Growing a video marketing agency

[Andy Black]

I've been fiddling with videos for a bit now, and have been figuring out YouTube in this progress thread.

This week I signed up a new Google Ads client who is also our first paying YouTube Ads client (funny how we've got a client for something we're not "experts" at eh?).

The client had a great looking 53 second video created by an agency a while back.

There's a few issues with the video though:

• There's writing at the bottom at the beginning that's too long - no-one will read it or remember it.
• Their website name has changed so I wanted to edit it out.
• The end screen CTAs are waaay too complicated and too many of them.
• There's some other odd end screens.

I've used my newly improved Camtasia skillz to zoom in a bit to get rid of their wording at the beginning, to add some annotations, and to cover over those end screens.


Here's the original video (53 secs):

View: https://youtu.be/7_g0Qje9_ik




Here's my updated one (still 53 secs):

View: https://youtu.be/PMdrE1juCmc




We'll get this loaded into the client's YouTube channel and start running ads for them.

I think this video could do well on Facebook too so we'll look at creating a version for Facebook and putting some spend behind it.

 

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[Andy Black]

You might hate YouTube ads but no one has more hated YouTube ads than Tai Lopez and I guarantee he’s also made more money off YouTube ads than most people will ever need

I must admit, I really like the YouTube ads. I prefer them to the Facebook video ads that seem to be more spammy (well the ones I see are at any rate). I study the video ads.

Some learnings:

• The good video ads are created as "commercials", they're not just ad spend put behind some random video (as I did here and got 7k views and no action because I didn't have a CTA - lol).
• I don't need to be in my own videos. (Duh. This was a facepalm moment. I'm looking at all the damn equipment I've been buying so I can make better talking head videos. It doesn't need to be me in the videos... I can hire an actor on Fiverr or Upwork if needs be.)
• Videos don't even need a person to be in them. (A second facepalm moment.)
• Commercial video ads have a goal in mind, and that's to get people to take an action ... not necessarily to educate people (very different from my normal videos which are to educate people).

So I'm attacking this with a direct response media buyers mindset. I'm taking my Google Ads mindset to YouTube Ads and will see how it goes. You can already see the difference in the two videos in the opening post. I'm not a video editor. I haven't studied it and have no intention of studying it. I expect I can create and run image and video ads that will give a better ROI than those created by degree qualified graphic designers and video producers - because my goals are different. Their goal is to create great videos, mine is to get the right people to take action - so that we can ultimately add value and get paid for doing so.

 

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[John Clancy]

Nice - hope it works out!

Do you have a goal in mind for this video/campaign? E.g. bookings, views, website visits...

 

[MattR82]

Cool, I don't remember seeing a youtube ads thread on here. Following with interest.

I will say one thing though, when I was getting youtube ads, NOTHING pissed me off more lol. Fb and IG ads don't bother me, but forcing me to watch one on youtube ENRAGED me haha.

Be interesting to hear what kind of return comes from youtube.

 

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[ksiendzu]

Hmmm... Thanks. I hadn't thought about the mobile app. I use it on my phone and must pay more attention to it. We've not tested that many of the YouTube ad formats yet so I don't know what those ones are that you're referring to. I'm currently focused on the skippable in-stream ads (are these also called TrueView ads?).

Ads that are seen on screenshot from Madame Peccato are Discovery ads. You pay for CPV and view is counted each time someone click on those ads.

Yes, skippable in-stream ads are one type of trueview ads and there are couple types of YouTube trueview ads like:
-trueview in-stream,
-trueview for action (after ad is completed, youtube doesnt show video that you clicked for, but white screen with logo, headline and CTA - Netflix use it often when promoting their series),
-trueview for Shopping (for ecommerce, need to integrate Google Merchant Center to use) and
-trueview for reach (I dont know what they are for, despite being more expensive than trueview in-stream)

And you pay for CPV (cost per view) in trueview ads, not for CPA.
But you can choose target CPA in your campaign settings

Hope this makes youtube ads more clear for all of you guys!

