Yearly Archives: 2022

The irony doesn’t escape me that I’m currently writing a how-to guide on … how-to guides.

Fortunately, I’ve had my fair share of experiences writing how-to guides for HubSpot over the years — some of my favorites include How to Give a Persuasive Presentation, How to Develop a Content Strategy: A Start-to-Finish Guide, and How to Write a Request for Proposal.

Here, we’ll explore the right structure to use when making a how-to guide and how to write a comprehensive how-to guide. We’ll also take a look at some impressive examples of how-to guides for inspiration. Let’s dive in.

You can keep reading or click one of the links below to jump to the section you’re looking for:

What is a how-to guide?
How to Make a How-to Guide
How to Write a How-to Guide
Publishing a How-to Guide
Tips for Effective How-to Guides
How-to Guide Examples

Why Creating a How-to Guide Is Important

How-to guides make it simple for people to learn new skills and understand how things work. They’re also helpful when getting to know a new tool, app, or device.

Today people have more access to information than ever before. That can have a big impact on businesses. Customers want self-service options that are easy to use and understand. A well-crafted how-to guide can:

Support curious and frustrated customers
Offer 24/7 access to help
Engage readers
Anticipate user needs

How-to guides are also valuable opportunities to reach new audiences with useful, high-quality content. For both B2B and B2C businesses, how-to guides are often necessary for a healthy lead generation strategy.

For instance, consider how many people search “How to …” on Google each day:

These search queries demonstrate one of the primary reasons people turn to the internet: to learn how to do something.

If your business can reach those consumers with informative, relevant answers to their questions, those users will begin to see your brand as an authority on the topic.

Down the road, those same readers you first attracted with a how-to guide could become customers and loyal brand advocates who spread the word about your products or services.

It’s clear that how-to guides make it easy to meet high expectations while sharing valuable information. But it’s not easy to make a great how-to.

1. Understand your target audience.

It’s easy to write instructions for a person who’s familiar with a process. This is because they only need to be reminded of what they already know.

But most people who seek out how-to guides are beginners. This means that when you’re writing a how-to guide you should be an expert in the topic. At the same time, you should also be able to see the topic from a beginner’s perspective.

Most how-to guides choose a starting point, and this means you’ll have to make an educated guess about where to start.

For example, if you’re writing instructions on how to use a specific app, you probably wouldn’t make your first step turning on the computer. Instead, you would begin from the most logical place your average user should start.

But until you know your target audience, it will be difficult to decide on that first step. Your target audience is a group of your ideal users. They will have similar habits and ideas that connect them. And the better you get to know this audience, the easier it will be to make a how-to guide that they’ll love.

For this step, start with online community forums like Quora or feedback from your community to figure out the top concerns or challenges your target audience might have. That information will help you figure out what content to include in your guide.

For instance, if you’re writing “How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy,” for instance, you could follow these steps:

Start by looking at responses to “What is content marketing?” on Quora and other online forums. These user-generated responses can help you identify common themes, misconceptions, or confusion around content marketing.
Contact your network for common pain points about content marketing. For example, you might find that most of your audience says content marketing is a priority for them — but they don’t know how to do it on a budget.

This research will give you the information you need to create a how-to guide that addresses relevant concerns about your topic. The video below is an example of a how-to guide for content marketing that addresses specific audience pain points:

2. Research your topic thoroughly.

Your first step in how to make a how-to guide is making sure your guide is comprehensive.

Even if you know a topic incredibly well, research isn’t a step you should skip. In fact, knowing a topic well can make it more difficult to write a how-to guide on the topic, as you might make assumptions about what to cover.

So, follow this full list of steps for your research.

If you’re already familiar with the process you’re talking about, write down your best recall of the steps from memory.
Follow your instructions, and take notes as you follow the steps. This will help you fill in the steps you missed.
Conduct keyword research to see the words that people who want to learn this skill use to search for instructions.
Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, or another SEO tool to find more similar keywords and queries. This can help you create a well-rounded piece that will answer all your readers’ questions, and help you rank on Google.
Look at your competitors to see how they write their guides.
Seek out expert opinions, popular books, and other resources that can give you details to make your how-to guide stand out.

For instance, let’s say you’re writing a blog post, “How to Make an Omelette.” Upon conducting research, you find Simply Recipe’s post at the top of Google search.

Diving into the post, you’ll see Simply Recipe has sections including:

French Vs. American Omelettes
The Best Pan for Making Omelettes
Ideas for Omelette Fillings

If you want to create your own how-to guide on omelets, then, you’ll want to cover all – if not more – than what Simply Recipe has in its post.

As you research, don’t forget to fact-check your sources. You want to make sure that your guide is trustworthy and won’t cause legal or other challenges for you later.

3. Create a step-by-step outline.

Now that you’ve done your research, it’s time to organize your ideas. First, pull together your initial list of steps with any new ideas you learned during your research.

Next, create a step-by-step outline for your guide. This will mean making decisions that can impact how well the reader understands each step.

For instance, if you’re writing, “How to Take a Screenshot on a Mac,” you’ll write down each specific action necessary to take a screenshot. But according to this how-to guide, there are four different ways you can create a screenshot on a Mac. So, the right instructions for the user will depend on what computer and operating system they’re on.

You’ll need to decide on the best time to introduce that extra information to your readers. Your readers will bounce from your page if it’s too difficult for them to find the answer to their question. So, your outline can help you deliver your steps as quickly as possible — and in the right order.

Many readers will also use your how-to guide as a list of instructions. This means that you may need to revise your outline several times to make sure that each step in your outline is clear and easy to follow.

4. Add useful images, videos, and descriptions.

When possible, use visuals like GIFs, images, screenshots, and videos to supplement your instructions. While it can be fun to add images just for fun, the best images to include will be useful and make your instructions clearer and quicker to understand.

If you’re not sure what kind of images to include, run through the instructions in your outline. Does it make sense to take a screenshot for each step? Are there specific materials you want your reader to use? Is there a process that isn’t easy to understand without seeing it happen?

For example, in the technical competitions of the Great British Bake Off, bakers are often asked to bake recipes that they’ve never seen before. If a baker isn’t sure what the final product should look like, they have to rely on the instructions to get it right.

If they read too fast or the instructions can be interpreted in more than one way, they often get it wrong. This is a good example of what can happen when a user can’t picture what they’re supposed to do. You can use images and videos to help avoid this confusion.

