YouTube marketing,
from an award-winning
Melbourne agency

As a premier YouTube advertising agency in Melbourne, SIXGUN has extensive experience with all types of YouTube ads, and we’re comfortable with the nuances and benefits of each.

• Skippable in-stream ads: We've found these to be very effective for long-form content and storytelling. Our team is skilled at designing the first five seconds to engage the viewer and encourage them to watch beyond the “skip” point.
• Non-skippable in-stream ads: Our team understands that these are best used for short, impactful messages, as the viewer can't skip past. We've run successful campaigns with a variety of lengths - 15, 20, and even 30-second slots.
• Video discovery ads: These are wonderful for driving engagement, as they appear to users who are actively searching or browsing. We have strategies to effectively optimise the headlines and descriptions for these ads, to attract the most relevant audience.
• Bumper ads: Bumper ads are a great tool for reinforcing a message or increasing brand awareness due to their brief 6-second length. We have experience in creating concise and catchy messages to fit this short time frame.
• In addition to these, we've also worked with outstream ads, which show up on partner websites, and masthead ads, which get premium placement on YouTube's homepage.

Our expertise extends beyond just the creation and placement of these ads. We use advanced analytics and A/B testing to optimise campaigns, maximise ROI and reduce wasted ad spend. Our team also understands the importance of seamless integration with other marketing channels, and how YouTube advertising fits into a larger, multi-channel marketing strategy.

When it comes to optimising YouTube ads for higher viewer engagement and conversion rates, SIXGUN’s process is rooted in leveraging data, understanding audiences, and using creative strategies tailored to your specific business needs. Here's an overview of our approach:

• Audience targeting: Before we even begin with creating an ad, we carry out in-depth audience research. Understanding the viewer is the key to creating ads that resonate. We identify key demographics, interests, and habits of your target audience, then use YouTube's powerful targeting tools to make sure our ads reach them.
• Keyword & SEO optimisation: Much like Google Search, YouTube has its own search algorithm. We perform comprehensive keyword research and optimise your ad content for these keywords. This helps your ad appear in relevant search results, increasing the likelihood of viewer engagement.
• Compelling content: The key to engagement and conversions is capturing the viewer's attention and providing value. We focus on creating compelling, authentic, and high-quality content. We apply storytelling principles and try to evoke emotions to make the ad memorable.
• Strong calls to action (CTAs): An effective ad prompts action. We design strong, clear, and compelling CTAs to drive conversions. Whether it's visiting your website, signing up for a newsletter, or making a purchase, we make sure viewers know what the next step is.
• A/B testing: We use A/B testing to constantly improve our ads. This allows us to test different aspects of the ad (like the headline, description, or video content itself) and see what works best with your audience - it's all about continuous learning and adjustment.
• Analytics & performance tracking: We monitor key metrics such as view rate, click-through-rate (CTR), watch time, and conversions. This gives us insight into what's working and what's not. We use these insights to refine our approach and optimise future campaigns.
• Leveraging YouTube ad formats: We utilise the variety of ad formats available on YouTube like TrueView, Non-skippable instream ads, Bumper ads, or Discovery ads. Each format serves a different purpose and is used based on the campaign's goals.
• Sequencing & remarketing: We don't just rely on one-off interactions. We strategically plan ad sequencing to build narratives and improve brand recall. Plus, we use remarketing techniques to re-engage viewers who've shown interest in your offerings.

Remember, each brand is unique, and our approach is always customised to your specific goals and needs. Our main objective is to drive meaningful engagement, and ultimately, high conversion rates through strategic and creative YouTube advertising.

Selecting the right targeting options for YouTube ads is a blend of art and science that we, as a leading YouTube marketing agency, have been perfecting over many years. Here's an overview of how we go about it:

• Your business goals and audience: Our first step is to conduct a deep dive into understanding your business, your products or services, and most importantly, your target audience. We aim to understand their behaviour, interests, online activities, and pain points. This way, we can ensure we're not just targeting a broad audience, but the right audience for your specific offering.
• Keyword research: We perform thorough keyword research to understand what terms and phrases your audience uses when searching for the products or services you offer. This helps us target your ads based on these search terms.
• Demographic targeting: Depending on the profile of your ideal customer, we utilise YouTube's demographic targeting options. This can involve selecting the age, gender, parental status, and household income of the audience you want to reach.
• Interest and behaviour targeting: YouTube allows us to target viewers based on their interests, habits, and what they're actively researching or planning. We leverage this to reach viewers who are most likely to be interested in your offerings.
• Contextual targeting: We select this option to target specific types of content, channels, or videos. If there are channels or videos that we know your audience frequents, we can place your ads there.
• Remarketing: We use remarketing lists to target viewers who've interacted with your brand or content before. This can significantly increase your ad's effectiveness since these viewers have already shown interest in your brand.
• Testing and optimisation: We continually monitor the performance of the campaigns and tweak the targeting options to maximise the results. We use A/B testing to find what works best and to continuously refine and optimise your campaigns.
• Customer match: If you have a list of emails of customers or potential leads, we can use YouTube's Customer Match feature to directly target them with your ads.

Every business is unique. There's no one-size-fits-all approach. That's why we develop a bespoke YouTube marketing strategy for each of our clients to ensure we're reaching the most relevant audience possible in the most effective way.

Measuring the success of a YouTube marketing campaign involves a multitude of key performance indicators (KPIs) that each address different facets of your overall marketing objectives. Here are the primary metrics SIXGUN pays close attention to:

• Views and watch time: The most basic metric, views, represents the number of times a video has been watched. More importantly, watch time gives us insight into how long viewers are staying and how engaging our content is. If our watch time is high, it means that viewers are not only clicking on our videos but also sticking around to watch.
• Audience retention: This metric tells us how well a video retains viewers during playback by showing us the average percentage of a video that people watch. It helps us understand at what point people stop watching a video, which can guide us in optimising video length and content pacing.
• Subscriber growth: This KPI helps us measure the growth of your YouTube channel. A steady increase in subscribers indicates that our content is valuable enough for viewers to want to come back for more.
• Engagement metrics: This includes likes, comments, and shares. High engagement rates show that viewers are interacting with our content and can give us insights into what type of content resonates best with our audience.
• Traffic sources: This shows us where our viewers are coming from, whether that's from YouTube search, other social media platforms, or external websites. Understanding our traffic sources helps us target our marketing efforts more effectively.
• Conversion metrics: If your campaign's goal is to drive a specific action, like app downloads, website visits, or product purchases, we'll also measure conversion rates. Using tools like Google Analytics, we can track viewers as they move from the video to your website or app.
• Cost metrics: If we're running paid campaigns, cost metrics like Cost Per View (CPV) and Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) will be important to measure how efficiently our ads are converting views and actions.
• Audience demographics: Understanding who our audience is can help us create more targeted and relevant content. We can break this down by age, gender, location, and even interests.

We also make it a point to continuously review and recalibrate our strategies based on these metrics to ensure that your marketing campaign is not only reaching its intended audience, but is also effective in driving the desired outcomes.

Utilising YouTube Analytics is key to developing, implementing, and continuously refining a successful marketing strategy on the platform. We view analytics not as raw data, but as a powerful storytelling tool that provides us with deep insights into your audience, content performance, and overall channel health.

• Audience insights: YouTube Analytics provides us with a wealth of data about your audience, including age, gender, geographical location, and even what time they're most likely to watch videos. We can use this data to tailor our content strategy, ensuring we're creating videos that will appeal to your core demographic and publishing them at the most effective times.
• Viewer engagement: Through analytics, we can track how viewers engage with your content, whether it's liking, sharing, commenting, or even how long they're watching. By analysing these metrics, we can figure out what's resonating with your audience, and what's not. This information helps us adjust the content style, length, and format to maximise viewer engagement.
• Traffic sources: Knowing where your viewers are coming from—whether it's through YouTube search, external websites, or suggested videos—enables us to strategically optimise your content and channel for those sources, enhancing discoverability and increasing organic growth.
• Performance metrics: Analytics data like watch time, audience retention, and click-through rates are crucial for understanding the performance of each video. We use these metrics to inform decisions around content topics, video length, thumbnails, descriptions and more, ensuring each piece of content is set up for success.
• A/B testing: YouTube Analytics also allows us to conduct A/B testing for your video thumbnails, titles, descriptions, etc. to determine which versions perform best. This is an essential part of optimising your content for the highest possible engagement and visibility.