 

[Andy Black]

I'm resurrecting this.

A lot of our Google Ads clients could benefit from YouTube Ads. I'm doing our clients a disservice by not offering to help them with their YouTube Ads.

PROS:

1. It lends itself to hiring freelancers (there's no way I'd could physically edit the videos even if I wanted to). Selling a service you can't physically fulfill forces you to work ON the business not IN the business.
2. I could use good freelancers I find for my own projects (my courses and ideas for channels on YouTube).
3. It's "another leg to the same stool" for my current business offering of Google Ads consulting.
4. It lends itself to the video course membership I'm growing, and the fact that I think the best channel to grow that is YouTube.
5. Anything to do with video is automatically assumed to have a high price tag. Maybe the Google Ads service gets dwarfed by the YouTube Ads service?
6. I'm fascinated and enjoy video creation and editing. It's like my hobby outside of work and I’d like to get better at video editing & marketing anyway.

 

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[Andy Black]

Nice - hope it works out!

Do you have a goal in mind for this video/campaign? E.g. bookings, views, website visits...

Website visits, word-of-mouth, and video shares are all good. Bookings are what the client is after.

We didn't have "Book Now" as the CTA as that's a bit forward. We want them to think of visiting the Aran Islands for their next holiday/getaway, and for them to know the domain "irelandglamping.ie".

We didn't choose the domain. aranglamping.ie might be more appropriate. However, if we can get this working for the client then he has the option to expand to other locations in Ireland.

 

[Andy Black]

Irelandglamping.ie is almost like the domain a platform would secure (like booking.com) --> I know you've written in the past before about owning your own campaigns & other IP...

Interesting to wonder if the same thinking could apply here? Where you'd grow to earn the search terms businesses in a certain industry would want their videos to show for, then sell off ad space to them?

Probably doesn't translate over as neatly as that though.

I could do that of course, but in this case I don’t mind/care if the client owns the assets. I’m getting paid to learn how to deliver results, using their ad spend. The business owner is a smart guy too, so if he sees this blowing up for him (as I want it to) then we’ll likely have a very interesting chat to see where it can lead.

 

[MitchC]

You might hate YouTube ads but no one has more hated YouTube ads than Tai Lopez and I guarantee he’s also made more money off YouTube ads than most people will ever need

 

[broswoodwork]

Someone's PM'd to ask me the very important question below. I've been hoping someone would because it's one of the main reasons I've been firing up progress threads like crazy recently.

I wanted to "show, don't tell" what I mean when I say:

• You don't need to be an expert.
• Who have you helped?
• What if you already know enough?
• Learnings from 700+ PMs with fellow forum members
• Show don't tell & Putting the first things first

Below is the message. I'll answer it shortly.

I'm curious how you guys would answer it.

I'm curious how you guys think I'll answer it too.

...

I'm contacting you is asking about a specific post you've made, namely:



I don't know why, but I just can't get myself to act this way. I know it's perfectly viable to take on work and learn along the way, but it feels wrong to me "figuring stuff out" on behalf of a client that's paying for a certain quality standard. If I know I'm not at least on a borderline expert level, how can I get myself to take on work that I'm not completely comfortable with? I feel like I have to know the in-and-outs of a service (for example Amazon PPC) before I would even consider offering it to someone else. How do you look at this in a way that you can justify the "learning as you go" approach?

I hope this doesn't come across too harshly, and I'm sure it's just a personal issue / wrong belief system, but I would be thrilled to hear your opinion on that.

Well, you're a subject matter expert on advertising in general, so it's reasonable to assume that the buyer is convinced you'll take it well beyond figuring it out, and they're basically buying what you'll come up with at a sharp bargain.

Building ever higher ground from what you already know, and all of that.

