Marketing strategies to inspire viewer action in YouTube ads

Nacia Walsh: Hey there, I’m Nacia. And welcome to another episode of our How To Think About series. For marketers, creating effective YouTube ads requires a mixture of four crucial elements: the ABCDs. There’s attention, branding, connection, and, in this video, we’ll be discussing direction. Direction is essentially telling your viewers to take the action you want.

But how should you think about using CTAs in your YouTube ads? Here to share her expert insights is Ariane Le Port, global creative effectiveness lead at Google. Take it away, Ariane.

Ariane Le Port: Hello, and thanks, Nacia. I’m Ariane, and I’m here to help you think about how you direct your viewers to take action after watching your ad on YouTube. Studies show that including a strong CTA can have a positive effect on your ad.

And this is especially true for YouTube, as 63% of viewers say they’ve purchased from a brand after seeing it on the platform. It’s an opportunity you don’t wanna miss out on. So let’s dive into how do you think about optimizing your CTAs to inspire action every time.

The first strategy is a very obvious one: Include a clear CTA. Optimized YouTube ads with a strong CTA have been shown to increase the likelihood of short-term sales by 30%. The CTA should drive a specific action, so go ahead and tell viewers exactly what you’d like them to do.

Your CTA should also be one of your ad’s key messages and should be reinforced with language from the rest of your ad. Studies show that CTAs that mentioned specific actions like “book now” over more generic ones, like “learn more” perform better. But at the end of the day, it all depends on what your marketing objective is, be it awareness, consideration, or purchase, so it can drive that next action.

And don’t forget to lead with a verb. Short and simple verbs that present immediate action could be “click,” “join,” or “view.” You could even use verbs that hint at a coming experience like “discover,” “explore,” or “find.” It all depends on the action you want viewers to take.

The second strategy is to supercharge your CTAs with audio. Throughout your ad, it’s important that what your audience sees is said out loud too. You can do this by reinforcing your on-screen CTA with voice-over or have it in your character’s script.

Audio is the No. 1 lift multiplier on YouTube for effective ads, so using it with your CTA and pairing it with the right visuals is crucial to encourage viewers to follow through.

So in summary, don’t let the last few seconds of your ad go to waste. Make the most of this short time by getting viewers on board with your vision by giving them clear next steps. Really, it’s all about using creative elements to inspire them to take action.

So thank you so much for listening, everyone. And back to you, Nacia.

Nacia: Thanks so much for sharing, Ariane. Let’s do a quick recap, shall we? We learned about how important CTAs are to your YouTube ads and two key strategies to get your viewers to take action. One: Include a CTA driving a specific action. And two: Use audio to supercharge your CTA. Your CTA should empower people to take matters into their own hands.

Well, that’s it for this video. Learn more about the core principles for creating effective YouTube ads by watching our other videos. And don’t forget to subscribe to our channel while you’re at it. We’ll see you next time.