How to Harness the Power of Bumper Ads

Humans are losing their attention span! Well, that’s what you hear people saying - but are we really? Well, no we are not physically losing this ability.  However, it is becoming impossible for anything to hold our interest for a long time because of the barrage of information coming at us.

Our daily lives are filled with so much information on so many platforms that we gradually lose the patience to watch, listen to, or read long content. This presents a tremendous challenge for marketers. The rise in video popularity is certainly a strong indicator of where opportunity lies.

If you are running a YouTube Ad Campaign, you might ask, how do I grab the attention of potential customers with a video ad if they lose interest in a few seconds? Although image ads work better in such cases, a video ad can produce a much stronger impact with the right strategy. So, how do we grab people’s attention for just a few seconds? That's where YouTube bumper ads come in.

What are YouTube bumper ads and do they work?

Bumper ads are unskippable video ads that appear before a YouTube video and last for six seconds. YouTube has six different advertising formats, and this one is among them. Due to their short length, bumper ads are best for creating brand awareness and reaching a large audience.

Overlay ads, skippable video ads, and non-skippable video ads, on the other hand, are best used in longer ad spots that illustrate product features and benefits in greater detail.

Although bumper ads can run as standalone campaigns, Google recommends that advertisers run them together with TrueView Ads for more effectiveness. For example, first show your TrueView ads to your audience and then use bumper ads to reach that audience more frequently.

Since bumper ads are short in length, they are effective at attracting attention because a countdown timer indicates how long the ad will last.

Google conducted a wide study and found 70% of the brands which used bumper ads saw an average 9% lift in brand awareness. It also discovered that audiences are far more likely to recall the content of bumper ads than the content of regular ads, according to a study by Google.

A bumper ad is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach billions of YouTube viewers, since Google charges by the number of impressions. If those reasons are not enough for you to think bumper ads are worth a try, then what is?

It is best to set up bumper ads as their own campaign in Google Ads.

Top Tips to Harness the Power of Bumper Ads

1. Focus on one single objective

You can tell a short story, provide product information, include a tagline, and more in a 30-second ad.

You can't do that with bumper ads. Ads need to be very concise. If your ad tries to pack too much information into it, viewers may become confused and therefore your campaign will have less impact.

For maximum effectiveness, focus on one clear message.

For example, if you're advertising an app, mention how fast it is. It may have many features worth mentioning but only focus on one feature in a bummer ad. You can and should build an ad for each feature so you can capture the attention of your audience. You don’t want to bore them, so running different ads communicating different features of your product or business will boost your brand recognition.

Regardless of what you're advertising, keep it short and sweet. Do not overburden an advertisement with too many selling points.

2. Keep it visually simple

Your ad should also be simple and easy to read in order to achieve your single objective. A video with too many visuals, fast cut scenes, or too much text will be overwhelming and hard to follow.

3. Make it and attention grabber

In a short ad, it is essential to grab the viewer's attention quickly with a striking visual, a funny visual, or a celebrity talent.

4. Make it Fresh

It may appear to many advertisers that reducing a 30 or 15-second video ad to six seconds will result in better results. Oftentimes, this effort will not be translated into the actual ad, which will appear disjointed or confusing.

To make the most of this six-second slot, it's best to start from scratch and create ads specifically for it. And, stick to a single, concise message.

5. Add compelling narration

You need to do whatever you can to grab the attention of your audience and compelling narration can help you achieve that. Your four seconds of verbal space are limited, so be sure that what you have to say is on point and impactful.

6. Don’t rely on audio to deliver your message

Even though your narration is compelling, you can’t ignore the fact that many viewers will have their audio muted. They could be commuting to work, or in a waiting room at the doctor’s office. If your ad comes on, you are paying for that ad impression so don’t miss an opportunity, make sure your visuals also deliver your message clearly.

7. Don’t use too much text

How much can you comprehend in six seconds? You should focus more on your audience's understanding of the visuals than on the text. You shouldn't rely solely on text for your brand's marketing. Brand names should be written in large fonts so that their meaning can be captured by the brain quickly. Since bumper ads will be too short to be read, small, fancy fonts are not effective. Think big and bold when it comes to fonts and get your message into a few words.

The Advantages of Bumper Ads

One of the biggest advantages of a bumper ad campaign is that it ensures your ad will be seen. In addition, creating a bumper ad is just as simple and as cost effective as creating a TrueView advertisement. The YouTube ad campaign may be worth a try if you want to raise brand awareness quickly.

To learn more about how to create effective ads online, speak to an expert from TechWyse Internet Marketing today. Give us a call at 888.208.3095, or contact us here.