OMG Blog

Possibilities

Each week I speak with one to two Amazon Sellers interested in diversifying their traffic and sales outside of Amazon. They usually explain that they don't want to have "all their eggs in one basket," or a similar idiom. They also see how Amazon has recently hidden its customer data, and they'd like to be in control of who is purchasing. They would also like to use similar audiences and customer match tools that can be utilized with Google and Facebook Ads. 

As FBA fees have increased, 3PL options have also increased. It's now easier than ever to ship your own inventory outside of FBA. Off-Amazon sales enjoy an increased margin of 10-30%, depending on the product. It's easy to see that as an attractive possibility when considering your brand's potential for scale off-Amazon. 

Finally, depending on a wide variety of factors, you're at a lower risk for inventory disruptions and/or account suspensions when you're in control of your own Shopify store (for instance). It seems we're talking to a client each week who has some suspension or disruption on Amazon. Before writing this blog today, I spoke with a potential client who had his top product unjustly suspended for failure to have FDA approval. However, his product is cleared by the FDA universally and doesn't require FDA certification. The product has been "under review" by Amazon for weeks, while the Seller has been losing over $1500 per day in usual sales volume.

At this point, if you’ve previously been averse to advertising off-Amazon on the Google Marketplace, you might be intrigued by the possibility of testing an off-Amazon strategy.  Before you jump into the dark waters, let’s first do a little fishing. 

Pitfalls

When it comes to branching out from Amazon and getting started within the Google Marketplace, you need a solid strategy. You need a solid game plan that checks a lot more boxes than you may be thinking before firing up your Google Ads account and starting to drive traffic. 

It's important to know that, although Amazon is a huge marketplace, Google is still one of the top places that shoppers go when searching online for product information before making a purchase. Now, some recent studies do show that Amazon has caught up to Google in that regard. In addition, product searchers on Amazon are generally further along in the buying process, whereas Google searchers are earlier in the research phase. That's where you have to know the differences in the marketplaces themselves. Those nuances can be pretty big on Google. 

Gone Fishing

I recognize that this view is from a high level, and many will say that Amazon is simply a demand capture marketplace. Here's where we go fishing. One of my greatest memories as a dad is taking my son, Brooks, fishing.  We lived in a small farmhouse on five acres. It was surrounded by ponds full of largemouth bass. If you've never been fishing for bass on a farm pond, it's actually pretty easy. For this illustration, let's call this the Amazon Pond. On this Pond, you can grab a lure out of your tackle box, tie it on your line, and as the sun gets low in the sky, you can reel in 15-20 bass pretty easily.  

Google, however, is much like deep-sea fishing in the ocean. To succeed in the Google Ocean, you need a boat with a motor; you need to stop by the bait store and load up with live shrimp. You'll need great technology like a GPS with a depth finder and sonar to read the bottom. Once you arrive at your spot, you might think you're in the right area, but then you drift a bit, get a bit off target, and suddenly the fishing isn't that great. 

What does this really mean? Well, it means that your trophy fish are on Google, not Amazon. It also means that you need to come prepared because there is so much more to selling successfully off-Amazon in the Google Marketplace. We see this all the time at my winter home in Florida. We see the hopefully energized, but mostly clueless tourists heading out into the Gulf of Mexico. They don't have the right tackle, they don't have the right bait, and they don't know where the best GPS locations are to catch the lunkers.  At the end of the day, we see them motoring past our home, sunburned and spent. 

To succeed, you'll need the skills and experience to know where the fish are and have the right bait to attract them. You can also hire an experienced guide who can help you fast-track your success.  With that as a backdrop, you might have succeeded with demand capture on Amazon by ranking or advertising for searches where the consumer is searching with purchase intent. 

Searches like gluten-free bread or gluten-free prime, or build your own deck, or furniture that have purchase intent behind those queries, whereas, on Google, you can't pay for those kinds of queries, you've got to find the queries that have a purchase intent. When you do find those queries, you're going to discover that everyone else in your niche is targeting those queries as well. That's where you have to make sure you know the right gear will be, among other things, a well-built Shopify site. You're also going to have to pay attention to how fast that site loads, something you never had to think about on Amazon.  We've researched prospect sites that have good potential. Still, they're loading in seven or eight seconds. This has the potential to kill their quality score in Google Ads and potentially hurt the opportunity they might have for organic SEO. 

Brand Story

Finally, what is your brand story?  Does your brand “show well?”  What makes you different? Why should I buy from you?  What’s behind your brand? Who’s behind your brand?  Where are you located? Can I easily return my product? Can I contact you by phone? Those are just a few questions that searchers on Google will want to be answered in a few seconds when they arrive at your home page or product display page. 

