Acquiring leads can be difficult.
Getting the right leads can be costly.
And, getting them to come to you can be a slow process.
So, go where they lead you. Go to YouTube.
Google has created a new feature for you to get leads while they are doing what they love—watching videos. This new feature is called YouTube lead forms.
One of the great things about these lead forms is that the user doesn’t have to leave the video they are watching to visit your site or another landing page. A user can simply click on an ad after watching it on YouTube and fill out the form.
Why YouTube? Because YouTube has over 2 billion global users or about one-third of internet users. According to Statista, by 2022, there will be over 210 million users just in the US. That’s a lot of lead potential.
Let’s walk through the basics of setting up a YouTube lead form to grow your leads.
First, there are some eligibility requirements you need to meet:
- You’ll need to have a minimum of $50k in total ad spend.
- You must have a solid history of compliance, following all of Google’s best practices.
- Your account should be in an eligible vertical. For example, medical, gambling, and alcohol-related content is not eligible. For more details and a list of the eligible verticals, visit Google Support.
The first set of requirements are for you, the advertiser. There are also some requirements a user must meet for them to see your lead gen ads:
- The user will need to be logged into their Google account.
- The user must be in an eligible country. A list of eligible countries is available on Google.
Assuming you’ve met the eligibility requirements, you can now move on to the actual setup.
Open your Google Ads account.
- Choose to create a New Campaign.
- Select the campaign goal of Leads.
- Pick the campaign type, Video.
- Name your campaign
The next step is creating your new extension or lead form.
- Enter your business name and call to action for your lead form.
Your call to action should be specific to how you want the lead to engage or what you want them to do or get. For example, Free Demo, Learn More, Subscribe, etc.
2. Craft a headline and description that help users understand why they should fill out the form.
3. Choose the information you would like the lead to provide.
It’s essential to be sure of your selections during this step because you cannot go back and edit after you save the lead form. To make changes, you’ll have to start a whole new campaign.
Recommended or basic information includes:
- Name (First and Last or Full)
- Phone Number
- Zip
Additional options include:
- Company Name
- Work Email
- Job Title
- City
- State
- Work Phone
4. You can also add questions to the form, but they are not free form text. There is a dropdown of available questions by industry. Once added, these will appear first or above the other requested information.
It’s essential to keep in mind that the user is there to watch a video, not spend time completing a lengthy form. So, choose carefully. Only ask for information that is pertinent to your goal.
If you are looking for quality over quantity, then asking for qualifying information will be more critical.
5. Enter the URL of your privacy policy.
6. Finally, create your submission or confirmation message. This message should provide information to the user on what they should expect next from you.
Your lead form has now been created.
The next step is choosing your lead type and basically aligns with whether or not you want higher quality or volume. The choices are Higher Intent or More Volume. The recommendation is intent-driven.
There is also a choice of where to collect your leads. You can manually download the leads from your Google Ads account or use an API to connect to your CRM.
You are so close to launch now, but ads don’t work without money and a few final details.
- Set your bid strategy
- Enter your daily budget
- Choose your networks
- Select geographic locations to target
- Content exclusions (where you want your ads to show)
- Audience demographics
Finally, add the URL of your video ad, click Create Campaign, and you’re all set.
Creating new campaigns and launching new ad types requires time and dedication to see the results. The YouTube ads are by no means a set it and forget it strategy. If you need help creating a new campaign or talking through a strategy that makes the most sense for meeting your business goals, let us know.
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