 

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[MHP368]

I have an entire trove of video "ad agency" software, allows you to do boutique videos with voiceovers / green screen (not trash) or 3d avatars (total trash)

right now a lot of shoddy stuff is out their, the big push is for videos stuffed with search terms to mess with SERP's, that one is...blaster suite (some of its good stuff actually)

Are you charging them separately for the videos andy or is this sort of included in the andy experience going forward?

 

[Andy Black]

Well, you're a subject matter expert on advertising in general, so it's reasonable to assume that the buyer is convinced you'll take it well beyond figuring it out, and they're basically buying what you'll come up with at a sharp bargain.

Building ever higher ground from what you already know, and all of that.

The prospect contacted me looking for Google Ads. They already had a great video on their home page and I explained that YouTube Ads would help them too. They went with it.

Yes, I’m stacking my skills to build an even higher ground. I’m an IT data guy, with Google Ads skills, and with reasonable video editing skills that I’ve picked up from creating videos for my own course and YouTube channel.

Since YouTube Ads are created in the Google Ads interface it‘s a no-brainier to add this as a service to clients.

Once videos are created it will then become a no-brainer to run video ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc for clients (hence the title of this thread not being YouTube specific).

 

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[Andy Black]

I have an entire trove of video "ad agency" software, allows you to do boutique videos with voiceovers / green screen (not trash) or 3d avatars (total trash)

right now a lot of shoddy stuff is out their, the big push is for videos stuffed with search terms to mess with SERP's, that one is...blaster suite (some of its good stuff actually)

It seems so accessible now for business owners and marketers to quickly create videos without video production skills. I’d say it’s still in the early adopter stage of a gold rush.

What’s letting people down is their weak marketing/sales thinking and execution.

People still need to think about the goal of their video, and then how to achieve it.

The first of the two short videos in the opening post is a video with great imagery, but poor call-to-actions. I’m not even going to split-test it against the version I created.

I’m sure I’ll be iterating our video based on feedback/results. I’m keen to get these campaigns started (we’re still waiting to get access to their YouTube and Google Analytics accounts).

 

[John Clancy]

Website visits, word-of-mouth, and video shares are all good. Bookings are what the client is after.

We didn't have "Book Now" as the CTA as that's a bit forward. We want them to think of visiting the Aran Islands for their next holiday/getaway, and for them to know the domain "irelandglamping.ie".

Irelandglamping.ie is almost like the domain a platform would secure (like booking.com) --> I know you've written in the past before about owning your own campaigns & other IP...

Interesting to wonder if the same thinking could apply here? Where you'd grow to earn the search terms businesses in a certain industry would want their videos to show for, then sell off ad space to them?

Probably doesn't translate over as neatly as that though.

 

[MattR82]

How are you forced? The 6 second bumper ads that you can’t skip?

Yeah lol. Although recently when I had to revert to an old mobile phone I'm sure I was made to sit through an occasional ad longer than that. Mid video was the worst.

 

[Invictus]

Website visits, word-of-mouth, and video shares are all good. Bookings are what the client is after.

We didn't have "Book Now" as the CTA as that's a bit forward. We want them to think of visiting the Aran Islands for their next holiday/getaway, and for them to know the domain "irelandglamping.ie".

We didn't choose the domain. aranglamping.ie might be more appropriate. However, if we can get this working for the client then he has the option to expand to other locations in Ireland.

I'm sure you're already thinking ahead, but I found success by retargeting Video viewers with a more direct ad. People don't tend to take action on a video, but if they watch it all the way through, they're interested. Those were good candidates to follow up with an offer or discount.

 

[MattR82]

I'm curious about the difference in price with ads on the homepage of youtube compared to before and during a video.

 

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[broswoodwork]

I have never looked into this, and I'm not sure if there's a quick answer, but what do ads on YouTube usually cost? Are they cpm or cpc?

Edit: Do they cost more if the eyeballs don't "skip"?