Those are just a few considerations that brands off-Amazon should make sure are addressed earlier, not later in the process.  We see this so many times with Amazon brands coming to us. They want to launch on Google, but they're too preliminary, and there is a big potential to waste much money with an unprepared launch on Google. 

At OMG Commerce, we’re happy to have a conversation with you about your move to the Google Marketplace. If you’re in the preliminary stages, we’d be happy to connect you with developers, page speed specialists, and branding experts who can help set you up for success.  If you believe your boat is loaded up with the right bait and ready to increase your haul with Google Search, Shopping, Display & YouTube ads, we’d be happy to find out if we’re the best guide for your next expedition. 

What makes DSP Different?

Before we discuss audiences, let’s first tackle a few key points that make Amazon DSP different from other online ad platforms.

• With Amazon DSP, you’re paying for impressions, not clicks. Rather than paying each time someone clicks your ad like you would with sponsored product ads on Amazon, with Amazon DSP ads, you’re paying every time your ad is shown to a shopper. Rather than bidding on a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) basis, you’re bidding on a maximum cost-per-thousand (CPM) basis. Just like the name implies, cost-per-thousand is the price you pay to show your ad to 1,000 people. When you bid at a $5 CPM, as an example, that means you’re paying up to $5 to have your ad shown 1,000 times to shoppers. You pay that CPM regardless of whether 100 people click the ad, or 5 people click the ad or nobody clicks the ad. This can be very affordable if your targeting is set up properly and you’re getting clicks from eager shoppers. It can get really expensive if you’re paying to show your ads to the wrong people or paying to show your ad too many times. Which leads us to our next point. 
• Frequency caps are important. It’s important to understand how many times, on average, your audience sees your ads. The cost per 1,000 impressions doesn’t mean you’re reaching 1,000 unique people 1 time each. It could mean you’re reaching 500 people with 2 impressions each, or even just 20 people with 50 ad impressions each. If you reach people with too few ad impressions they might not even notice you. Reach them with too many impressions and they will likely get sick of you. Showing your address too many times to the same user, will definitely increase your costs, but not necessarily your return on ad spend. The point of diminishing return is really important to watch with retargeting or loyalty campaigns on Amazon DSP. This is true with any form of retargeting ads, but even more true with Amazon DSP. With click-based retargeting campaigns like you might run with the Google Display Network, it isn’t likely that an individual shopper will click your retargeting ad 5 or 10 times before converting. It happens, but it’s not the norm. We’ve audited Amazon DSP campaigns and found that sometimes merchants are paying for 50-100 ad impressions per shopper on their list! Not only is this annoying for shoppers, but it’s unnecessarily expensive for you as an advertiser. This is where frequency caps come into play. When building or updating your DSP campaigns, you can put a cap on how many impressions an individual user can have of your ad. 
• Audiences are updated in almost real time. Whether you’re building an audience of people who have purchased a particular product, or who have NOT purchased a particular product or who have only viewed a particular product, know that audiences are updated in near real time. This is important if you’re trying to exclude buyers, which you should be doing with your standard retargeting or cart abandoner campaigns. Knowing that audiences are updated in almost real time helps you know that you aren’t paying to show a retargeting ad to someone who just purchased your product. 
  

With that context in mind, let’s dive into the top audiences you should consider for Amazon DSP.

Audience #1 - ASIN Retargeting.

‍This audience is made up of shoppers who’ve visited your product pages on Amazon, but haven’t purchased. Getting to a product detail page usually indicates that a shopper is getting closer to making a purchasing decision. Likely if someone has viewed your product, they’ve also viewed one or more of your competitor’s products. If no purchase has been made yet, then the shopper is still weighing their options. This is where your retargeting ad comes in. For our clients that we manage DSP ads for, all of them are running ads to ASIN retargeting. ASIN retargeting is the audience most likely to convert that you can target. That’s why it’s the number one audience we recommend. If your product pages are like most on Amazon, then 90% of the people who view your products leave the page without buying. ASIN retargeting helps you convert more of those shoppers who don’t purchase on their first visit to your product detail pages. You can also get pretty segmented here by only retargeting people who’ve viewed your products in the last 30 days or even just the last 7 days. You can also target people who’ve viewed a few different ASINs rather than just one. Basically, we can get pretty granular here to maximize our results.

Audience #2 - Repurchasing/Loyalty Audiences.

