YouTube Advertising & Home Services Marketing: A Brief Guide for Your Business

Is your home services business using YouTube to its fullest potential? In recent years, YouTube’s global reach has grown to 2.6 billion monthly active users. It also boasts the distinction of being the second-largest search engine and the second-most popular social media platform.

Going into 2023, it’s clear that — when it comes to home services advertising across all channels — video is king. If you’re overlooking this prime opportunity in your home services marketing strategy, you’re missing out on valuable chances to connect with customers in your service area. Read on to learn more about how YouTube works and how it can benefit your home services business.

YouTube Usage and Growth

Nearly half of all people online use YouTube, and those users watch more than a billion hours of video every day. On mobile alone, YouTube connects with more viewers in the United States than any television network. More than 70% of YouTube viewing time takes place on mobile devices, making this a prime place to connect with customers on-the-go.

As we already mentioned, YouTube is the second-largest search engine on the internet (side note: Google Images is sometimes cited as being the second largest, but it’s a feature of Google search) and the second-largest social media network. In other words, there’s a ton of engaged daily users on this platform in practically every market and geolocation.

And according to research conducted by Think With Google, YouTube has long since grown to challenge traditional television advertising in terms of ROI. In fact, according to a piece published in 2023 by PPCExpo:

“Studies indicate that YouTube TV Ads generate a better return on investment (ROI) than traditional TV ads. Not only that, but YouTube Ads encourage more ad recall and greater purchase intent.

One of the reasons they work so well is because there is a range of pricing options. This makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to benefit, as you won’t be excluded by a tight budget.”

This makes the online video behemoth an outstanding option for home services businesses that are looking for affordable ways to get in front of their target consumers and make advertising dollars go further.

Understanding the Basics: YouTube Ad Types

YouTube has a number of ad types that home services advertisers can use to their advantage. Depending on your goals, business model, and content, understanding these different ad types is key to unlocking Youtube’s full potential.

6-Second Bumper Ads

Bumper ads are six-second videos that appear at the beginning of YouTube videos. They’re purchased on a CPM (cost per thousand views) basis, so you’re not charged until your ad has played through 1,000 times. Viewers can’t skip bumper ads, so you’re guaranteed to show the entire piece.

Since you’re capped to just a few seconds, you need to make your impact punchy and precise. With the right approach, this can provide a fantastic way to connect with customers. Here are some benefits of YouTube’s 6-second bumper ads:

• Bumper ads are short, and they offer a broad audience reach, meaning they’re a strong play for building brand awareness. Back in 2017, Google did a study covering 122 U.S. bumper ad campaigns and found that 70% of these bumper ads created a major brand awareness lift, including an overall average increase of 9%.
• From an ad recall standpoint, YouTube bumper ads perform even better. When measuring ad effectiveness, Ad Recall uses user-polling data to determine whether actual, ad-targeted sample populations recall seeing the ad. In a global study of 300 bumper ads, and 9 in 10 bumper ads were found to be primary drivers of ad recall, resulting in more than 30% average lift.
• Brands face a major challenge in “capturing consumers’ attention.” Large brands like XBox, Busch, Under Armor and Survey Monkey have tackled this challenge in years past by creating brief, contextually-relevant, resonant ads to successfully get their message in front of their target consumer.

Pre-Roll Ads

YouTube pre-roll ads also are an effective video advertising tool. Although YouTube recently reduced the maximum length of non-skippable ads on desktop and mobile devices, this type of pre-roll ad range from 15 to 20 seconds in length, although 15 seconds generally have proven to be more effective. Pre-roll ads can be up to 60 seconds, although any ads over 20 seconds are skippable. Some benefits of pre-roll ads include:

• Compared to the more restrictive bumper ad format, they offer greater latitude to advertisers in creating content.
• This format makes it easier to include people, audio, dialogue and product imagery to better develop and disseminate your brand’s message.
• As previously mentioned, 15-20 second ads can’t be skipped, so they offer increased call-to-action (CTA) opportunities.

TrueView Ads & TrueView Video Discovery Ads

TrueView ads come in two basic forms. In-stream ads appear before, during, or after a video, and offer the viewer the opportunity to skip them after the first five seconds. However, you won’t pay for the ad’s appearance unless the viewer either interacts with the video or watches it for 30 seconds (or the ad’s entirety, if it’s shorter than 30 seconds).

Your other option is a TrueView video discovery ad. This shows up in search results, on the mobile homepage, or alongside related videos. You’ll pay for these ads when a viewer clicks to watch the video. TrueView ads also give you a longer timeframe to play with.

• In a 30-second ad, brands and other advertisers have enough time to incorporate a short story, tagline, product info, etc. to convey their message.
• As compared to TV ads, viewers reported 38% higher brand awareness as well as 31% higher brand recall after watching YouTube’s 30-second TrueView ad. TV is still superior when it comes to reaching broader audiences, however.
• With a TrueView ad, advertisers only pay when viewers have watched the video for the full duration or at least 30 seconds, meaning advertisers still get the ad impressions even if viewers skip the video.
• Although a 30-second ad is still short enough to engage viewers, it is long enough for viewers to decide to skip after they have watched enough.

However, a 30-second video will not be as effective if the viewers skip it after 5 seconds. which means advertisers need to treat the first 5 seconds of a skippable 30-second video ad just like a bumper ad. In other words, it’s a best practice to compose your video content so it’s front-loaded with the most impactful message first to take advantage of this format.

Elevate Your Home Services Marketing Game with YouTube

YouTube advertising gives home services businesses access to a massive audience while allowing you to cherry-pick the demographic that you’re after within that viewership base. Paired with Google Ads, YouTube’s advertising platform makes it easy to track the performance of your ads, set your marketing budget, and create precise start and end dates for your campaigns. Flexible, powerful, and intuitive, this setup facilitates smart, streamlined advertising activities that any company can take advantage of.

Are you interested in harnessing the power of YouTube for your home services marketing campaigns? Mediagistic offers several local advertising programs that include YouTube ads, so you can easily incorporate this into your marketing plan. Learn more about our programs by scheduling time to talk with one of our marketing experts today.

Eric Fortney is a Digital Strategist at Mediagistic. With more than 15 years of experience in the industry, he specializes in digital marketing, social media management, email marketing, white label marketing, and content creation. Connect with him on Linkedin.