Double edit:

 

[Andy Black]

I'm sure you're already thinking ahead, but I found success by retargeting Video viewers with a more direct ad. People don't tend to take action on a video, but if they watch it all the way through, they're interested. Those were good candidates to follow up with an offer or discount.

Yes, I have that in mind. Thanks for reminding me @Invictus.

I’m looking forward to running non-skippable ads to @MattR82 for not watching my ads to the end.

 

[Andy Black]

I have never looked into this, and I'm not sure if there's a quick answer, but what do ads on YouTube usually cost? Are they cpm or cpc?

Edit: Do they cost more if the eyeballs don't "skip"?

Double edit:
View attachment 30044

Off the top of my head we can specify:

1. A target CPV (cost per view) where a view is if they watch all the video or more than 30 seconds of the video.
2. A target CPA (cost-per-acquisition). This means we should have conversion tracking in place of course.

Hold on... let me get to my PC and drop in some stats we’ve got for a “free” client where we offered to run campaigns for free for them in exchange for them paying the ad spend and being a guinea pig...


EDIT: For some recent YouTube stats, check out this post and the one after.


My goodness... apologies for spinning out so many new threads!

That first one (Figuring Out YouTube) has spawned numerous new progress threads which in turn have spawned other individual threads. Good luck keeping up with them all!

• Growing an email list with Google Ads
• An Excel Course?
• How to validate and sell a course - my draft project plan (in Google Sheets)
• How to create NEAT Excel spreadsheets - that other people can understand and use!

And in case anyone asked "Why are you doing any of this Andy? You should be doing XYZ instead." (which to be fair no-one has done):

• I'm doing it anyway

 

[broswoodwork]

Good luck keeping up with them all! Haha.

Haha. It has been a bit of a white knuckle ride tying to keep up. I'm just trying to keep track of as many of the surface details of your current adventures as possible.

 

[Madame Peccato]

What do you mean by the home page of YouTube? The search results? Can you show a screenshot?

I only see ads on the homepage of the mobile app, while on desktop I see an "ad" but it's about a Youtube Originals series so I don't think it counts? Anyway here's a screenshot of what I see on YT mobile right after I open the app.

Spoiler: screenshot

A Netflix ad with a "Sign up" CTA.

Closing and reopening the app shows me a Google Pixel ad now. Third refresh and I get a "shopify free course". Clicking on the 1st and 3rd ad opened the related Youtube video (a Netflix trailer and a 45 minutes long video about dropshipping. I have not clicked on the Google Pixel ad, but it wasn't a video I think.

 

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[Andy Black]

Someone's PM'd to ask me the very important question below. I've been hoping someone would because it's one of the main reasons I've been firing up progress threads like crazy recently.

I wanted to "show, don't tell" what I mean when I say:

• You don't need to be an expert.
• Who have you helped?
• What if you already know enough?
• Learnings from 700+ PMs with fellow forum members
• Show don't tell & Putting the first things first

Below is the message. I'll answer it shortly.

I'm curious how you guys would answer it.

I'm curious how you guys think I'll answer it too.

...

I'm contacting you is asking about a specific post you've made, namely:

I could do that of course, but in this case I don’t mind/care if the client owns the assets. I’m getting paid to learn how to deliver results, using their ad spend. The business owner is a smart guy too, so if he sees this blowing up for him (as I want it to) then we’ll likely have a very interesting chat to see where it can lead.

I don't know why, but I just can't get myself to act this way. I know it's perfectly viable to take on work and learn along the way, but it feels wrong to me "figuring stuff out" on behalf of a client that's paying for a certain quality standard. If I know I'm not at least on a borderline expert level, how can I get myself to take on work that I'm not completely comfortable with? I feel like I have to know the in-and-outs of a service (for example Amazon PPC) before I would even consider offering it to someone else. How do you look at this in a way that you can justify the "learning as you go" approach?