 If you sell a consumable, or something that people need more than one of, then people who have purchased in the past are often the most likely to purchase again. Past purchaser audiences can be really powerful. It’s usually easier to sell more products, more often to existing customers than it is to just sell products to more new customers. We like to use repurchasing audiences to get people to reorder a consumable product if it’s time to reorder. We also use repurchasing audiences to cross promote related products. Let’s say you sell supplements. You could target shoppers who’ve purchased your protein powder who haven’t purchased your digestive enzyme and show them why they should buy your digestive enzyme. If they love your protein powder, they’re likely to love some of your other products too. There is so much you can do with past purchaser audiences, but you do need to be careful. This is an audience that you could easily over spend on. It’s really important to look at frequency caps so you aren’t bombarding your buyers with an unnecessary amount of ads. 

The next audience is a targeting option that is truly unique to Amazon DSP ads. I wish Google or Facebook offered targeting like this, but they don’t.  You might think this sounds like this targeting option gives you an unfair advantage.  As a longtime marketer, when I first heard about this audience type, I definitely felt like a kid who’d been handed the keys to the candy store.  I do want to underscore that you should start with the first two audiences first before dipping your toes into the next audience...

Audience #3: Competitor Conquesting.

What if you could build an audience of people who’ve visited your competitor’s products on Amazon, but haven’t purchased? What if you could target people who have purchased from your competitor in the past? This is a great Top of Funnel Audience and, while these audiences don’t convert like retargeting audiences do, they still offer a great opportunity to sell more products to very targeted audiences. Once you have your remarketing audiences and campaigns dialed in, we recommend testing some competitor conquesting campaigns as these audiences feed your retargeting audiences. 

These 3 audiences are definitely the place to start when running DSP ads. Just be aware of the KPI’s for each strategy as they are different and will help you track the success of your campaigns. Properly structured, campaigns targeting these audiences can go a long way to help you sell more products. 

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Want to learn more about Amazon DSP ads? Check out our free Amazon DSP Roadmap guide.

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Eager vs. Guarded

When you reach out to an agency, what is the initial response you received? How fast did they respond? Was it a template response or a personal response? There is zero wrong with an agency that is eager to do business with you. There is also nothing wrong with an agency that takes a guarded approach. Brands who leaped too fast into an agency that was eager to get right to work realized later that there wasn’t enough front-end work done from a strategic perspective for their unique situation. It’s not surprising then that the feedback I hear is, “They seemed great and eager to work with us, but once we got started, I seemed to be driving all the strategy,” or “I felt like they put my business into a cookie-cutter process.”

When seeking a new marketing agency, please pay attention to the agencies asking more questions and listening more than they’re speaking. Additionally, there is nothing wrong with slide deck presentations on initial calls, but if the deck is more about them than about you, I suggest asking for 2-3 current client references. It’s also great to ask this question. Tell me about the last client that ended the relationship with you.

Not Asking About Company Culture

As a Co-Founder of OMG Commerce (this is the part where it might sound self-serving, so forgive me in advance), I’m most proud of our distinctive company culture. It didn’t happen overnight, and there are moments I can recall from the early years in our business when we did not focus on company culture values. One of the best questions you can ask a prospective agency is this, “Tell me about your company culture and how your culture will fit into our business relationship.” If you get silence on the other side after asking this question, it should speak volumes. 

We talk about our culture with prospective clients because we feel it is one reason we have longer-term engagements and almost zero team attrition than similar agencies in our space. It would be fantastic if more prospects would ask the culture question when seeking a new agency relationship! 

Falling prey to a single customer experience opinion 

One of the wonderful things about the digital world we live in today is the speed of access to opinions and reviews. It can be super helpful when checking out that new restaurant you’d like to go to or investigating product options on Amazon. I don’t think I’ve ever purchased a product with less than a 4-star rating. I’ve also avoided any restaurant with a slew of bad reviews. No thank-you food poisoning!

These days, a challenging area for agencies and brands is the number of private mastermind groups and private Facebook groups for eCommerce brands. Recently, I found a review of our agency in a trusted industry forum. It wasn’t flattering. I had to search through my discovery notes on prospects I had spoken to refresh my memory as none of it sounded familiar. After finding the history of the discussion, I was astounded at the way this prospect framed his experience with our agency when in the email communication, I received nothing but “no worries,” “all good,” and “appreciate the help.”  

We were doing our job in vetting this prospect to make sure they were a good fit for our agency. In the end, we determined that they weren’t a good fit and referred them to another agency. The prospect felt we wasted their time. From my perspective, I was relieved we never engaged as the things that were written in the review highlighted some of the reservations we had about working together. The sad part of the review is that I know others will read it and potentially draw a negative conclusion about our agency and never reach out. 

Just as you won’t write off that world-class restaurant because of one lousy diner experience, be sure to look for multiple negative reviews and similar narratives when researching an agency. Besides, suppose others have had positive experiences with that agency in the group. In that case, it’s a good idea to interview the agency and be transparent about your concerns. The right agency will be more than happy to share their side of the story for perspective.