Try to gather images and videos as you research so that you have more than you need when it’s time to start putting together your how-to guide.

5. Review your outline and research from the reader’s point of view.

The last step in writing a how-to guide is asking yourself: “Why do my readers need, or want to know, this?”

Understanding the high-level purpose behind a topic can encourage you to write with empathy. Additionally, it will help you create content that accurately meets your reader’s expectations and needs.

For instance, when writing “How to Create a Facebook Group for Your Business,” I took some time to learn that readers might search this topic if:

They are seeking out new ways to connect with customers
They want to create a stronger sense of brand community
They want to raise awareness about their products or services

As a result, I wrote:

“A group is a good idea if you’re interested in connecting your customers or leads to one another, you want to facilitate a sense of community surrounding your brand, or you’re hoping to showcase your brand as a thought leader in the industry. However, a group is not a good idea if you want to use it to raise awareness about your products or services, or simply use it to post company announcements.”

In the example above, you can see I targeted a few different segments of readers with diverse purposes to help readers determine whether this how-to guide would even help them meet their own goals.

Ultimately, understanding the purpose behind your how-to guide is critical for ensuring you target all the various components or angles of the topic at hand.

6. Link to other resources.

It’s also a good idea to point readers to other useful resources in case they’d like to learn more. Link out to other relevant blog posts, pillar pages, or ebooks so readers can find follow-up information on topics mentioned in your how-to guide.

As you link resources, be sure to cite the original source whenever you can. This is another way to build trust and authority with your audience.

How to Write a How-to Guide

Once you’re ready to start writing your how-to guide, you might wonder if your tone or writing style should differ, compared to other kinds of writing.

In short: Yes, it should.

How-to guides should offer tactical, actionable advice on a topic so readers can start following the steps immediately.

When people search “How to …” they’re often in a rush to find the information they need. This means it’s critical you write in short, concise sentences to provide an answer quickly.

Here are some more best practices to keep in mind when writing a how-to guide:

Use verbs when writing out steps.

Verbs put your instructions in motion. So, active verbs can help your readers visualize themselves doing the task as you teach them how to do it. For example, say “Write a company background” rather than “Your RFP should start with a brief background on your company.”

As you write, you’ll also want to avoid passive verbs like the examples below:

“Flour and water were stirred together.”
“The page tab has been opened, so we can click the box at the top.”

If you find that you often slip into passive voice as you write, use a grammar-checking tool to catch and fix your errors.

Make your how-to guide easy to skim.

Many people skim instructions. This means that they quickly skip text that includes stories, data, or longer details. People who skim may pay more attention to introductions, summaries, or the first and last sentences of a chunk of text. Bolded, underlined, or highlighted text can also get their attention.

Use numbered lists, headers, and bullet points to break up the text. These tactics make for easy readability and understanding.

Offer examples to show your readers what you mean.

Show readers what you mean to bring your instructions to life. First, use sensory details and action to create a picture in their head as you write your how-to guide. Pair images with written text for readers who can’t load the image on their screen or don’t understand what you’re trying to tell them from the image itself.

Write with empathy.

How-to guides often attract a wide range of readers, all with varying levels of expertise. So, be sure to acknowledge that it can be frustrating when learning or refining a new skill.

For example, the guide “How to Create a YouTube Channel” likely attracts YouTube beginners who want to create a channel to watch and comment on friends’ YouTube posts.

But it probably also attracts professional marketers who need to create a channel for their business to attract and convert leads.

With such a diverse audience, it’s critical you write clearly, but not condescendingly. This can help you make sure you retain readers regardless of skill level or background experience.

Is there a difference in how you would write a tutorial vs. a how-to guide?

Tutorials and guides are often used interchangeably to define content that explains how to complete a particular task. While some argue that one is more descriptive than the other, you’ll find that it varies from one brand to the next.

Perhaps the most distinctive difference is between a how-to guide and a user manual. A how-to guide is typically a top-of-the-funnel piece of content meant to attract users and generate leads.

A user manual is typically created for someone who has already purchased a product or service and needs step-by-step instructions on how to use it.

While one falls under marketing materials, the other relates more to the product.

Publishing a How-to Guide

Test every step of your instructions.

Once you’ve finished writing your guide, it’s time to test it out. As you test your instructions, take careful notes. If you have to scan an instruction more than once, you may need to add context or add an image for more clarity.

Ask someone to proofread your guide.

It’s always a good idea to get different points of view when you’re proofreading a how-to guide. You never know how a word choice or set of instructions will impact another person, so it’s smart to test it out with a small group of friends or colleagues.

A polite ask for help goes a long way. It’s also a good idea to make the proofreading process as easy as possible for your helpers. Clearly state what you’re looking for, expect questions and critical feedback, and connect with a diverse group of people for the most useful insights.

Share your how-to guide.

Whether you’re offering a QR code or promoting by word-of-mouth, your next step is to share your guide with your audience.

Other popular ways to share your guide include:

Email newsletters
Downloadable offer on your website
Social media carousel

How-to guides are also great for repurposing content.

1. Simple is best.

Simplicity will make your guide easy to find, use, and understand. To make sure that your how-to guide is truly simple, take a close look at your topic.

Your guide should focus on the one thing that your reader should be able to begin and complete after reading your guide. If you take a look at your guide and it doesn’t meet that benchmark, it’s time to simplify.

A few quick ways to simplify your how-to include:

Breaking your topic into more smaller and specific topics
Narrow down your target audience
Scan your guide for extra content that could be distracting and edit

2. Keep it short.

Writing concise copy takes a lot of practice. If your guide is longer than it needs to be and you’re not sure how to cut the extra text, these tips can help:

Cut “the” and “that” when it makes sense
Limit adverbs and adjectives like very, really, and literally
Replace three and four-syllable words with shorter alternatives

3. Start with an overview.

A great how-to guide begins with a clear overview. This overview should include:

A quick summary of your guide
What your audience will need to use it
What they’ll achieve once they follow the directions
Why it’s worth doing

It’s usually easier to write the first paragraph last. This way all the details are complete, you just need a few quick attention-grabbing sentences to pull your readers in. Check out this post if you have a hard time writing introductions.

4. Help the reader prepare for each step.

Many step by steps are great at the beginning or easy at the end, but they can get murky somewhere in the middle. This can create frustration in users, especially when they get to a step that they aren’t prepared for.

