'm in the Midwest. It's literally snowing and sleeting outside right now and Brian is in Miami just living it up. What's the weather like in Miami today, Brian? Just make us all feel bad, for those of us...
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but it's beautiful. It's 78 degrees and it's sunny and it's nice.
Brett:
Yeah. All right. Well, that's the forecast. The forecast For this podcast is going to be hot and so we're going to dive into YouTube. And so let's talk about this, Brian, because a lot of the clients that we talk to... and just to kind of set this up a little bit better, this will be, I think, a unique perspective on YouTube, the two of us together, because myself and my agency, OMG Commerce, we're all e-com. We're 50 people strong and growing but all e-com. You're all Legion and info marketing and working with influencers, and then so really those two unique perspectives, I think, will be great. I think it'll be gold for the listeners. And so before we dive in, can you give everybody a background? How did you become YouTube expert? How'd that happen?
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, great question. So about almost four years ago now, I went to work for Dean Graziosi full time. At the time he was not running any YouTube ads. I actually got hired on to run Facebook ads and about two or three months into my journey with him they're like, "Hey man, YouTube ads is an untapped traffic source for us. You should learn YouTube ads." I learned YouTube ads through... Actually, I bought a course from Tom Breeze and Russell Brunson-
Brett:
Tom Breeze.
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, he's-
Brett:
Friend of the show, friend of mine, just a legend. Love Tom.
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, I love Tom as well. And I got their course that he did with Russell Brunson. I ran some ad spend through that course. Then I got consulting with Tommy Powers, another OG in the YouTube ad space.
Brett:
I know Tommy as well. Yep. Good friend. Good guy.
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, and so after that I was able to successfully scale Dean's free plus shipping book funnel, Millionaire Success Habits, to multiple seven figures in revenue, run a few other YouTube ad campaigns through his businesses, including mastermind.com with Tony Robbins and Russell Brunson. And then after that, I started adspend.com to essentially do the same thing, but for another wide variety of entrepreneurs who need help getting more leads with their business and YouTube ads. So that was about two years ago, going full time for adspend.com, so we've grown pretty well since.
Brett:
Amazing, Brian. Yeah, really great story and you've worked with some big names in the industry, tremendous track record, you get invited to speak at places. I mentioned War Room. I know you've spoken at their events and so really delighted to have you on the show. So let's talk about the differences between Facebook and YouTube. So let's do a little compare and contrast. So in what ways is YouTube different from Facebook? And then I also want to kind of dive into... maybe where you feel like YouTube's a little better than Facebook. So let's start with the differences though first.
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, differences, I mean very plainly, YouTube is a search... intent-based platform. With YouTube ads, you can actually target people that are searching for specific keywords or intent-based queries that you can go ahead and show your ads in front of. And also it's an education and entertainment platform. With YouTube... I don't think anybody here goes to YouTube to find if their friends are online. That's what Facebook's for. Facebook is a social platform to interact with friends and basically, I like to refer to it as high school. You go in there, it's kind of like a very good drama show sometimes. People are going back and forth, they're liking statuses, it's a talent show. But then YouTube, it's like college because people go there to learn or to be entertained. And you know, Tom Breeze, what we just talked about, put it in a very good way. You want to create edutainment for YouTube, so-
Brett:
Edutainment. Love it.
Brian Moncada:
Exactly. And with YouTube, you're going there to watch videos of your favorite influencer or your favorite brand and/or learn how to do specific things. Like the other day... I'm in Miami. I have plants, a bunch of snake plants and there's gnats that sometimes infect your plants, which I didn't know. And so I went to YouTube to search how to kill gnats in my snake plants. And I was able to find a video specifically about how to spray your plants to kill your gnats. And that ultimately is what separates YouTube from Facebook, being able to watch videos, to solve problems and to also be entertained. It's the new TV. And with Facebook, you can't really find those specific answers to those problems that you have. When you have a question, when you want to solve a problem, you don't go to Facebook to search for answers. You go to YouTube or you go to Google. And so that's really the main difference, and I'm sure you have other suggestions as well, Brett.
Brett:
Yeah. I'll just kind of riff on that just a little bit. You're researching on YouTube how to kill these gnats. What a perfect time for someone either who has an information play to run an ad, to place an ad in front of that video pointing you to a resource or some information that they then monetize in some way, or a product. Like, "Hey, here's a quick, easy..." I don't know what you would use... spray, trap, something... net, to kill these gnats. That would be a great time to put that ad right there. And yeah, the intent signals are available on YouTube because YouTube owns Google and it's got all those intent signals and what a powerful thing. Facebook knows a lot about you too, but Google and YouTube arguably knows as much or more. And you've got just a different reason why you're going to YouTube. Love the way you kind of frame that. What are some other differences between YouTube and Facebook that you've identified?