In conclusion

If you haven’t seen similar articles like this blog, I’ve listed the following additional “mistakes to avoid” currently covered in multiple postings in the digital space.

• Agency is not up-to-date on current ad trends (FB, Google, Amazon etc.)
• Hiring Specialists vs. Generalists
• Expecting a similar speed to scale across different advertising channels (FB vs. Google ramp-up)
• Collaboration vs. Mistrust/Adversarial Relationship
• Failing to verbalize any discomfort when interviewing an agency
  

If you’re seeking a world-class eCommerce agency, I’d love to speak with you and find out if we’re a mutual fit. I’d be happy to schedule a free strategy session here. 

• Do organize your Amazon advertising - Create and name campaigns around how you see your company (Parent ASINs, Child ASINs, Product Lines, etc.).
• Do redefine your top goals (Grow market share, achieve rank 1, improve ACoS efficiency, reduce spending, etc.) for Amazon advertising services at least once per quarter. 
• Do evaluate the KPIs when you’ve achieved your goals. What ACoS, Spend, Sales, Impressions, and CTR were successful for each of your goals/products?
• Do let Amazon do some of the heavy lifting for you. Use Suggested ASINs, Suggested Categories, and Suggested Bids to find converting keywords and ASINs via your reports.
• ‍Do test as many betas as you can. Test and test again. Amazon, like all platforms, puts out tools that might not be great at the start but usually develop into something that works very efficiently. Knowing how to successfully sell on Amazon takes time, patience, and a ton of testing.

You can find tips for selling on Amazon everywhere if you know where to look. Have you tried Amazon Posts? It’s a beta. Contact OMG or your Amazon representative for access to this Amazon advertising tip. If you have been using Posts, did you know that Amazon has been rolling out updated Posts features?

• DO pay attention to Amazon newsletters and invites, as well as the Amazon dashboard itself. Amazon has a habit of implementing new changes under the radar or with minimal notice. In just August 2020, if you weren’t paying attention, you may have missed your IPI score falling into the red overnight when the threshold changed to 500 from 400. Things like this can significantly impact your day-to-day operations, so it’s important to keep an eye out for these big changes.
• DO test all targeting options available to you (Amazon adds new ones frequently), and test them with every single product in your lineup. Keep testing over time. Check out our Amazon SEO services to help Amazon’s search engine understand more fully what you’re selling. Sponsored Product targeting campaigns through Sponsored Product targeting Amazon’s suggested ASINs have not always performed very well. They either end up spending inefficiently, or they get little to no impressions at all. This may lead to the conclusion that Amazon’s suggestions are bad ideas. Amazon recently brought the product targeting feature to Display ads within Seller Central, which includes the option to target Amazon’s suggested list of ASINs. Targeting this suggested ASIN list has FAR AND AWAY surpassed the total sales and efficiency of all other forms of Amazon DSP advertising for the majority of our clients.
• DO use Sponsored Brand Video! What results can you expect? This is one of our favorite tips for how to sell on Amazon successfully. Here are 3 months of data across 10 different clients in various categories at OMG Commerce. (Video ACoS is 22% lower than overall account ACoS / SB Video, on average, is 3.22% of total ad spend / Avg CTR Lifestyle Videos: 1.49% / Avg CTR Template Videos: 0.83% / Video CTR is 62% higher than account CTR).
• This is an excellent resource if you’re planning on starting Sponsored Brand Video.

Tips for Selling on Amazon: The Don'ts 

• DON'T list low ASP (average sales price) assortments as that will erode your overall net profit margin. 
• DON'T assume this is an overnight success. Learning how to successfully sell on Amazon takes time... sometimes, a lot of it.
• DON'T try to operate on Amazon the same as you do on your website. Understanding how to successfully sell on Amazon is much different than other websites. Orders, Customer Service, stock accuracy… it all needs to be far tighter as Amazon will penalize you if not up to their standards.
• DON'T break policy rules - this is never worth the long-term risk for the short-term payout. Further, don’t argue with Amazon on a policy point. It wastes time! They won’t change their policy for your situation.
• DON'T take “No” for an answer (outside of policy rules!). Ultimately, understanding how to sell on amazon successfully can boil down to your persistence when it comes to correcting an issue that is impacting sales. When it comes to Amazon Seller Support, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. So if a case is marked closed without a satisfactory resolution, don’t be afraid to reopen it. With support currently experiencing high call volumes, it’s crucial now, more than ever, to be assertive when it comes to your account and listing health.
• DON'T ignore your competitors. Keep an eye on what they are doing and what keywords they are showing for. 
• DON'T be immediately reactive when it comes to listing and ad optimization. Amazon is notorious for delayed reporting, and Amazon’s algorithm that determines organic search ranking and ad placement is sensitive. As much as we all want to monitor up-to-the-minute stats as business owners, one of the most damaging things you can do on Amazon is obsess over inaccurate data and make wide-sweeping listing or ad changes based on this. One of the most important tips for selling on Amazon is when making any major strategic marketing decisions, to review at least 14 days of data excluding the past 72 hours.
• DON'T coast. Don’t assume if you’ve been a beneficiary of high sales increases in the 2020 COVID era, that high sales will last forever. eCommerce has grown tremendously in the past several months, and Amazon is slaying it. Strong sales will likely remain, but there are a myriad of variables as we go into the rest of 2020 and into 2021, which means we might see fluctuations (the election, COVID in winter, Amazon shipping capabilities, etc.). The main point is: don’t coast because sales are high now; they are for almost everyone online. Continue to stay focused on the fundamentals.
  

