How to Use YouTube’s Call-to-Action Overlay Ads

Nearly 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day, and with so much traffic, it’s no wonder why marketers are expanding their strategies to include YouTube ads.

Brands have the opportunity to link ads to the products they sell and potentially increase their conversion rate. In this post, we’ll help you achieve those goals by teaching you how to share YouTube overlay ads and giving you tips on how to run them successfully.

Not all YouTube ads are short videos; Interstitial ads are a type of images that appear in the video player while viewers are watching the content they have chosen.

Source of the image

They are relatively small and harmless to the viewing experience and leave enough room to capture the attention of several potential customers. And making them is not a challenge, let’s get into it.

How to create YouTube overlay ads

1. Create a banner that fits the dimensions of the overlay specifications.

You can easily create a banner in graphic design platforms like Canva or Photoshop, choose from pre-existing templates and customize it to reflect your brand identity. And for the ideal banner size, make sure it follows these dimensions:

• Image dimensions: 480×70
• File type: .GIF, .PNG, .JPG static
• File size: 150 Kb

2. Start a new campaign in Google Ads.

YouTube ads are created and managed by Google Ads.

3. Select the “Display” campaign type.

You want to advertise your overlay banner ad, which is an image that you want to be displayed on YouTube.

4. Choose the type of audience you want to reach.

When you advertise on YouTube, you want to pay to reach people who are likely to be interested in what you have to offer. This means you have to choose your target audience or demographic carefully.

In addition to connecting this specific data, you can configure your ad:

• Budget: Cost per click (CPC or PPC)
• Duration: Start and end date
• Content exclusions: Types of devices it runs on

5. Add your overlay ad banner and run your campaign.

Once you’ve finished adding specifications to your overlay, it’s time to run your campaign.

If you want to edit your ad, you can use Google Ads Manager to make the adjustments you see fit.

Best practices for YouTube overlay ads

1. Keep the overlay simple and clear to read.

When using Google Ads, you must meet image quality requirements to avoid the risk of your campaign ending abruptly.

Policies aside, you only have so much space in your overlay to show leads. If it’s difficult to read and understand at first glance, viewers are likely to press X instead of wanting to learn more about your brand, product or service.

2. Don’t overpromise in your overlay ad.

When you’re getting your potential customers’ attention and driving them to your landing page, the last thing you want to do is under-deliver or mislead them, as it makes your brand look untrustworthy.

Use your YouTube overlay ad to familiarize your target audience with the type of solution you can find, and they’ll have a much more enjoyable experience and introduction to your business.

3. Use a compelling call to action.

A strong call to action can distinguish whether a campaign budget is well spent or not.

Overlay ads have already been successful for nonprofits because, as blogger Ramya Raghavan reported, “they drive traffic to a web page outside of YouTube, where they can collect signatures, email addresses, or even donations”. Charity: Water best demonstrates the potential for success of YouTube’s new feature. This non-profit raised $10,000 per day through call-to-action overlays.

4. Send viewers to a dedicated landing page.

Landing pages are uniquely powerful components of a company’s digital marketing strategy.

It’s your company’s opportunity to ask visitors for their contact information in exchange for something of value, also known as an offer.

Make your landing page rich by:

• H2 focused on benefits
• Compelling copy
• Contact forms or relevant offers

You want potential customers to feel like they’re getting something of value made just for them, so make sure it’s a page worth visiting.

5. Experiment with different in-video overlay ad formats.

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You can run more than one campaign at a time on YouTube. Google Ads allows users to create several different ads for YouTube, so feel free to get creative. In addition to your overlay ad campaign, you can create other formats such as:

• Skippable or non-skippable video ads
• Bumper ads
• Sponsored cards

Capture your audience’s attention with overlay ads

With YouTube overlay ads, you can reach your potential customers wherever they are by targeting you and capturing their interest on YouTube. We hope you found this post helpful and implemented some of these tactics into your marketing strategy.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in July 2009 and has been updated for completeness.