Brian Moncada:
Other differences specifically is just with YouTube, it's just a better quality buyer. It's a better quality customer, specifically when it comes to return on ad spend. The platform itself, in my experience, almost every time leads to a better quality buyer because again, using the reference of the high school and college, people on YouTube, they typically cost more when you're running ads to them. But they also have a higher LTV, from my experience, in the online education course and coaching space for your business. And the reason why is because it's more intent-based.
Brian Moncada:
Like you were just saying earlier, if someone had put an info product in front of me as I was clicking on this video on how to kill gnats, I probably would've clicked. And if it was an offer that was super irresistible, I probably would've downloaded it. I probably would've bought it because I needed to solve the problem fast. I had a pain point that was I want to kill these gnats, so I don't have to worry about gnats flying around my apartment so I can make sure my plants are safe, and I don't have to deal with the stress that comes with clapping my hands and killing gnats every single time I see one. And that's why YouTube is so powerful, where Facebook, like you said, does work and is great, however, YouTube also has a lot more scale because there's just so...
Brian Moncada:
It's the number two search engine in the world. The number two search engine in the entire world and if you can crack the code on YouTube, your scale is a lot more prone than just Facebook. Because Facebook, you can only get to a certain amount of scale for... unless your offer is just so broad. Because you can see results faster on Facebook, especially if you have a niche offer, from my experience. But what happens if you try to go scale, if your offer's not broad enough, it's never going to appeal to a wide variety of audience.
Brian Moncada:
As with YouTube, what we found is if your offer is still niche, but at least broad enough, your targeting can be a little bit more broad as well, and really allow you to get those jaw-dropping return on ad spends, unlike Facebook and dealing with the ad disapprovals and the constant headache of... sometimes that you experience with having to go through ad rep and email support. Where YouTube, you get a little bit more support as well and more consistency is the biggest thing as far as differences from what I've seen. I'm sure you have others as well.
Brett:
Yeah. Yeah, I love that. And I think one thing to keep in mind too is that Facebook, and this has started a few years ago, Facebook has to limit the number of ads that they put in the newsfeed. There's a limited amount of inventory in the newsfeed to keep people coming back to Facebook. When you look at YouTube and just the sheer volume of videos that are there and when you also look at the fact that when someone visits YouTube, that average session duration's 40 minutes. People are spending a lot of time on YouTube.
Brett:
The level of inventory is almost unlimited and you mentioned it and you're spot on. It's the second most popular search engine behind Google. And you may think, wait a minute, it's not a search engine. It's not. It's a video sharing site, but people use it just like you did to solve your gnat infestation problem. You go to YouTube when you're trying to find stuff, learn stuff, buy stuff, things like that. And so really the scale is huge, so you can be really, really focused and niche, like how to solve this gnat problem, or how to fix this issue with my lawnmower or whatever, or you can be really broad. You've got the ability to be laser focused and the ability to scale on YouTube, which is pretty unique and really not anything else like it.
Brett:
Now, Brian, you mentioned something and you talked about how it's kind of the new TV. I think that's actually a pretty good segue to talk about creatives. So how do you look at, how do you frame creatives for YouTube when you're talking to clients, or when you're teaching this from stage?
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, great question. So as far as a holistic overview of creatives, your ads on YouTube have to do two things, like I talked about earlier, they have to be educational and they have to be entertaining to some degree. Because ultimately, if you're trying to sell to another business owner, they don't have to be as entertaining as someone who's trying to interrupt the binge watching routine of someone who's trying to watch their favorite influencer to sell them something they've never thought of selling them. Whereas if I'm going to sell to somebody who wants to run YouTube ads for their high ticket coaching and course business, I need to hit them with a very powerful hook, keep their attention by sharing something valuable that they can use, whether they click or don't, and then ultimately, give them a call to action so that they can click and learn more about our solution, our offer.
Brian Moncada:
And so with creatives, just to back up here, again, those two things, educational, entertaining. Educational and entertaining. And so that may seem pretty crazy because the biggest thing and myth that people have in their head is, well, I have to film videos, that's going to take a lot of work. I have to get a production team. I have to hire a videographer and all of those myths that people believe, when in reality, all it takes to get a high-performing creative on YouTube is you have a really good phone and camera in your hand right now probably. It's an iPhone. It's probably the best camera quality that most people have access to in the entire world. And as long as you have good lighting and good audio quality, everything else takes care of itself in terms of the script. You need a good high-converting script. You need a hook, you need a story, or a body, depending on what you're selling to, and you need to make an offer at the end.
