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YouTube For Action Leads Form Ads: Early PPC Results

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youtube for action leads form ads early ppc results

Hi friends!

Today’s thrilling post will be a follow-up piece to a post I wrote some months ago about YouTube Lead Form Ads for PPC. I highly recommend giving that a read if you’re looking to test/expand into YouTube Lead Form Ads, as there are some components, such as the webhook solution, which requires a lot of time and energy to get set-up properly. It would be best to get that ball rolling sooner, rather than later, trust me.

I’ll touch on our early results with the new YouTube ad format as well as how to go about setting them up and what options are available to you, the advertiser.

What Are YouTube For Action Lead Form Ads?

A great question! Thanks for asking, segues are hard enough as it is.

YouTube Lead Form Ads drive leads via in-line form submissions, meaning the user no longer has to navigate off of YouTube in order to complete a form fill. This is a huge step in the right direction for making YouTube a more lead gen friendly platform. That said, users still have the option to navigate to your site after completing a form fill should they be interested in doing so.

This ad format is still in beta, which means you would have to get your account whitelisted in order to use these. That being said, the set up is exactly the same as any other YouTube campaign, however, there is an added option to add and create a lead form during the campaign creation process, should you be whitelisted (or when this is released to everyone).

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Worth noting, as of right now, you cannot retroactively edit the lead form ads once you create the campaign, meaning you would have to recreate any and all campaigns that have lead forms you might want to edit. I would make sure you have everything you need (webhook solution, correct URLs, approved ad copy, etc.) before creating your campaigns. Otherwise, you might end up building out all your campaigns on 3 separate occasions as we did!

Below are a few images of what these forms look like and what info we’re able to ask for through these forms. The business, “Bird Patrol”, is fictionary, so far as I know.

What a Lead Form Looks Like^A lead form ad!
Showcase Lead Form Fields^Info fields we can ask for
Post-Submit Options^Post-Submit Options
Thank You of Lead Form^Thank You “page”
Webhook on Lead Form^Where you would enter the webhook solution

Early PPC Results

With this Google product still being in Beta, I would expect some changes to be made moving forward (they’ve already expanded on how much info we can ask for/collect via the forms) for the better. Regardless, allow me to dive into the early results we’ve seen.

For reference, we’ve been testing this with one of our clients in the education industry. We’ve been using the Maximize Conversions bid strategy, although Target CPA is available as well. Additionally, we’re only testing one audience to start and that is the Post-Secondary Education In-Market audience. We have plans to expand to Custom-Intent audiences next and we have high hopes for those!

Looking at our top-level numbers, early on in this test, we’ve spent a bit more than $12K and received 41 leads. That makes our overall CPL ~$290, which for this client is by far the best YouTube-related CPL we’ve ever had. Ideally, as we continue to add and test different audiences, making tweaks as we go (which we’ve not done much of yet), we can get that CPL to the $200-250 level. CPLs at that level, for us, would be a huge success and would mean we found ourselves another viable channel to generate leads from, which have become increasingly harder to find these days.

Taking a more granular look at our campaigns, we have some campaigns which are generating a significant amount of leads at a CPL lower than our search campaigns, which I certainly was not expecting to be the case! As of now, our lowest CPL for campaigns with more than 1 conversion is $64.38. Our account average is a $200 CPL, for reference.

It does, however, appear that you need some fairly significant volume in order to see conversions. Those 41 conversions came from some 526,000 impressions and 148,000 engagements. That’s a conversion rate of .03%. We have some smaller market schools whose campaigns aren’t able to spend, presumably due to the size of the market itself. Several of our campaigns have yet to spend a full dollar and those are the campaigns that have less than 100 impressions. Only 1 of our converting campaigns has less than 6,500 impressions so far.

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At this point, it’s tough to say whether the quality of engagements or quantity of engagements is most important…although if you can do both then do that!

Conclusion

I have been more than happy with our early YouTube for Action Lead Form Ads test results, truly! We put a lot of work into this test and for it to generate a significant amount of leads at a reasonable CPL is a huge success, one which we hope to build upon.

In my opinion, these lead form ads would work best for advertisers who aren’t asking for too much info through their lead forms. Not only are we limited in what information we can ask for, but we’re also asking for people to take a break from the content they came to YouTube to enjoy, in order to engage with our brand and provide us their personal info.

I recommend using the lead form ads for more top of funnel lead offers and/or low commitment form fills (like, give us your contact info for more information). That said, these are still in beta and I’ve only seen them tested in this specific vertical, so please, test away to your heart’s content! I genuinely hope you can see some successes from this new Google ad product.

PPChero.com

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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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