To avoid this, try to anticipate the questions a reader might have at each step. For example, don’t just offer an overview of the materials they’ll need for the project as a whole. Talk about what materials they’ll need and when, and how to store them, if you think it will be helpful.

Add resources that help your users understand how all the different pieces will fit together.

Repetition can get annoying for some readers. But it’s essential for a how-to guide. Repetition is crucial during the learning process because it can help readers get comfortable with new information faster.

5. Write instructions at a consistent level.

If you’re a subject expert, you might combine beginner and advanced terms in your writing without realizing it. This can confuse your audience and make your guide tough to understand. It also creates a lack of consistency that will make your instructions more difficult to follow.

If you think this could be a concern, scan your how-to guide for jargon as you proofread. You can also ask proofreaders from other niches and industries to check that your vocabulary is beginner-appropriate.

6. Tell an interesting story.

The best how-to guides aren’t just useful, they’re fun to read. To keep your guide engaging, don’t forget to tell a story.

Make sure you have a clear message throughout the guide, add personal experiences, and use conflict to add interest.

For example, say you’re writing a how-to guide about adding software to a computer. A potential point of conflict is when there’s not enough disk space to finish installing.

That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but if you’ve ever experienced it, it can be really frustrating. If you can paint that picture vividly for your audience they’ll be more likely to follow your directions.

7. Stay positive.

Anyone who seeks out a how-to guide is trying to expand their knowledge about the world. That seems pretty simple, but it’s also a big risk. Many people stop trying new things because they don’t want to look foolish. So, as you write, keep in mind that learning is exciting, but it’s often uncomfortable too.

Keeping your writing positive can help make your readers feel more at ease as they venture into the unknown. Uplifting stories, word choices, and tone can make even difficult instructions seem easier. They can inspire and motivate.

You can also add some positivity by softening negative information. For example, instead of saying “You’ll probably fail at this the first time,” try saying something like, “This skill may take some practice before you’re an expert.”

How-to Guide Examples

How-to Guide Example: B2B

“How to Write the Perfect 90-Day Plan“

Why we like this how-to guide example: This B2B how-to guide offers important contextual details to the 90-day plan, including “What is a 90-day plan?” and “What should be included in a 90-day plan?” The piece is well-researched and written with empathy.

Best of all, the guide provides a downloadable 90-day plan PDF, so readers can download and use Atlassian’s plan with their own team right away.

Takeaway: Consider what ebooks, PDFs, charts, Canva designs, or Google Sheets you can create internally and offer to readers to download. Readers will appreciate the option to immediately apply what they’ve learned.

More B2B How-to Examples

“How to Build Brand Consistency“

Why we like this how-to guide example: Partnering with complementary businesses and services can add depth and perspective to your how-to guide. This example is comprehensive and packed with useful resources from both HubSpot and Brandfolder. It also uses relevant data to highlight key sections.

Takeaway: Look for creative ways to add value to your how-to guide, especially when you are writing about a topic your audience is already familiar with.

“How To Drive More High-Quality Leads With Google Ads”

Why we like this how-to guide example: When you’re creating guides for more advanced topics, creating a foundation for your readers is essential. This guide begins with a detailed introduction to the topic that cites current statistics and trends. Then, it goes on to cover relevant topics at each stage in the buyer journey. Next, it offers a useful checklist, links, and resources to put this learning into action.

Takeaway: A clear structure makes challenging topics easier to understand. So, think about the ideal start and end points for your expert readers when writing about specific and advanced topics.

How-to Guide Example: B2C

“How to Become a Freelancer“

Why we like this how-to guide example: This guide does a good job providing relevant links and data to create a comprehensive overview of what freelancing is.

Additionally, the post uses action verbs to inspire the reader.

Under “How to Start a Freelance Business.” you’ll see tips such as “Do Your Homework,” “Create a Brand,” and “Plan Ahead.” The language used in this post goes a long way toward encouraging readers to get started quickly.

Takeaway: Use action verbs and concise language to keep a reader engaged. When possible, start with a verb instead of a noun when listing out steps.

More B2C How-to Examples

“How to Start a Successful Blog“

Why we like this how-to guide example: This is a great how-to guide for beginners because it includes resources that offer multiple ways to take in the material. This guide is packed with checklists, links to courses, templates, and tools that can help anyone start a blog.

Takeaway: There are many different learning styles. The more choices you give your students to take in the information you’re sharing, the more likely they are to get value from your guide.

“How to Be a Leader“

Why we like this how-to guide example: This example offers a personal perspective on leadership that goes beyond typical advice. It also uses creative headers like “Beyond the Paycheck: What We Wish For,” “Doubtliers: Dangers Learning From the Exceptional,” and “Great companies don’t always make great decisions” to engage the reader in the content.

Takeaway: Teach broad how-to topics from a unique perspective, and add interest with relevant stories.

How-to Guide Example: Lifestyle

“11 Ways to Quickly Stop Stress in Your Life“

Why we like this how-to guide example: I clicked on this post expecting a few quick, easy tips for stopping stress. Instead, I was engrossed in the first section of the post, “The Effects of Stress in Your Life.”

While I previously mentioned the importance of starting with a quick answer to the searcher’s how-to question, there are exceptions to that rule.

In this case, it’s important readers understand the why before the how.

Takeaway: Play around with structure. Consider what your readers need to know in order for the rest of the post to matter to them. For instance, you might start with a section, “What is XYZ?” and “Why XYZ matters” before diving into, “How to do XYZ.” This way, your readers are fully invested in finding out how these tips can improve their lives in some small (or big) way.

More Lifestyle How-to Examples

“How To Make Honey Pie“

Why we like this how-to guide example: This how-to guide is neatly organized so readers can quickly determine a) what makes this recipe special, b) the ingredients they’ll need, and c) how to make the recipe.

If a reader already knows the ingredients necessary for honey pie, they can click on “Jump to Recipe” to get started right away.

Takeaway: As you’re structuring your own how-to guide, consider how you can best organize it so readers can jump straight to what they need.

“How to Be More Productive“

Why we like this how-to guide example: How-to guides are more than written instructions. Useful images, break-out pages that highlight external links, and infographics are powerful additions to this example. It has a great balance of features and white space to make this guide easy on the eyes and quick to skim.

Takeaway: It doesn’t matter how great your how-to guide writing is if it’s not well-designed. Take a look at how-to guide examples to get inspiration for the look and feel of your guide design.