Brian Moncada:
So hook, story, close is the format that we teach our clients. And we always write five hooks for our clients with a different variety of angles in terms of the hook, which are usually from 0 to 15 seconds, and then this story, which is the educational and entertaining piece of the body, and then the call to action at the very end, which is the offer. So that's the framework and ultimately, in between you must be able to share some educational content with the viewer and entertain them by keeping their attention, if you're selling B2C as well, so I hope that answers your question. Obviously-
Brett:
Yeah, it is brilliant. And so I want to dive into a few things there. I'll start with the iPhone though, because I don't want to forget this part. So get the iPhone, this is the 12S Pro... I don't remember... Max. But I like the new iPhone commercial that says 'Hollywood in your pocket'. That's really accurate. You can create good quality videos from your iPhone, especially if you're pitching information or you're an influencer, I think sometimes they work best that way on the product side. So on the e-com side, some of the most successful videos we've spent millions and millions of dollars on videos that are just a mashup of different UGC of customer testimonials. Or for an automotive client, we had a matchup of people walking around their vehicle and showing this accessory that we were advertising and it was brilliant. It worked and we spent millions on it.
Brett:
And so yeah, you don't have to spend a ton. This could be your camera for your YouTube video. The other thing I want to mention, I want to key in on both entertainment and education. And I love the fact that you brought up both of those and you do need to do both. I think there's this real value that if you educate someone along the course of your ad, that delivers so much value and it actually creates a stronger connection between you and your prospect, where they feel like, "If you deliver this kind of value in just the ad alone, what are you going to do if I actually do go learn more, or do take your course," on the info side, "Or what if I do actually buy the product?" You're going to have more faith or more trust that you'll deliver value there because you deliver value in the ad itself.
Brett:
And then, hey, we all want to watch fun videos. We want to go to YouTube. Maybe we are there to learn, but we've all experienced a video that was so deadly, dull and boring that we just... we skipped, we couldn't tolerate. I compare it to accounting class in college. You used the college example. I was a marketing major. I respect accounting. I need accounting, running an agency. But I had one accounting professor that literally read the slides, so put PowerPoint slide up on the wall, read the bullet points, just read it. I'm like, this is painful. Everyone was fast asleep. Okay, so you can have an educational video that was that style, it's going to bomb. You need to have some entertainment, spice, some humor even, something to make people want to keep watching. I want to unpack more of the framework too, but I want to talk about that. How do you strike the balance between education and entertainment?
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, that's a great question. So one thing that we always try to do with our clients, especially on the info side, is most of them always just overthink the creative in general. So what we try to do is share with them the minimum ... production elements necessary to be able to produce a creative that's going to get some conversions for their business. And so what does that look like in terms of the entertaining? Well, the entertainment comes from making sure that in the actual editing and post production process, we're adding different elements in there, from motion graphics, from sound effects, from music that goes along with tone, all of the actual ad. So that way it's not just, again using the iPhone example, just filming, talking head without any other elements to keep the flow of the video and more importantly, the attention of the viewer.
Brian Moncada:
So post production does come into this a lot, however from the actual filming side of things, the way we make it a little bit more entertaining is the hooks are always filmed in one central location. And then for the body, or the story in this case, where they're actually sharing value, educating them, we make them film it in a different location. So it sets up the video to be more interactive, more interactive by just setting the different setting for the actual story.
Brian Moncada:
Now, does there have to be anything in terms of making funny jokes or doing something crazy on camera? Not necessarily, because the script that you write ultimately has to be very punchy, especially now, as you know. Because YouTube ads are now penalizing if you're above three minutes. They're up charging you if you have a three-minute ad, or if you have an ad that's above three minutes. So you really have to be key with your script and just keep the attention of the viewer. And so again, the way we do that is we have the hooks filmed in one central location. We have the influencer then film the body in a different location. And then in terms of the post production, we add B-roll we add sound effects, we add music underneath to not overpower the actor's voice, but just to keep the user's attention enough to make sure the flow of the script is still entertaining somewhat, but nothing crazy other than that.
Brett:
Yeah, I really like that. And so yeah, you don't have to be a stand up comedian. You don't have to be Harmon Brothers level humor necessarily. And the Harmon Brothers, it's the group behind Squatty Potty and Poo Pourri and Purple Mattress and things like that.
