Creating emotional connection in YouTube ads

Nacia Walsh: Hi there. I’m Nacia. Thanks for joining us. In this video, we’ll be talking about one of four essential building blocks marketers can use to create effective YouTube ads: connection. Alongside attention, branding, and direction comes connection. It’s the emotional rapport built between you and your audience through the experience of your ad.

But building an emotional connection with your audience can be tricky. That’s why we spoke with Ariane Le Port, global creative effectiveness lead at Google, to get her expert advice on creating connections through your YouTube ads. Ariane?

Ariane Le Port: Thanks, Nacia! Hi there. I’m Ariane, and I’m here to help you think about creating connections with viewers through your YouTube ad.

So what do I mean by connection? Basically, you want your ad to inspire something in your audience. Be it a thought or a feeling, that human connection builds trust, and trust can make ads more effective, boost engagement, and improve brand impression.

Strategy No. 1: Humanize the story. A study by Nielson Neuro found that faces attract immediate attention, heighten emotional motivation, and increase overall engagement. Why? Because humans are hardwired to respond to other humans, especially their facial expressions.

Making people central to your ad story can inspire positive, emotional connection. Plus, more often than not, it will help you tell a better, more relatable story about your brand or product.

Strategy No. 2: Focus the message. This one’s pretty straightforward. Try to avoid doing too much. In fact, adding too many messages will make it less likely for any of them to actually land. Keep your message tight and your language simple.

Remember, you want an ad to inspire action. Maybe not an immediate purchase, depending on your marketing objective, but, eventually, you want your audience to remember who you are, what you do, and feel compelled to try your product or service. So consider using functional storytelling, which conveys the tangible benefits that connect the audience’s needs with your offering.

And a third strategy is to engage emotionally. Emotional storytelling techniques like humor, surprise, with suspense can help build the connection you want. Choose the technique that works best for your brand.

Visuals matter a lot here too. They help people immediately connect with your ad, whether what they’re seeing is stunning, delightful, or unexpected. Plus, visuals that make people think and feel something within the first five seconds lead to longer view times. Also, studies show that creating patterns of tension and release, like a joke set up to punchline, can help foster emotional motivation and improve how receptive your audience is to your ad.

In general, creating connections with your audience is all about inspiring a feeling or a thought after watching your ad. And just remember that the elements of sparking this connection work hand in hand with the other core building blocks of creating great YouTube ads.

And those are grabbing attention, showing your brand, and providing directions for viewers to take action. And when you put it all together, you’ll create an ad experience that resonates with your viewers in a meaningful, long-lasting way.

So I hope these insights help you connect with your audience and share your message. Thank you so much for listening, and back to you, Nacia.

Nacia: Thanks so much for that, Ariane. Let’s quickly recap what we just learned. As you think about creating connections with your YouTube ad, remember these three strategies: Humanize the story so people can immediately relate; focus your message so it’s easy to follow; and engage with emotional storytelling techniques.

Well, that’s it for this video. To learn more about the other core building blocks for creating great YouTube ads, check out our other videos, and don’t forget to subscribe to our channel while you’re at it. See you next time.