I hope this doesn't come across too harshly, and I'm sure it's just a personal issue / wrong belief system, but I would be thrilled to hear your opinion on that.

 

[Andy Black]

Just bought this for $10.99.

The reasons are usually twofold when I buy a course. I’d like to apply the content, and see how others design and deliver courses.

Online Courses - Learn Anything, On Your Schedule | Udemy

Udemy is an online learning and teaching marketplace with over 213,000 courses and 57 million students. Learn programming, marketing, data science and more.

www.udemy.com

 

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[John Clancy]

@Andy Black you might be interested in this, both for learning and critical appraisal: DigitalMarketer Opened It's Training Library...For Free Through (At LEAST) March

 

[Andy Black]

I'm in conversation with 3 forum members who might do the strategy in the video above (create and send a free promo video to businesses).

Here's what I might test as the cold email when sending the video:

Subject: Complimentary custom video created for <Business Name>

Hi John,

Please find attached a complimentary custom video for your yoga business (see below).

Feel free to use it on your website, YouTube, Facebook, Instragram, etc.

If you know anyone who needs videos created for their business then we'd be grateful if you could let them know.

Thanks,
Andy

<Have an image of the video here, that has the play button on it, and that links to video when they click on it>


Get bonus points tracking the email open and video being played.

 

[woken]

I'm in conversation with 3 forum members who might do the strategy in the video above (create and send a free promo video to businesses).

Here's what I might test as the cold email when sending the video:

Subject: Complimentary custom video created for <Business Name>

Hi John,

Please find attached a complimentary custom video for your yoga business (see below).

Feel free to use it on your website, YouTube, Facebook, Instragram, etc.

If you know anyone who needs videos created for their business then we'd be grateful if you could let them know.

Thanks,
<Your Name>

<Have an image of the video here, that has the play button on it, and that links to video when they click on it>


Get bonus points tracking the email open and video being played.

Add scale and you can reach basically every business with this approach.

For the videomaking bit, setting up a very good template should help immensely so you don’t have to re do everything.

You can have it watermarked and charge for that, or you can upsell a better video and give the current one for free.

Nonetheless, Gold as always @Andy Black

I also love that you always recommend giving value first, and then asking. Reminds me of what garyvee keeps screaming about.


Ps: if this sounds to you like a lot of hard work up front for potentially nothing in return, keep reading the books and the forum.

 

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[Andy Black]

Add scale and you can reach basically every business with this approach.

For the videomaking bit, setting up a very good template should help immensely so you don’t have to re do everything.

You can have it watermarked and charge for that, or you can upsell a better video and give the current one for free.

Nonetheless, Gold as always @Andy Black

I also love that you always recommend giving value first, and then asking. Reminds me of what garyvee keeps screaming about.


Ps: if this sounds to you like a lot of hard work up front for potentially nothing in return, keep reading the books and the forum.

Get your foot in the door. Be the video guy for them. Then maybe you can help with the copy, content on the website and/or social media. And maybe Facebook Ads, YouTube Ads, etc.

It all starts with giving a bit of value for free, and then building relationships and win-wins.

 

[Andy Black]

Just had a thought...

What if you created a Facebook page for the county/city, created complimentary videos for businesses, and posted each video to that Facebook page, tagging each business as you do so?

Would the business be pleased with the extra visibility? Might they and their followers share the heck out of that video?


Curious what you think @Lex DeVille given you're interested in local YouTube channels.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Just had a thought...

What if you created a Facebook page for the county/city, created complimentary videos for businesses, and posted each video to that Facebook page, tagging each business as you do so?

Would the business be pleased with the extra visibility? Might they and their followers share the heck out of that video?


Curious what you think @Lex DeVille given you're interested in local YouTube channels.

I'm not sure you would need the Facebook page. The YT channel alone would probably be worth it, especially if the videos are interesting and highlight businesses that people might not know about, but probably would like to know about. The FB page could come later by leveraging the audience you build through YT.

 

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