Brian Moncada:
The legends.
Brett:
Really, really funny. Also, they're legends. Really funny, really great at selling stuff. You don't have to be that funny, but you do need to think about pace and you do need to think about some of those certain elements that really spice things up. So you talked about post production. What's so interesting... and this would be a great example. The point I'm about to make is not about music, but I'm going to talk about music. If you've ever maybe watched an action sequence of a movie without the music, or you watch like the scary scene of a horror movie without the sound, it really loses an element. It's like, "Well, this doesn't even feel real." So sometimes those little elements totally change the emotion of what you're watching. And something that'd be similar in post production, adding a graphic, adding a sound effect, adding a close up. Sometimes just the angle going from a wide to a close up really changes both the engagement and the feel of the commercial. And so some of those things are super, super important.
Brett:
Can you talk about hooks just for a little bit? So is there a specific approach you take to hooks? Because I'm of the opinion, if you compare hooks and videos to headlines back in the day of print ads or subject lines and emails, the hook is the most important part. You got to deliver on the rest of it too, but how do you approach hooks and what are you thinking about, what are you trying to create when you're designing a hook?
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, great question. So we follow a very specific framework and for your audience that has more of the e-commerce business and background, these elements will still apply, it's just customizing them to their specific business. So what we try to do in the hook, the first zero, five seconds of the ad is a pattern interrupt. So what's the pattern interrupt? Well, you want to make sure that you get their attention and there's a few ways you can do that. So you can narrow their attention on maybe an object or by showing them something, like a prop. So for example, one of our clients, Mike Basevic, he actually sells essentially mindset coaching for high performing CEOs and professionals. But he's also competing with big pharma, because what he does is he helps them overcome their limiting beliefs.
Brian Moncada:
One of his ads that we wrote for him was stop taking pills, stop doing all of these substances to overcome your anxiety. And I was like, "Man, this would really make it a lot better if you showed the pills on the screen in the first five seconds of the ad." So that's exactly what he did. So having a prop to use, if it's relatable to the script or in your case, in your client's cases, having the actual product and making it the center of focus in the first five seconds in a way that the viewer pays attention to it. So you can flash something on the screen that's confusing. You can make a shocking statement. You can allude to something that means danger's coming.
Brian Moncada:
So for example, you can drop a big hook, that's unique, that's useful, that's ultra specific in terms of the script where it's, in my case, going back to the example that we're running with here is, if you're a homeowner that experiences gnats in your plants and you want to get rid of them as fast as possible, well, that's also another pattern interrupt because it's very specific to the person you're targeting, which is beautiful for YouTube ads, like we talked about because you can target those specific people watching videos related to how to kill gnats.
Brian Moncada:
So that's the first five seconds, the pattern interrupt. And you want to make sure this is fast-paced because you only have five seconds again, before they can skip the YouTube ad. Next is the big promise, the big promise, 5 to 20 seconds. So this is the immediate big promise made after the pattern interrupt. And you're not stating the benefit of the product, you're stating the benefit of consuming the rest of the ad. So it's basically your headline. So it should hook their attention, build curiosity, feel new and speak to a specific desire. So big promise can mean a number of different things, especially in the e-commerce space, but the big promise of the actual marketing message of the product.
Brian Moncada:
Then from then on, then you go into the big proof, but mainly what we focus on in the hook is just a pattern interrupt and just the big promise. And then we transition to the actual body, or the story, by usually saying a one liner then, "Keep watching this video because I'm going to show you..." big promise. Or, "Then don't skip this ad because in the next two minutes, I'm going to show you..." And then you allude to the rest of the ad and what they're going to learn by sticking around to watch the video. So for an e-commerce space, it could be the same thing with a little bit of a voiceover work, just making sure that they continue watching the ad to see more of the product demonstration, for example. So that's the hook that we focused on with YouTube ads.
Brett:
Love that. And so I'll give a quick example. Working with a client right now, Viome, with a V, V-I-O-M-E. And they are a-
Brian Moncada:
Dude, I just got their product.
Brett:
Dude, it's fantastic. I'm on day 30 of using their... So basically what it is that they will... it's a gut health intelligence test. They'll give you personalized food recommendations, so what you should eat based on what you can metabolize and what your digestive system, what your gut can handle, and then they create personalized supplements for you. It's a brilliant concept.