Are you interested in learning more about Amazon advertising tips or OMG’s Amazon services? Download our Amazon DSP Roadmap, read our Amazon Sponsored Brand Video Guide, and request a strategy session to explore your brand and product opportunities.

* Thanks to the in-house Amazon team at OMG Commerce and my friends in the eCommerce Fuel forum for their permissioned contributions to this resource!

1. Testing and Best Practices Experience: An experienced YouTube agency has spent hundreds of hours testing a variety of campaigns and video styles with thousands and/or millions of dollars in ad spend. It’s hard to argue with that amount of insight vs. a trial and error approach. They also will have the best practices approach in place. In nearly every prospect ad review we do, we find mistakes (like showing content to children, advertising in locations that have a low probability for return) or older practices (like last-click attribution) that don’t fit with the most up-to-date bid strategies and conversion metrics.

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2. Superior Video Ad Creation: Starting from scratch with YouTube video creation can be daunting. Our experience running multiple campaigns across multiple verticals has informed us of what video creatives will convert and what (usually) won’t.  We have a free resource called “Top YouTube Ad Examples & Templates.”  When you compare these video examples to your existing video content, you’ll be able to quickly determine what content has potential and what content is missing that could be produced. There’s nothing worse than dropping several thousand dollars if not tens of thousands of dollars on the latest Harmon Brothers knock-off video only to be disappointed when that high production value video doesn’t convert.

3. Mature Exclusion Lists: This point of distinction comes from my friend Ethan Patrick with Web Millennials Agency. Like Web Millennials, most mature agencies will have a significant list of exclusions used on every YouTube campaign. This advantage gets you a battle-tested list of exclusions (keywords and display) that you would have to learn through trial and error and dollars spent.

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4. Dedicated Google Support: An experienced YouTube agency is more than likely also a Google Premier Partner with a dedicated Google support team. Dedicated Google support can help with roadblocks, data analysis, and account-level strategy. This should not be underestimated. At OMG Commerce, we have an excellent Google Premier Partner team.  It’s not unusual for us to be communicating several times a week related to client opportunities or challenges.

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5. Objectivity: We’ve all had experiences in our business when we fall in love with our own ideas. This relates to tip #2 on Superior Video Ad Creation.  We can believe that our latest promotion, video ad, or content is going to be the silver bullet that changes the course of our business.  There are absolutely times when confidence leads to success. However, the value of experience and an outside perspective can raise your win rate.  The outside agency perspective can help by its detachment from the product. That detachment allows for the proper testing whereas others might play it safe and never achieve scale. The benefit of objectivity coupled with experience is a major advantage. As my friend Ethan says, “It's like inviting LeBron James onto your basketball team, and knowing that he's going to take more shots than you are, and being okay with that.”

If you’ve had challenges in working with an agency for your Google Ads or YouTube projects, we would be happy to independently review your ad accounts or simply listen and advise.  If we find it’s not a mutual fit, we have a solid network of agencies and freelancers we can introduce you to.  Additionally, you might be interested in my guide to, “Hiring, Firing, and Making The Most of Your Agency Relationships.”

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7 Tips For A Great YouTube Video Ad:

One of my favorite pieces of marketing advice that I’ve ever heard is to “join the conversation taking place in your customers’ heads.” To do this, you have to understand your customers. You must know the questions, desires, fears and thoughts that are banging around in the heads of your prospects. Then, you can use elements of that conversation in your advertisements. It’s always best to use the same type of language your customers use and appeal to their beliefs, wants and desires; this creates a foundation for success that forms the anatomy of a YouTube video ad. 

With that quick backdrop, let’s learn how to get your ad on YouTube in the most effective way by diving into the 7 elements of a winning YouTube video ad. Keep in mind that your video doesn't have to utilize all seven of these tips, but it should have most of them.