Create a How-to Guide That’s Worth Sharing Today

The right how-to guide can change someone’s life. It can also give your business a major boost, improve the customer experience, and more.

All it takes is some planning, research, and know-how to create a great step-by-step guide. Your experience can help someone make a difference, just create a guide that makes your knowledge worth sharing.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2021. It has been updated for freshness and accuracy.

Social Media Sara starts her day scrolling through TikTok. She is an avid fan of podcasts and handles social media strategy at her company.

This is a snapshot of what a buyer persona looks like. You may have a great product or service, but without understanding your target customers, you might as well just market to the void. Buyer personas are the antidote to that. By creating buyer personas, you will gain clarity on who you’re marketing to and reach your ideal customers.

In this blog post, we’ll cover the following:

What is a persona?
Why you need a persona
How to create a persona
Best persona creation tools

Read on to learn more.

Every business has a target audience, which is further divided into different customer segments. Within those segments, there are different types of buyers — not every customer has uniform wants and needs. A buyer persona details your ideal customer and maps out their story. 

A buyer persona is linked to a buyer’s journey, but the buyer persona focuses on who will go on the journey. Take Social Media Sara, for example. Her company determined that their target social media person often spends time scrolling TikTok and listening to podcasts. Because of this, they might create a marketing campaign that meets her where she is in a targeted TikTok video or in an ad on her favorite marketing podcast

Naturally, every business will have more than one type of customer — it makes sense to create multiple buyer personas for the different types of customers you want to reach.

Why You Need a Persona

A buyer persona extends beyond simply describing your audience; the powerful insights generated by a buyer persona can be leveraged to make better business decisions. 

Ultimately, a well-crafted buyer persona will help you understand your ideal customer and their goals, provide guidance on how to tailor your marketing strategy, guide product development, and help you prioritize your time.

When done well, buyer personas are incredibly valuable for marketing. They can help you find gaps in the content you create. You will also be able to use buyer personas to tailor your content so that it is relevant. Buyer personas can even help you figure out ad spend. 

How to Create a Persona

Creating a buyer persona can seem daunting at first, but it doesn’t need to be once you know the key components of a buyer persona. Backed by data and insights, devising a buyer persona is a very creative process, much like coming up with a semi-fictional character. In this section, we will go over the steps to creating a persona and what to include in a persona.

Steps to creating a persona

1. Conduct research

Research forms the foundation of your persona. Analyze data from your current customers and conduct market research to figure out who your ideal customer is. Combining demographic, behavioral, and psychographic data will yield the best results — the more types of data you analyze, the more comprehensive your buyer persona will be. You can collect data from your current customers through your CRM and conduct market research through surveys, interviews, and paid databases. 

The insights from your research and analysis will help you figure out key information like demographics, business size, job title or position, goals and objectives, and challenges and pain points.

2. Ask the right questions

Reference your list of questions to guide you in the buyer persona creation process. A basic list of questions can include the following:

What is their profession?
What does a typical day in their life look like?
Where do they go for information?
How do they prefer to obtain goods and services?
What is important to them when choosing a vendor?
What do they value most?
What are their goals?

3. Dive into your customer’s interests, goals and objectives, and pain points

The key to creating a useful buyer persona is understanding where your customer is coming from and putting together a story. Your buyer persona is not a mere aggregation of data points; by putting together a story based on research, you humanize your customer. Your customer’s interests can include anything from podcasts to TikTok. Once you have the foundation, you can then dive into their goals and objectives. What do they want to achieve for their business? What are the challenges standing in their way?

4. Map the persona to your product

Mapping the buyer persona to your product is a key step. By doing so, you will understand how to solve for the customer.

To learn more about these steps and other ways to develop a persona in more detail, check out this blog post, or you can generate your own now with this free tool from HubSpot.

What to include in a persona

Descriptive name

Come up with a descriptive name for your customer. You can use a realistic first and last name, or a fun moniker like “Marketing Mary” or “Social Media Sara.”

Occupation

Your customer needs an occupation. Identify your customer’s job title and the industry they work in. It would also be helpful to note if they are a decision maker.

Demographics

Basic demographic information like age, gender, education, and income is useful to identify.

Interests

Include their interests. What media do they consume? What are their hobbies?

Goals and objectives

Define their business goals and objectives. What do they want to achieve for their business? How do they plan to get there?

Pain points

Identify their pain points — this will help you gain clarity on how your product can solve for your customer’s needs.

Best Persona Creation Tools

Luckily, there is a wide variety of tools you can use to create your buyer persona. In this section, we spotlight some of our favorites.

HubSpot Persona Generator

Source: HubSpot

HubSpot’s Persona Generator streamlines the buyer persona creation process — and it’s free. Simply plug in the details like age, education level, industry, company size, job title, and more. The persona generator guides you in creating a buyer persona step by step. 

Additionally, HubSpot offers free and convenient buyer persona templates.

Userforge

Source: Userforge

With a user persona creator, user story template, and story mapping canvas, Userforge has a variety of options for creating effective buyer personas. The user persona creator lets you choose content sections: quote, goals, story, needs, frustrations, values, blockers, habits, and motivators. This program is free.

Xtensio

Source: Xtensio

Xtensio’s template goes beyond the basics. The clean but visually appealing template design is packed with information to help you understand your target customer in a holistic manner. 

Get Started With Personas

Buyer personas are critical for any business. The insights you can derive from a well-crafted buyer persona can shape your content strategy, ad spend, product development, and more. Get started with HubSpot’s free buyer persona creation tools.

Post Content

You’ve spent months perfecting the script, storyboarding, finding the right talent, shooting, and editing. The end result? A blockbuster video that’s sure to rake in hundreds—maybe thousands—of views.

With all that time invested, you can’t stop at just embedding the video on the homepage of your website or sharing it on social media and hoping someone watches. Running YouTube ads on your videos is one way to make sure more of your target audience finds the content you’ve produced. And with new formats and tracking capabilities, you can also use this information to report on its ROI.

In this post, we’ll guide you through YouTube ads—how they work, how you get paid, and best practices for growing revenue from your YouTube channel through advertising. By the end of this guide, you’ll be ready to launch advertisements across your YouTube channel as part of your overall YouTube marketing strategy. Let’s get started.