Brett:
So this video we're working on, and the hook actually came from them, but we're, we're spicing it up a little bit. I'm going to butcher it a little bit, even though I helped write the script, but basically it's like, "Hey, it is broccoli really good for you? Like, really. Is it good for everybody?" It shows broccoli and stuff. And then it says, "Did you know that actually 49% of people should not eat broccoli?" And that's actually true.
Brian Moncada:
Wow.
Brett:
And then the other one is like, well, what about kale? The most super of super foods. There's nothing more super than kale. Actually, it's only a super food for 11% of people, for others it's okay. Some people shouldn't need it at all. As an example, spinach, I should not eat spinach and I should not eat broccoli. Yeah, my body doesn't process it. So that's the hook and then we said, "Hey, do you know that gut health... gut health actually is tied to anxiety, obesity, inflammation, and diseases." so you unpack this and you're like, "Okay, well, you got my attention." If I'm either suffering from something or I'm kind of a bio hacker, which that's what kind of what I am, and then you think you probably are too then you're hooked, you're in. So you got that pattern interrupt and the big promise. I love that. So that's the first... so you talk about the pattern interrupt being the first five seconds, which makes sense. That's when the skip button comes on. Big promise was like 15 to 20, is that what you said?
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, 15 to 20 seconds. But what you said is actually a beautiful framework as well, because what that script is using is the question, which is also the hook, or in this case the pattern interrupt. It's asking them a question. And then you're expanding on that question by asking them another question that's really just not general knowledge to the mass public. Did you know that broccoli can actually be harmful for 49% of people? Nobody really knows that as common knowledge.
Brett:
Nobody's talking about that.
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, so it's like, whoa, what is this? That's what they're asking themselves now. "What is this?"
Brett:
Yes.
Brian Moncada:
And you're just buying five more seconds of their time. So what you just did is a perfect example of the pattern interrupt and the hook in general.
Brett:
Cool. All right and then I like the names you have for these. So we go from pattern interrupt to big promise to big proof. So talk about the big proof and how you guys approach that.
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the big proof, man. So that's really also what you can do in the actual hook as well. The hook could also be just big proof when it comes to a specific case study or testimonial where... for your example, the broccoli, did you know this can be harmful, 49% of people and the gut biome. Like, well... for example, Jade here went from struggling with anxiety, fatigue, restlessness, sleepless nights, his Oura Ring score in the bio hacking case because people in the bio hacking case would probably have an Oura Ring, was always hitting less than 70 every single night when he woke up, to being able to sleep better, eat better, move better, all these different benefits in terms of proof for the actual product.
Brian Moncada:
Or in this case for Viome, for you, it would be something for... "That's why we created Viome. Viome helps average Americans, modern day Americans improve their gut score by 50% within 30 days after taking our free..." or whatever the case may be. It's not free in this case but, ... after taking our gut health test, which we ship to you as well." So it's that big proof after the actual promise to show them, okay, cool now here's the product introduction as well with the proof of what it actually does for the person.
Brett:
Yes, spelling that out, spelling out what this product actually does for somebody. Awesome. Where do you guys-
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, just building authority-
Brett:
Yeah. Go ahead.
Brian Moncada:
No, just building authority, making sure it's more authority, right?
Brett:
Authority, yes.
Brian Moncada:
Yeah.
Brett:
Yeah. Hugely important. Where does social proof for UGC, how does that fit into the framework for you typically?
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, I mean, so what we found on YouTube is there's really three different styles of ads that we run. So for UGC and for social proof, after we make the proof claim, we're usually dropping one, two, maybe three testimonials right off the bat. With actual user generated content in terms of transformations. If it's in the health and fitness space, for example, or screenshots, if it's in the business coaching space, for example, with actual income or results generated and making sure that we're showing those on the screen, or as B roll, when we're talking about that big proof.
Brian Moncada:
So a lot of the time, the reason why the ads work so well, especially in our space, is because we're showing that proof. So it's very important as we're speaking about a specific claim, we show actual screenshots, we show actual B roll, especially for building up the authority of the influencer, the authority of the brand, showing them on stages speaking, showing them, working with their clients, or showing them teaching in front of their camera, their laptop, really making sure that we're showing all of the articles they've been featured in too.
Brian Moncada:
So it's really making sure all those edits are in place to prove to the viewer that this is worth spending five more seconds of your time listening to, because we're an authority figure in this space and we have this big promise and proof that can help, potentially you, and then you continue into the next part of the actual body. So huge, huge piece for us as well, and especially for you guys. I can imagine the best ads, like you were saying earlier, I can imagine how many user generated content you have access to for Viome, because I posted all my story, like, whoa, this was my gut score. This is my natural age that it tells you as well. So I was like, whoa, they could just take that and they could clip it and they could use me as a case study.