Tip #1: Hook ‘Em in the First 5 Seconds

Once your YouTube video ad begins to play, you've got 5 seconds before the prospect has the opportunity to skip. Usually when your ad first pops up, the prospect isn’t happy. After all, you’ve just slowed them down from watching the content they came to YouTube to watch. However, you do have 5 seconds to change their mind and make them want to stick around and watch your ad.

A great example of hooking viewers in the first 5 seconds is the PooPourri commercial, which was a viral success and sold millions of dollars of the bathroom spray PooPourri (written and produced by the Harmon Brothers). This video was effective in part because the opener was so compelling. You don't have to use humor as they did, but humor can be very effective both in getting and keeping attention. The commercial opens with an adorable, petite British girl in a dress sitting on a public toilet who boldly proclaims, “You would not believe the motherload I just dropped!” It was shocking, funny and the perfect intro for a product that solves a socially awkward problem. After the first 5 seconds of this video, it was really hard for most shoppers NOT to watch the rest of the video, which is why this ranks as one of the most highly effective YouTube ad campaigns.

Tip #2: Lead with the Strongest Benefit

Hooking your prospect is important, but hooking them in the right way, with the right benefit, is even more important. Your YouTube video ad should lead with the most substantial and appealing benefit of your product. To use old advice from the journalism field – don’t bury the lead. Put the most compelling benefit right up front so that the ideal shoppers stick around to watch the rest of what you have to say. How do you know what your most compelling benefit is? Well, it’s probably already obvious, but if not, run through these questions.  

• When someone buys your product, what are they really buying? For example, no one buys a drill because they want a hole. They want to get stuff done — like hang a picture, or build a treehouse.  
• What makes your product different or better than the other options? 
• What question, image or demonstration can quickly and compellingly get your prospect thinking about your core benefit?
  

Some excellent examples of leading with the strongest benefit are the Geico commercials talking about how “15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.” They do a great job of implanting this information in the minds of their target audience quickly and in an intriguing way.  Remember: that skip button is screaming out and your prospects are likely to click it if they don't have a reason to keep watching.

Our friends at Groove Life, the silicone ring company, take a direct approach as they lean into their strongest benefit. The video begins with Peter, the owner, running up to the camera and saying, “Hey, have you seen these new silicone rings?” and he kind of squeezes it to show that it's flexible and bendable. It’s a straightforward approach, but it works.

Tip #3: Tell the Story in a Fresh and Compelling Way

I loved the Ginsu knife infomercials when I was a kid. In fact, it was maybe the first sign that I was destined for a life in advertising. I loved seeing the knife going from cutting an aluminum can to slicing through a tomato like it was hot butter. It was fresh, interesting and different (at the time at least). But, ultimately, it showed the product in action and it was incredibly compelling.

A more recent example is from the company UntuckIt. Rather than say they’re another quality dress shirt company, they use a YouTube video ad to show how their shirt was designed to be worn untucked. They compare it to the big bulky look of wearing a typical shirt untucked, making it clear that there's just no comparison to their product in terms of fit and fashion if you like to wear your dress shirt untucked.

Similarly, Mizzen+Main demonstrates the moisture wicking and machine washable benefits of their clothing. In their YouTube ad campaigns, they show how you can wad up their shirts, stuff them in a bag and then pull them out, completely wrinkle-free and looking great. It's a different story than trying to convince someone that it’s just another great dress shirt like all the other formal attire available.

Another tremendous example is from Purple Mattress and the Raw Egg test where they demonstrate in a very powerful fashion (using a test that they created) how their mattress beats every other mattress on the market.

Tip #4: Social Proof 

Every good YouTube video ad needs at least some social proof. One of the easiest and lowest cost ads to produce is a testimonial video using user-generated content. At a minimum, showing images of actual customers using the product can be extremely convincing. And, social proof data like usage stats (1 million happy customers) can be useful in showing people that, “Hey, a lot of people are using this product and people love it and it's working for them and maybe that could work for me.” Don’t overlook social proof. You can even open with social proof like this awesome example from our friends at BOOM. As a top-performing client of ours, they have created and utilized this high-quality ad for turning cold prospects into paying customers.

Tip #5: Stack the Value

One of the first places I heard about "stacking the value" was from a brilliant fellow marketer and friend, Russell Brunson. He used this concept on webinars to show people how much value they were getting in his offer. By the time Russell finishes with a value stack, you’ll think you’re getting the product or program for next to nothing even if it cost a few thousand dollars.

