How to setup and run Youtube ads in 10 easy steps

When you want to grow your business’s outreach, one of the easiest ways is through advertising. These days, advertising is easier than ever. You can set up a YouTube ad campaign in a matter of minutes.

That campaign will have access to more than 2.5 billion YouTube users, and with pay-per-click models and targeted advertising, you can guarantee that every penny you spend is as cost-effective as possible.

If any of that sounds promising, then this 10-step guide will show you exactly how to start and run a Youtube ad campaign.

                                                                   Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

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1. Set Your Budget

Before starting any ad campaign — on YouTube or otherwise — it’s best to set a few clear goals and a budget for the whole thing. What are you trying to get out of your ads? Put numbers on it, and when you do, that can help you figure out how much you can reasonably spend on the project. You need a clear budget in mind before you start the campaign.

To help with this, keep in mind that YouTube charges $2000 for your ad to play to 100,000 viewers. Additionally, you can set daily spending numbers so that the ad doesn’t go too far too fast and bankrupt your business.

2. Create Your Ad

This can be the second step or part of the third step. Ultimately, YouTube ads are videos, so you need a video that you can give to YouTube to run as an ad. That’s how it works. It’s easier if you already have an ad made that you can upload, but if you’re stuck on this, Google will help you create your ads when you build the campaign.

3. Create an Ad Campaign

This is the first step that directly involves Google and YouTube. Follow this link, and that is where you can create an ad campaign (click “Start Now” to get to the prompts). You will want to ensure that you are signed in with the correct Google account. As long as you are, you can follow the prompts. They will help you pick the type of campaign that you want, help you make your video if necessary, and essentially walk you through the whole process.

In the following steps, we’re going to look at a few prompts more closely to clarify what they mean and how they work. That said, if you’re comfortable with it, you can just follow the prompts and create your campaign. That will take you to step eight on this list.

4. Choose the Locations

The first major decision for you is in targeting locations. Google will use your current location to suggest a target region and language, but you can adjust that, and if you’re advertising for a local business, you can be pretty specific here. It’s important that you don’t blaze through this step, as targeting the right location will bear the largest impact on the success of your YouTube ads.

5. Hone Your Target Audience

Next up, you can really hone in on your target audience. You can tell Google what age group you want to see the ads, gender preferences, and more. In the following prompt, you can also add tags that help your ads target people with the right interests. As an example, if you’re advertising for a sandwich shop, you can add the tags “sandwich” and “lunch” to help your campaign succeed.

6. Review the Campaign

Once you put in all of the information, you can review it. This step happens before you provide financial information and finalize the campaign, so you can still change anything that you want. Take a moment to double check that the campaign budget matches your spending expectations.

7. Pay

This is simple. The real point here is that once you submit your payment information, you are launching the campaign. It will go live right away.

8. Track Progress

One way that Google shines as an advertiser is with statistics and metrics. You can track the success of your YouTube ads in more ways than you might imagine. Using those statistics, you can see how the ad is succeeding and/or failing, ensuring that you don’t blindly trudge along a bad path.

9. Make Adjustments

Using those statistics, you can adjust the campaign as you go. You can alter the demographics, update the tags, add additional videos (or replace the original), change the budget, or do whatever you think is best. If you aren’t sure how to fix a problem or proceed, you can contact YouTube support using this link or seek help from the community https://www.youtube.com/t/contact_us

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10. Reap the Rewards

If everything works as intended, the ads will drive traffic to wherever you intended. In theory, the ads will generate more than enough revenue to cover their costs. If not, make more adjustments, and consider that support phone number.

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