What’s New With YouTube Advertising

Advertising on YouTube is very different from running a PPC or paid social media campaign. There are specific creative constraints and a ton of options for this platform, and you need basic knowledge before you even scope out your next video project to make the most of the paid possibilities.

In recent years, Google has rolled out a series of changes that makes YouTube advertising an extremely worthwhile investment. Let’s take a look.

More Rigorous Brand Safety Efforts

In the past, the platform has made major efforts to protect viewers and advertisers from harmful content, and those efforts have persisted as of November 2022. The latest updates include “clearer language” and “specific guidelines” around ads not being placed on adult content, violence, harmful or dangerous acts, sensitive events, videos with inappropriate language, and drug-related content.

Targeting Based on Users’ Search History

A few years ago, Google announced it would allow advertisers to reach more viewers on YouTube — especially across mobile devices, where 50% of YouTube views take place. Among the changes it rolled out, possibly the biggest announcement was that advertisers would be able to target viewers based on their Google search history, in addition to their viewing behaviors YouTube was already targeting.

Marketers can now target ads at people who recently searched for a certain product or service. If the content of a video ad is closely related to a search the viewer has been researching, they might be more likely to watch the entire ad or click through the ad to the website.

Audio Ads

Audio has grown lately — you needn’t look further than podcasts and the new social media app Clubhouse. To keep up with the changes, Google is now allowing YouTube advertisers to create audio-only ads. While we’d recommend starting with a video ad first, you can later consider using audio once you’ve perfected your brand voice and learned what your audience likes to engage with the most.

Upgraded Data Attribution Models

Google has also upgraded YouTube’s data attribution model so you can better measure how users engage with your ads. You can also determine cost-per-conversion and see your YouTube ads’ performance alongside your Search and Shopping ads’ attribution reports.

Keywords are relatively less expensive to target on YouTube than in traditional Google Search, where the average cost per click is estimated to be between $1-2.

While great content is bound to be found, it’s important to be proactive about gaining the attention of prospects and educating those who are unfamiliar with your brand. YouTube ads allow you to do just that. It’s a cost-effective way to target your audience with a more engaging form of content — video or audio.

The Types of YouTube Video Ads

There are several key types of video ads in which you can invest on YouTube. Google outlines the basic formats here. Below, we go into more detail.

1. In-Feed Video Ads

In-feed video ads show up on the YouTube homepage, search results pages, and as related videos on YouTube video watch pages.

This ad appeared after performing a YouTube search:

Once a user clicks on the ad, the destination video page features a spot on the right-hand column where a companion banner display ad will appear.

2. Skippable In-Stream Ads

Skippable in-stream ads are the standard video ad type on YouTube. Advertisers only pay for these ads when a user watches the ad for at least 30 seconds, until the end of the video, or if the viewer takes an action, such as clicking on a call-to-action. YouTube requires that skippable ads be between 12 seconds and 6 minutes in length.

You’ll see these ads play before someone watches the video they’ve selected on YouTube. Viewers sometimes have the option to skip the ad after watching it for five seconds. You can also have them play anywhere in the Google Display Network (GDN) — or sites that purchased Google video ad space.

In-stream ads also let marketers customize video ads with different CTAs and overlay text, as highlighted in the skippable in-stream ad example below from Grammarly.

Notice that there’s another CTA from Grammarly on top of the right-hand suggested video columns.

What Skippable In-Stream Ad Videos Can Include

Skippable ad campaigns can include videos with people, dialogue, and music that was retrieved with permission — or is considered royalty-free. However, it’s best not to run a standard promotional commercial. Because these videos can be skipped, you need to give your audience a reason to keep watching, and product plugs historically don’t get the views you might expect.

Instead, tell a story with the time you have in this video. People love seeing case studies of those who faced a struggle that they can empathize with. It’s a source of entertainment that makes your brand memorable and less tempting to skip.

With skippable in-stream ads, advertisers can gain a ton of information about the performance of their ads for optimization and testing purposes.

Using their Google Ads account, YouTube account managers can collect data on an ad’s completed views, partial views, channel subscriptions, clickthrough rates on CTAs, views sourced from a user sharing the content, and views on the brand’s other content that can be attributed to a person initially viewing a video ad.

These actions help advertisers better understand the full value of their video ad spend and where to allocate budget to increase results.

3. Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads

Non-skippable ads can play before, mid-roll, or after the main video. They can be 15 to 20 seconds in duration. Here’s an example:

Non-skippable mid-roll video ads appear midway through a YouTube video that’s 10 minutes or longer. On the desktop, viewers will see a five-second countdown, and on the app, they’ll see yellow markers where the ads are placed.

What Non-Skippable Videos Can Include

Non-skippable ads give you just as much freedom as skippable ads in their allotted content. You can include people, dialogue, audio, and more elements that you find best represent your brand in 15 to 20 seconds.

Because non-skippable ads can’t be skipped, these videos are best created with a call-to-action (CTA) so you can optimize the attention you do have from the viewer. In other words, encourage viewers to click on your ad and receive something in return. Perhaps you’ve released a new product or are promoting a major event this season — use non-skippable ads to get those clicks.

4. Bumper Ads

Bumper ads are the shortest type of YouTube video ad available to you. At just six seconds per bumper, these ad spots play before a viewer’s chosen video. It’s also non-skippable.

Bumper video ads obviously can’t tell a good-enough story in just six seconds, but they make terrific complements to larger video campaigns on a new product launch or event. Just be sure to use the six seconds wisely, and include only the components of your brand you want your audience to remember.

5. Overlay Ads

Overlay ads are a type of banner ad that hovers at the bottom of the video, as shown below. This type of ad is ideal to supplement your other in-stream video campaigns. A banner ad helps to avoid advertising your product in an intrusive way while still reaching your target audience.

Now that you’re familiar with the types of ads you can run within the YouTube platform, let’s cover the nuts and bolts of launching a YouTube ad campaign.

How to Advertise on YouTube: Launch an Ad Campaign

Once you’ve created a marketing video you want to advertise on YouTube, it’s time to create your video ad campaign.

If you haven’t made a video yet, here’s how to get started with Animoto or Wistia, along with a few great examples of YouTube ads.

Step 1: Upload your video to YouTube.

Step 2: Login to or Setup your Google Ads account.

Now, you’re ready to set up your advertising campaign. First, go to your Google Ads account. If you haven’t made one already, you can sign up with a Google Workspace email (either personal or business).