While a bit over-the-top, I love the Flex Seal commercials like this one. The line “It’s like a handyman in a can” creates the perception that this $19 product does all the hard work that an expensive handyman would charge hundreds of dollars for. Plus, when you see it can be used in hundreds of applications, it becomes hard to say no to their offer.

Stack that value! Make your prospect think, “Man, I'd be silly not to take advantage of this product or this offer.”

Tip #6: Assume the Risk

Going back to our friends at Groove Life, they have an incredible No BS 94 Year Unlimited Warranty. If your ring breaks or snaps or whatever, they will replace it with no questions asked.

Think about the risk that your customer is taking.

What are their fears about the product?  What is keeping them from saying yes right now? 

How can you alleviate that?

A well thought out guarantee incorporated into your YouTube video ad may be all it takes to tip your prospect over the edge and make them say yes.

Tip #7: Have a Strong Call to Action

The last thing you want is to create a YouTube ad that your prospects are inspired by, but don't take any action on because you didn’t ask them to. If someone doesn’t know what to do next, they typically won’t do anything.

Make the next steps clear. Ultimately, that next step is to visit your landing page.

Usually, the call-to-action (CTA) to use would consist of something along the lines of “learn more,” “visit site,” “get offer,” “shop now” or something similar. You want your potential customers to feel like they are taking the next, low-risk step in the journey. Usually “buy now” as a call to action isn’t as effective, because it feels like too big of a commitment after just watching a video. The “buy now” call-to-action should come on the landing page itself.

In this screenshot, you can see where Grammarly has a button that says “it's free.”

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Amplify Your YouTube Ad Campaigns With OMG Commerce

If you're ready to turn some heads and get more customers visiting your site, learn how to create a YouTube ad that is effective with help from OMG Commerce! Our team of highly trained professionals can build successful YouTube ads for eCommerce, as well as Amazon and Google. No matter what your product or service is, we'll strive to create YouTube ad campaigns that grow your business. Contact us today to schedule a free session with our staff and we'll strategize a plan that works for you.
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Request a Free Strategy Session »

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This is when it starts to get interesting. In their eagerness to “get going” and take advantage of the opportunity that placing ads on YouTube has to reach the largest available audience on the planet, there is a tendency to skip over the questions of readiness to advertise on YouTube. In most cases, the answer is more of a maybe than a definitive “Yes!” Without a good understanding of what's required for YouTube marketing success, you're almost surely headed for disappointment. You may end up spending money on an ad that seems great but isn't a good fit for advertising on YouTube. Or you could spend copious amounts of money on YouTube marketing campaigns that don't accomplish your actual objectives. For the brands we work with at OMG Commerce, most ad spend launches start in the $30,000 to $60,000 per month range for an initial test. However, we have successfully launched with test budgets at half of those amounts.  

It’s important to point out that placing less-than-stellar ads on YouTube as part of your campaign is rarely a total loss. Consider for instance the positive impact Brand Lift can have when it comes to spending on YouTube. However, most emerging brands should not consider a YouTube budget that doesn’t have a direct impact on conversions. 

Potential Trueview for Action campaigns fit into three distinct levels of readiness to advertise on YouTube. Since we’re all interested in making sure our campaigns are a hit, we’ll use a baseball analogy for our levels of YouTube advertising readiness.

Is your brand ready to advertise on YouTube? Let’s dig into these three levels to help you determine your level of readiness so you can chart a course of action for your success when advertising on YouTube. 

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On-Deck

You’re close - you’re in the big leagues now, but not yet ready to take that fastball down the middle. At OMG Commerce, we’ve found that brands in the On-Deck level of readiness have most, if not all of these in place, but are missing the video content required in order to launch campaigns. Take your personal inventory by reviewing these elements that make up the On-Deck level of readiness:

Your Brand/Product has a clear and compelling story with clear and compelling benefits that lend themselves well to video ads on YouTube. Your brand has a “Wow Factor” or at the very least, a unique story to tell.

• Your brand has traction in the marketplace with positive cash flow or access to funds for testing.
• You know your desired outcome from the YouTube marketing campaigns (Brand Lift vs. Conversion or a combination of the two).
• You know your numbers including your target cost per acquisition and target return on ad spend, as well as your profit margin on each sale after the cost of goods sold, delivery, and chargebacks.
• You’re open to learning/educating yourself/your team on the process and/or open to working with experts to guide them. 
• You have a positive conversion history or trend from existing funnels.  
• You have a clear understanding of the customer journey. How does the client arrive at purchase now? Content? Emails? Are conversion rates along the journey performing well? For example, cold traffic is converting from Facebook/Instagram ads to a landing page that is utilizing video in the campaigns. 
• Your target product or service lends itself well to demonstrations or visuals before and after. 
• Your brand/product has positive reviews along with social proof including written testimonials, user-generated video testimonials, or professionally produced testimonial interviews.  
• Your brand/product/service has a warranty or guarantees to mitigate the risk involved in a first-time purchase. 