Brett:
Yeah, absolutely and they're doing that and it's beautiful and it's brilliant. So we got big proof, we're building authority, we're doing all the things you mapped out there. Love that. So pattern interrupt, big promise, big proof. What comes next?
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, reveal the new opportunity, man. Reveal the new opportunity. So well, first of all, actually, let me back up, just got to expand on the promise more. So this is where you actually go into the education. So go into the education. So you basically want to obviously show them after you build up the authority, with us and our clients... So for the actual big proof, what we do is, again... they're the face of the brand, so it's like, "My name is Brian Moncada. I'm the founder Adspend.com and our agency books our clients 25 highly qualified sales calls on their calendar every week guaranteed or their money back. We spent millions of dollars on YouTube ads. We currently manage $1.6 million a month on YouTube ads traffic alone in the high ticket coaching and course space."
Brian Moncada:
"And the biggest mistake that I see..." So now we're going into the education. "The biggest mistake that I see most people make when it comes to running YouTube ads is number one, their offer isn't packaged or positioned correctly for the YouTube ads platform. They run the same funnel with the same ads through YouTube and they just simply don't convert and they're scratching their heads, 'Why?'" So now I'm going into the education. Well, if someone has tried YouTube Ads and they haven't had success and they hear me say that, it's like, "Okay, well, I actually tried that and it didn't work." And then I get them for the next five seconds, so now you're going into education. So educate them on one to three bullet points that can actually help them right now.
Brian Moncada:
"The second reason why most people fail with YouTube ads is because the creative stuff. And the creative is how the message from the ad, the funnel, is being communicated to the viewer. So if that messaging is off or it's not enticing enough, the funnel's never going to convert and the ads are never going to get clicks to get traffic to your page. So that's why at adspend.com..." And then I go into the actual offer now, the new opportunity, what we do and I really soft CTA that. So again, just the next piece is just the education. One to three bullet points that are mistakes people are making right, mistakes or other products people use that just simply don't work and just simply are ineffective and really educating the viewer in two to three sentences max per bullet point, you can get through the ad very quickly.
Brett:
Love it, love it. And then how do you close the ad? Are there other elements then to the framework, or how are you closing out the ad?
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, so in that case, we do a soft CTA. "And if you want to learn more about this, you can click the link on or around this YouTube, ad. You'll be taken to a page that looks like this." So then you show the page, you show the landing page, you show exactly what the user-
Brett:
Let people know what they're getting into, what they're about to see. Yeah.
Brian Moncada:
Overcome the skepticism that way, because people still are afraid to click on things, which is totally understandable. So you show them the page they're going to land on, you show them what's going to happen next. And then you go back into more of the urgency, the scarcity, the twisting the knife as I like to call it, because again, if they're having a problem and they're looking for a solution, or they're in the market for a solution, you got to really make sure that you persuade them to take action to solve that problem. So we go back to urgency and scarcity now.
Brian Moncada:
And the reason why you don't want to wait to take action on this is because if you keep running Facebook ads, for example, in my case, then you're always going to be relying on one traffic source. And what happens if your traffic source or your ad account gets shut down? It's a scary thought, but this happens to a lot of our clients before they started working with us, which ultimately caused tons of stress on their business. You paint the picture of what happens if they don't actually take action right now and click to learn more. So urgency, scarcity, twist a knife, another call to action again. "So if you're someone who wants to generate 25 highly qualified appointments on your calendar using our Done For You YouTube Ad system, then click the link right now. You'll be taken to that page where you can enter your first name, your email, learn more about how our process works and speak to us to see if this is a good fit for your business."
Brian Moncada:
So that's the call to action number two, and then finally what we do is we do just a sign off. Like, "My name's Brian Moncada. I'm the founder of Adspend.com. I look forward to speaking with you very soon." So you just leave them feeling good as well.
Brett:
That's awesome. That's fantastic. And so we've kind of broken this down, but really good marketing and good advertising has always been the right message to the right person at the right time. And then YouTube can really deliver that well, almost better than any other platform. And so we've kind of broken down the right message and I love your framework and I love that you kind of... And you can tell you were the one voicing that spot because you kind of just did it here live on the podcast, which was super fun. So we talked about how to deliver that right message and we talked a little bit about audience too, because we talked about it's an intent-based platform we're going to learn or buy or research or whatever. But what are the audiences that you like to start with and how do you think about audience targeting on YouTube?