When you first sign up, the screen might prompt you to start creating a campaign right away. Look for an option that says “Are you a professional marketer?” or “Set up without creating a campaign” and click. That way, you can get to your brand new Google Ads dashboard.

Step 3: Create a new campaign.

When you access the dashboard, click the button that says “+ New Campaign”.

Step 4: Choose the goal and campaign type.

You’ll be prompted to select a goal, then a campaign type. Choose whatever goal you’d prefer. Under campaign type, select “Video.”

Step 5: Choose the campaign subtype and strategy.

You’ll be prompted to select a campaign subtype: Video reach campaign, outstream, or ad sequence. Choose “Video reach campaign.”

In the same screen, select your method for reaching your goal: Either “Efficient reach (Bumper, Skippable in-stream, or a mix)” or “Non-skippable in-stream.”

Step 6: Enter a campaign name.

Next, enter a name for your campaign. Leave the bid strategy as is.

Step 7: Enter a budget.

Set your budget per day or for the entire campaign. Setting a daily budget can help you keep daily costs low while ensuring you don’t run out of money too quickly. Setting a campaign total budget can help you establish a fixed investment amount that Google won’t go over.

After that, choose a start and end date.

Step 8: Choose networks, locations, and languages.

Decide where you want your ad to appear.

YouTube search results: Your video ad will appear in results for searches and will appear on the YouTube homepage, channel pages, and video pages.
YouTube videos: This runs skippable in-stream ads that appear pre- or mid-roll during a YouTube video.
Video partners on the Display Network: With this option, you can choose for your video ad to appear before or around videos across the Google Display Network.

You should create separate campaigns for YouTube search results and YouTube videos, as this will help you to better track performance metrics. These ads are served to people performing very different activities and require a different amount of commitment from the viewer, so it’s best to monitor performance separately.

Next, define the location of users whom you want the ad to be shown to. You can also exclude certain locations.

Last, choose the languages that your target audience speaks.

Step 9: Set up content exclusions and excluded types and labels.

These options are for those who wouldn’t like to advertise their brands on videos that have profanity or sexual content.

Choose between “Expanded inventory” (excludes videos that have excessive profanity and graphic content), “Standard inventory” (excludes videos with strong profanity and graphic content), and “Limited inventory” (excludes videos with moderate profanity and graphic content).

Under “Excluded types and labels,” you can also prevent your ads from showing up in embedded YouTube videos and live-streaming videos. In addition, you can exclude content based on their content labels (G, PG, MA, and so on).

Step 10: Choose related videos.

You have the option of adding related videos to appear below your ad. You can add up to five.

Step 11: Configure advanced settings.

In the advanced options, you can specify the operating system, device, and carrier for more granular targeting. This is especially useful for mobile app ads, and there’s an option to increase or decrease your bid based on if the video ad is shown to someone on a mobile device.

You can set beginning and ending dates for your campaign, create a custom schedule for when your video ad should be shown, and limit the daily impressions and views for users. This all helps you to get the most return for your ad spend.

Step 12: Set up demographics and audience segments.

Next, define the audience you would like the video to be shown to — options include gender, age, parental status, and household income. You can also target individuals by their interests, such as beauty mavens, cooking enthusiasts, horror movie fans, etc.

Try running multiple campaigns to target different groups of users to discover who is most engaged, rather than including everyone you want to target in one campaign.

Step 13: Select target keywords, topics, and placements.

You can also target individuals by keywords, topics, or placements where you would like your video ad to appear. Keyword targeting with in-display ads can be a powerful tool for finding individuals who are looking for a visual answer to a question. Be sure to do your research, and try testing out different groups of keywords to see which leads to more views, clicks, or conversions.

Additionally, you can use video ads to remarket to people who have been in contact with your brand already. This can help you to re-engage those who are already familiar with your brand.

Step 14: Start bidding.

Next, determine the max price you will pay for each view, which you can adjust to increase the number of projected views your video may receive.

Step 15: Create the video ad assets.

Last, insert the YouTube link for the video you would like to run the ad for. You will then choose whether you want this to run as an in-stream ad or an in-display ad.

For in-display, you’ll need to include a title and short description, which is entered on two separate lines. Note: Titles are limited to 25 characters, and the description lines are limited to 35 characters each.

In-stream ads provide you with the option to overlap a display URL on top of the video. You should use a vanity URL that directs to another final URL to make it more memorable. You can include advanced URL tracking options. In addition, a companion banner made from images from your video will appear on the right side of the video ad.

Click Done, then click Create Campaign.

Finished! Google will then prompt you to put in your credit card information (if they don’t have it already) so they can begin running your ad.

Step 16: Link your Google Ads account.

You should link your Google Ads account to the YouTube channel where the video is hosted if you haven’t already. On the top navigation bar, click “Tools & Settings.” Under “Set Up,” go to “Linked accounts.”

Choose YouTube from the screen, and you’ll be prompted to add a channel.

10 Tips for Optimizing Your Video Ads

Launching a video ad campaign is a great step, but there are some things you should set up prior to starting to pay for views. That way, you make the most of your budget and see the highest return on investment.

1. Define your metrics and goals.

When analyzing the results, there are four main categories of metrics you can track for each video.

Views and Impressions

Under the “views” category, you can better understand what percentage of the ad people viewed and understand how the ad drove earned views. You can also see how it increased views on your brand’s other videos.

Audience

This category can be used to track engagement metrics split up based on age, gender, household income, and parental status.

View Rate

The view rate could signal if the creative and message are interesting or entertaining enough for people to watch the ad. By increasing your view-through rate (VTR), you will lower your cost per view.

Conversions

Conversions will help you better understand if your ad is driving leads and returning a high ROI for your brand.

Depending on the goals for the brand, you should determine a few goals based on these metrics and formalize a plan for optimizing creative and trying different targeting criteria to improve results. Your goals should also determine the type of content you will feature in the ad — some metrics are better for branding goals and others will drive leads and conversions.

2. Track low performing placements.

If you’re running in-display ads that will appear across the Google Display Network, you can review where the ad has appeared in by navigating to Video Targeting > Placements > Where ads were shown > Display network from your Google Ads Campaigns dashboard. Review this list to see if any particular sites are contributing to poor performance for your desired metrics. Exclude these sites from your ad campaign moving forward to increase your average CPV.