Questions to Ask:

You may have video content, but it’s not quite ready for advertising on YouTube. Here are questions to ask:

• Do I have video content that is over 35 seconds long that will work with the Trueview for Action ad format?  
• Do I have high-resolution video content? 
• Do I have rights/access to the raw video content for repurposing/editing into new content?

You should ask yourself these questions about your landing page and existing video content before moving on.

• Are the claims made in the content on the landing page in line with the most powerful product/service benefit? 
• Does the landing page load quickly?  Check your landing page at GTMetrix. 
• Who else can say what is being said in your video? 
• What are the clear differences between your offer and the competition? 
• Are your benefits clearly communicated visually? 
• Is it instantly obvious how your prospects' lives will be bettered by purchasing your product?
• Do you offer visual proof in the form of video demonstrations, diagrams, before and afters, etc? 

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At-Bat

You’re warmed up in the On-Deck circle and you’re at the plate. Based on our experience with our OMG Commerce clients, the At-Bat level is ready to test ads on YouTube. You might not have a home run video, but you won’t get a hit if you don’t swing the bat.  

• You may have several videos that fit categories included in our seven YouTube ad formats. These formats have delivered successful campaign performance with other brands we’ve worked with.

• Your brand may also have existing video testimonials, user-generated content, and influencer content. In many cases, the content is almost there, it simply needs some repurposing or editing to get a finished product that is ideal for testing.

• An At-Bat brand has solid video content, but your landing page may need additional work to improve conversion rates. 

• Your videos may need expanding. For instance, you have a 15-second and a 30-second video that converts well on Facebook/Instagram, but that video needs to be expanded to 45 to 60 seconds in order to test on YouTube.

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Home Run

You’ve put in the work required in the On-Deck and At-Bat levels. You’re in the big leagues with solid content backed up by a world-class team like OMG behind you to handle the complex details of YouTube advertising.   

• Home Run brands, like On-Deck and At-Bat brands, may also have other videos or B-roll content that can be repurposed into fresh content for testing (influencer content, testimonials) with just a bit of editing.
• These brands more often than not have in-house teams for creative or a solid vendor relationship who understands building winning YouTube ads.

• A Home Run brand will also have a solid technical setup for conversion tracking along with a developer or developer team who can implement more complex conversion tracking for multiple funnels and upsells. Our OMG team has deep experience in these areas, so it’s not a must for this level of readiness. 

• Brands at this level are also currently investing or open to investing in fresh content on a regular basis as long as a return can be realized.

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Other Vital Areas to Consider:

It is important to note that even with a Home Run level of readiness, there are potential hazards and roadblocks that can impede the ability of you or an agency like OMG Commerce to launch your YouTube marketing campaigns. Here are the major roadblocks you can address in advance to save you and your agency team possible headaches and delays.

Too many landing pages in play with multiple plugins/software. This brings to mind a lead generation YouTube client we had recently. They had an amazing business but were held back by an email and attribution system that caused challenges in our ability to scale the business. Questions to ask:

• Where can I consolidate? 
• Do I have a solid email system in place for auto-responders, sequences, and conversion tracking? 

Conversion Tracking: I’m constantly amazed at the number of potential clients who come to us either from in-house efforts or working with other agencies that have major challenges in tracking conversions accurately. We consistently find no tracking in place, broken tracking, or double counting, and multiple conversion actions being tracked in campaigns. 

We also find multiple tags on the website or landing page that will require cleanup prior to launch. In addition, we’ve found in our attempts to help with clean-up, the client doesn’t have access to Google Tag Manager or simply doesn’t know who has access. Questions to ask: 

• How am I tracking conversions currently? Google Ads or Analytics (Google Ads Tracking is ideal).  
• What are the conversions I’m tracking in Google Ads?  
• Do I have Google Tag Manager installed on my website or landing page(s)?  
• Do we have access to our Google Tag Manager account? If not, who has access?‍

Do you have a video producer/production company that understands how to produce content that will convert for YouTube?  Questions to ask: 

• Can the agency I hire help to inform my video production company on the final product/output needed for proper testing? 

Get Ready to Advertise on YouTube with OMG Commerce

By following this checklist, you’ll position your brand in the best possible place to allow your in-house team or agency to have the highest probability of success with YouTube advertising. Feel free to share your content or ideas with me. I’d be happy to help you gauge your level of YouTube advertising readiness with a complimentary YouTube strategy session, or you can check out our YouTube ads guide to learn more.