Brian Moncada:
Great question. So we use what's called intent-based validation, intent based validation and what this is a combination of different keywords and custom intent audiences. So every single time, no matter what, our agency starts with five campaigns, five campaigns that are broken up into keywords and custom intent audiences. So what custom intent is is custom intent is you typing in specific keywords in building an audience based off actual keywords. People have searched for on Google or YouTube, which is pretty insane if you think about it, because again, going back to, for example, Viome in this case, you could target people who search Viome on Google and show an ad to them the next time they're on YouTube. You can show people an ad the next time they're on YouTube if they've searched for the keyword of how to kill gnats and I could show them my ads.
Brian Moncada:
So custom intent is very, very powerful because again, it's an intent based audience. And we start with that type of targeting first, along with keywords, which keywords are also super powerful because the big thing that used to be working really well a few years ago was video placements and channel placements. And although those do still serve a purpose, what we're seeing now, especially in 2022, or even beyond if you're watching this, custom intent is just way more specific, way more profitable, especially when you're starting out because it's again it's your lowest hanging fruit first. People who are already raising their hands saying, "Hey, I have this problem," and you're showing them a solution the next time they're on YouTube. So custom intent and keywords. Those are the two types of targeting we start with always.
Brian Moncada:
And of course, not going to figure it about this one here. I normally don't mention it because it's pretty obvious, but I'll mention it anyways, remarketing, website visitors, customer lists, people who have already visited your site, but haven't taken action in your sales funnel. You want to show them ads that are specific to them to get them to take the next action in your funnel. So remarketing, keywords and custom intent. And of course, if you have a YouTube audience, meaning you have subscribers on a channel that you can remarket to as well, we always start with YouTube remarketing, actual website visitors remarketing, and then custom intent and keyword campaigns. Those are your lowest hanging fruit first. We prime your account for scale. And if those work, you can realistically be sure that if you expand out a little bit more, you'll most likely convert.
Brett:
Yeah, as you train the algorithm with those audiences and get enough conversion data, then you can really start to expand and go crazy and experience some of that scale, like we talked about, the scale that's really unique to YouTube. And yeah, I'm glad you mentioned channel actually, YouTube channel, because this is something that doesn't apply to everybody. I'd say most of the clients we talk to, especially in the e-commerce space, don't have big YouTube channels, but some do. We have a competitive barbecue client, which some of my favorite rubs and spices that they sell and so they've got this competitive barbecue YouTube channel. Well, there's a lot of people that just watch the channel for the tips. They don't know about the products, and so it's a great place then for us to target people that are subscribers, viewers of the channel and get them to buy the products.
Brett:
One thing I will underscore is that... just like you said custom intent is all about what someone is actively searching for on Google or on YouTube. And so you can enter that conversation that's taking place in someone's brain based on what they're searching for. The keyword campaigns, totally agree. We love keyword campaigns. Basically, those are contextual, so that's going to... if you type in 'gut health' as a keyword, then Google's going to put your ad by other content related to gut health. So often the way someone gets there is by searching, but sometimes people... I think I've seen it about half of the views on YouTube now come from what YouTube recommends and their suggestions and things like that. And so those keyword campaigns can be super, super powerful. So I love that combination. I would fully agree with you. Those are great places to start and then you can kind of scale from there, so that's awesome.
Brett:
Cool. Other tips or tricks or things that you'd like to tell people about YouTube, who either don't know much about YouTube or maybe they've tried it and it didn't work.
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, great question. Well, nowadays especially, with the amount of videos that are being uploaded on YouTube every single day, like you were mentioning at the very beginning of this podcast, Brett, there is no reason why if you have even a smaller e-commerce business in this case, that you shouldn't at least test a small budget to YouTube ads. There's people that can buy your product and are in the market for your solution on YouTube. And with 2022 and responsive ads, that's the new norm. So you can no longer just show your ads in stream. You have to show your ads in stream plus Google display.
Brian Moncada:
So a few extra tips for you guys, make sure when you upload your ads to YouTube, you put a thumbnail because your thumbnail, if you don't have, it's going to be seen without it and it's going to look weird. It's going to take a random screenshot from your video and put that as the thumbnail. You want to make custom thumbnails for your ads. And you also want to link your call to action, aka your landing page in your description of the video and in the first comment of the video, because if people click on your ad as what's called an in discovery ad, because there's those videos on the right of YouTube when you're watching a video that are suggested videos. And probably a lot of your clients have clicked on them, or your viewers have clicked on an ad or a video, not thinking it was an ad because it was in the suggested videos, but it turns out to be an ad.