3. Use a custom thumbnail image.

Design or use a high-quality still image from the video to entice a viewer to click on your video. Remember, this image needs to be legible by users on different devices, including mobile. If your image contains a person, make sure they’re looking into the camera. If you are featuring a product, make sure the background isn’t distracting.

4. Drive people to buy with cards.

A YouTube card is teased with a small “i” symbol, which the viewer can click to expand. You can time this appearance so only users who engaged with the video and content will see the notification.

With cards, you can feature a product related to or featured in the video to drive product purchases. You can also use cards to drive fundraising donations, traffic to a URL, or traffic to other videos as shown in the example below from our YouTube channel. Each format will allow you to customize the card with text, images, and other options.

5. Create calls-to-action.

When promoting a video on YouTube, you can include call-to-action overlays that link to a URL. You could link to a landing page, product page, information page, career page … whatever you’d like. You could also send people to a favorable report or interview featuring the brand.

6. Create a YouTube end slate.

Create an end screen to drive subscribers to your channel, promote your social networks, or increase interest in your brand. If someone has watched a video until the end, it’s a good sign they enjoy your content and might be interested in subscribing to your channel for future updates.

This end slate by HubSpot increases subscribers and social media fans while also highlighting other interesting topics its host has featured. Once you build the image, you will be able to annotate the end screen in YouTube’s video editor.

7. Use negative remarketing.

If you are running a campaign for a longer period of time and want to only attract new users to a brand, consider creating a list of people who your ad will not be shown to.

You can stretch your campaign budget and target only unique users by excluding those who have previously viewed the specific video, who have visited your YouTube channel, or who have shared, liked, or commented on any of your videos.

8. Use close captioning to cater to viewers’ needs and wants.

This tip applies to all YouTube videos — but it’s a general best practice that’s not followed by many brands. Include a quality video transcription you’ve generated and approved. Only user-uploaded transcriptions are indexed by Google because YouTube’s automatic captioning can be less than reliable. Depending on your target audience, you may also want to include transcriptions in various other languages. You can also offer users the option to download or visit a site page with the full transcription in your video description.

9. Qualify viewers.

Sometimes, your ad will be seen by people who have no interest in your product. Encourage them to skip the ad if the content isn’t relevant so you don’t have to pay for the view and they don’t waste their time watching irrelevant advertising.

10. Consider making your ad longer.

When it comes to skippable in-stream ads, if the ad is under 30 seconds, you’ll pay only if a viewer watches until the end. If the ad is longer than 30 seconds, you pay if the viewer watches it for at least 30 seconds. In both cases, you pay if the viewer interacts with your ad before it’s over. Consider this when you are coming up with ideas for content for the ad. You may want to put messaging at a certain point so uninterested viewers can skip the ad, or you might provide special offers towards the end of the video.

The Future of Video is Bright

Video content is a must-have part of your content strategy. This is even more relevant now that YouTube lets marketers target users based on their search histories. YouTube advertising is more targeted than ever, and it’s less competitive real estate than the world of Google Search. Try your hand at creating a YouTube ad campaign of your own and see the results for yourself.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in February 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

This post is a part of The Crisis of Disconnection, a thought leadership series examining the latest research and insights to uncover how businesses can meet their growth goals, even amidst unprecedented changes to the way we work.

Despite our hyperconnected world, reaching customers and target audiences has never been harder. And, as we continue to see a shifting economy, evolving platforms, and constantly changing audience preferences, unless we take action the Crisis of Disconnection will only grow in 2023.

In this blog series, we’ve brought you up to speed on the Crisis of Disconnection, while outlining how the growth challenges ahead for your business won’t be your average walk in the park. Now, with the daunting stuff behind us, let’s turn our attention toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

If you’ve been following along, we’re glad you’re back. If you’re just joining us now, we’re glad you’re here.

How We Got Disconnected – And Why Fixing It is Vital

Before we go any further, let’s recap the disconnection challenges that have been giving business leaders pause:

Point solutions are expensive, incomplete, and create more complexity than clarity. 74% of CRM buyers feel their teams have to switch between too many tools to get the job done
People feel disconnected from each other — whether they’re at home or in the office. Only 49% of flex workers in the U.S. felt their team was working effectively in a hybrid environment.
Strategies that once worked to connect with customers are no longer working. More than 30% of marketers say that they are experiencing average-to-no returns on their digital marketing investments.

It’s true that disconnection between your business and your customers — fueled by disconnection among employees and systems — is slowing growth.

If there’s a topline takeaway from our Crisis of Disconnection series, it’s this: connection can no longer be an afterthought.

Scaling companies need to place connection at the center of their business growth strategies. Otherwise, navigating the ever-evolving consumer landscape in the coming years will feel like an uphill battle.

Luckily, our research demonstrates that businesses are up for the challenge. The question is — how can you forge stronger connections across all facets of your company?

How to Re-align and Re-Connect Your Brand for Growth in 2023

1. Focus on Customer Connection, Not Customer Management

Suffice to say, we believe that the flywheel is pretty important when it comes to growing your business. The purpose of the flywheel is to accelerate growth, and spinning the flywheel (and achieving that growth) is only made possible through a strong connection to your customers. Not just to the ones you already have, but also to the ones to come.

In a world where 68% of companies are selling remotely, meeting your customers where they are has never been more important. But modern consumers feel like they’re being overloaded with an abundance of content, which only works to push them away from forging meaningful connections with businesses:

65% of google searches end without a click
The average blog growth rate is -1.6%

Overcoming digital fatigue and distrust is no small feat, but working to build a connected business growth strategy is well worth the time and effort. This starts by optimizing every stage of the buyer’s journey to foster greater connection and purposeful communication.

2. Let Data Take the Guesswork Out of Advertising

Work to advertise in the places where your target customers are spending their time. When data tells you that your audience is primed to make purchasing decisions on a given platform, put more eggs into that basket versus wasting advertising spend elsewhere. It also doesn’t hurt to partner with trusted influencers in the space who’ve already built a connection with your target customers that you can leverage.

93% of all online interactions start with a search engine.
58% of millennials agree that social platforms are better than online searches for finding new products.
60% of marketers believe influencer marketing is the most effective marketing trend.

Clearly, even though the search engine experience may not be a perfect one as consumers are overwhelmed with content and often give up the search before clicking on anything, it remains an important place to be since most people who do end up interacting with a business online start on a search engine.

However, that may change in the future as the experience continues to suffer and both consumers and marketers are shifting their focus to social media as a channel for discovery and connection.

Of course, these are general trends, and advertising performance will vary depending on your specific audience. We always recommend doing your own research before committing to an advertising plan.

The key thing to remember here is that data should be driving these marketing decisions. Guessing isn’t good enough anymore — do your research to learn which channels and platforms your customers are spending the most time on. You can accomplish this by simply asking customers, followers, and prospects for their two cents. Don’t be shy! This is where first-party data can be your best friend. Lean on it to gain a better understanding of customers and their purchasing decisions.

While the question used to be, “How many channels are you active in?”,  the more important question to be asking yourself today is, “How unified are those channels and are they providing a consistent, personalized customer experience?”. In order to give your organization the information it needs to develop deep connections with customers, you must connect:

With the right customers using segmentation based on real-time, clear, and clean data.
In the most convenient place using an omni-channel approach
At the optimal time – whether that’s now, later, or somewhere in between
With the right context using first-party data to add personalization to all of your interactions.

Once you’ve nailed down where your customers are, it’s time to figure out how to attract and delight them. 62% of consumers say a brand will lose their loyalty if they deliver an unpersonalized experience, so make sure you’re offering something that is relevant and valuable to each specific consumer. Remember — what works for one buyer persona may fall flat with another.

In the past, businesses looked backward to get a sense of what worked. We believe the future is about looking forward, finding ways to analyze real-time data to understand not only how well you’ve connected with customers up until now, but also how to optimize those customer connections in the future.

3. Make it Easy to Buy

Buyers expect their experiences discovering and buying B2B and B2C goods and services to feel the same, regardless of who they’re buying from. Naturally, you want to provide easy payment solutions and options for how your customers buy.

But just like it’s important to personalize content for each buyer persona, so too is it important to cater purchasing options to the particular needs of your audience. Whether that means working through a sales representative or buying through an online portal, understand what your consumers want so you can give them the experience they desire.

Just over 50% of SMBs still rely on disparate solutions to manage payment data, averaging five tools per purchase transaction.
83% of buyers say convenience while shopping is more important compared to five years ago.
Only 19% of consumers prefer to message a company’s chatbot when reaching out to a company online. 45% prefer a human representative.

Updating your old go-to-market strategies for the new world requires you to connect with your customers on a more meaningful level. Of course, building those connections hinges on the connectivity of your people.

4. Near, Far, Wherever You Are: Help your Teams Connect

As you can imagine, it’s much harder to connect with customers when you’re having a hard time connecting with the people across from you — whether that be in the office or over Zoom.

Disconnected teams create silos within your organization, and a disconnected business is one that’s not able to reach its full potential.

23% of businesses cite difficulties with communication and collaboration between teams as one of their top business challenges. 45% of workers say that the number of people they interact with at work decreased, and 57% of people say that they engage in fewer social activities these days. All that’s to say, connecting with one another isn’t as easy as it used to be. However, a fully remote or hybrid work model doesn’t necessarily have to equal disconnection between your teams.

Take HubSpot, for example.

Even before the global pandemic, we believed in building a company where people could do their best work. For some, that’s in an office building. For others, that’s from a home office. With the goal of making work-life harmony a reality, we committed to being a flexible, hybrid company that ties culture to our values, people, and mission, not locations.

In the words of our Director of Culture, Eimear Marrinan, “Culture does not need four walls to thrive.”

While the old ways of working may never return, it doesn’t mean it’s the end of company culture as we know it. The key is to ensure teams can buy into a common goal, and are able to work together as one to reach it.

Build a social connection that motivates your teams and enables them to foster better working relationships, even if it’s in a remote setting. 59% of people would like to keep working remotely as much as possible going forward, so building a culture that thrives in a hybrid work environment should be top-of-mind for businesses.

The times may be a-changin’, but the craving for community is still consistent throughout every workforce. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to being a hybrid company, and getting it right may take some time.

At HubSpot, we’re always learning how we can improve the way we work. Focusing on the critical ingredients — flexibility, empathy, communication, and inclusion — when building your work environment will inevitably put you on the path toward growth and success.

With all that said, we still haven’t gotten to another central, and sometimes overlooked, element of connection when it comes to your business — your systems, tools, and data. Pulling off all the above won’t be possible if you don’t have connected solutions in place to keep people and processes working in harmony.

5. Spend Less Time Configuring, and More Time Connecting

The average scaling company has 242 SaaS tools today. If that sounds like a lot, you’re right!

Expecting better relationships with customers and greater connection between teams when this many tools are in play is wishful thinking. In reality, less is more.

You need more than data. You need context.

You need more than content. You need connection.

You need more than contacts. You need community.

Hitting these goals largely depends on the connectedness of your internal systems, data, and tools. Your teams should be able to move away from focusing on building connections in a technical sense and towards fostering more meaningful connections on a human level.

Trying to make your myriad of disparate systems work together can feel like you’re swimming upstream. Instead, turn around and invest in a connected platform that streamlines and seamlessly connects your data.

Putting in the time and effort upfront to integrate a connected platform is well worth the long-term savings. One in four businesses today believe disconnected data and systems are among their chief concerns as they grow. And the ever-popular point solution approach brings with it its own set of problems.

Point solutions end up exacerbating silos across teams, which is ultimately not the point of implementing new tools and software. In reality, your teams work together closely, and giving them the means to connect and collaborate seamlessly largely hinges on the systems you put in front of them.

The time is now to prioritize “best-in-connection” solutions versus best-in-class tools. A platform that has connection at its core enables your teams to access data, collaborate with one another, and work through their responsibilities with no bumps along the way.

The trickle-down effect of disconnected systems negatively impacts your people, which ultimately impacts the customer experience. Making customer connection a central pillar of your business growth strategy starts by prioritizing a best-in-connection, all-on-one platform that delights employees and customers alike.

Time to Get Connected

That’s a wrap on our Crisis of Disconnection blog series! We want you to know that this is a concept we’re still deeply investigating, so while this is the end of this particular blog series, we’re just getting started talking about connection and how to optimize your business for it. Stay tuned for more on how HubSpot is actively working to address the Crisis of Disconnection!

In the meantime, be sure to check out HubSpot solutions, like our Free CRM or our Marketing, Sales, Service and CMS Hubs, which can help connect your team and grow better in 2023.