Brian Moncada:
Now, the problem with that is if you don't have your call to action in the description, you may have a chance of losing a potential conversion there, so make sure your landing pages in the description, make sure you pin a comment on the actual ad with the landing page as well, and make sure you have a custom thumbnail that's enticing, captivating, really just intriguing for the viewer so that they click and they actually watch the ad. And ultimately-
Brett:
That's great.
Brian Moncada:
... running YouTube ads.
Brett:
Yes, yes, absolutely. So can you talk about thumbnails for a minute? How do you guys approach thumbnails? Are you mainly just looking for the right frame, the right images that will make someone click, or are you thinking about what copy to overlay on that thumbnail? Talk through kind of what you look for in a powerful thumbnail.
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, so the framework we use is if the hook of the video is a specific... Like, we use the first sentence or the main hook of the actual copy on the thumbnail. So for example, for our ads we had... The main copy of one of our ads is, "How to generate an additional six to eight figures in revenue using YouTube ads in our HSP system." So we took a copy of that and we put it in the thumbnail copy, how to generate an extra six to eight figures in revenue using HST YouTube ads. The average person, they're going to wonder what the HST system is or what HST YouTube ads are.
Brian Moncada:
Plus, we have a picture of myself in there so it's also showing them what they're going to experience. Very simply for your audience, we have five to seven words for the actual headline, which you get from the actual hook of the ad, which in your case for the Viome example we shared earlier, 'Is broccoli actually good for you?' That's the thumbnail copy right there. And the picture is probably someone that has broccoli like this looking at it. Like, I would look at something like that would be like a good enticing thumbnail. So we are customizing the thumbnail and the copy based off the hook of the ad. That's the easiest way to do it.
Brett:
Yeah. Love that. Love that so much. Well, Brian, we could keep going because this is exceptionally fun for me and it's been fun for everybody as well, but we're coming up against time. For those that have been listening and like, "Dude, I love what Brian is having to say and I would like to find out more," talk about how people can connect with you, what resources do you have and what should someone do from here.
Brian Moncada:
Yeah, great question. So the biggest and most important piece of any YouTube ad campaign is the script. You need a high converting script, especially if you already have an offer and funnel that's proven, so that's the biggest bottleneck that most of our clients experience and well, maybe you out there experience because you overthink, what do I say, how do I say it, how long does the video I have to be? And we've solved that problem by creating what's called our seven figure YouTube ads video swipe file and script template. You can get that very easily by going to adspend.com/free-download, adspend.com/free-download. And I'll send Brett the links so we can potentially put it in the notes of the episode and you guys can get that.
Brett:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Brian Moncada:
When you guys do get that, it'll give you our script template that you can literally copy and paste your answers from to create your first five, or next five, high ROI YouTube ads to start running YouTube ads immediately. Plus, you'll also get our swipe file of five proven ads that have all scaled to the seven figures in revenue path or more to get a really feel of an idea of what different industries are doing. You can see and model those same principles in your YouTube ads that we discussed today.
Brett:
Awesome. I love it, man. I am going to go download that right now. I'm always looking for... I love the idea of a script template. I love the idea of a swipe file. We've created something similar just with swipe file on the e-commerce side, so that's available at omgcommerce.com if you look at resources and guides. Check that out. It's the top YouTube ad templates and examples. But dude, I can't wait to read your guide and check that out. So I will link to Brian's guide in the show notes, check that out there. I'm sure you google it and find it as well, but I'm excited to check it out. So Brian, this has been fantastic. Any parting words of wisdom? Any final thoughts as we wrap up this chat on YouTube ads?
Brian Moncada:
I just want to say thank you, Brett, for having me on. Thank you for letting me share a little bit about YouTube ads. And I know you and I geek out about this stuff a lot anyways, so it was fun masterminding with you and sharing some values with the audience. Thank you.
Brett:
Yeah, thanks man. Thanks for coming on. And so if you need YouTube help check out Brian's agency, hit him up, get those free resources, begin that conversation. Brian, thanks, man. This was awesome.
Brian Moncada:
Thank you.
Brett:
Awesome. And as always, thank you for tuning in. We could not do this without you. It'd be a waste of time to do this without you. And so we'd love to hear feedback from you. If you have not left the review on iTunes, please do that. That helps other people find the show and hey, it makes my day. And so with that until next time. Thank you for listening.
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