7 Million-Dollar YouTube Ads Lessons (My Biggest Secrets Revealed)

Aleric Heck
5 min readAug 20, 2024

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𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟭: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 “𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲-𝗔𝗱” 𝗶𝘀 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 👑

The YouTube “Value-Ad” Framework is the foundation of our most successful campaigns. Here’s how to implement it:

- Hook (15–30 seconds):

Make a bold statement or ask a thought-provoking question

Address your ideal client’s pain points

Tease the value you’re about to provide in the ad

- Educate (1–2 minutes):

Deliver 1–3 “Golden Nuggets” of actionable advice

Focus on the WHAT and WHY, not the HOW

Give them a Taste of what to expect learning from you!

- Call to Action (30–45 seconds):

Make it crystal clear what to do next

Show the landing page they’ll see when they click

Reiterate the value they’ll get by taking action

Pro Tip: Use our “Video Blocks” Strategy to create multiple variations of each section. This allows you to test different hooks and educate sections without needing to refilm the entire ad multiple times.

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟮: 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮-𝗔𝗜 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝗔𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 🎯

Our “Alpha-AI” YouTube Ad Targeting strategy is the secret sauce to our targeting success.

Here’s how to implement it:

Use Custom Segments & create your own targeting audiences to give the AI the ability to learn who your ideal client is and optimize.

You can use my AI Ad Targeting Software (5 days free) KeywordSearch (dot com) to generate custom ad audiences!

Create Custom Audience Segments:

- Custom Intent Audiences

- In-Market Audiences

- Custom Affinity Audiences

- Remarketing Lists

You want to use the “3D Targeting” Principle:

- Right Person: Use demographic and interest-based targeting (as well as custom audiences)

- Ability to Invest: Target based on income levels or purchase behavior

- Right Time: Leverage Intent Based Audiences (like Custom Intent for Google Searches or URL Audiences)

Pro Tip: Use our AI tool, KeywordSearch, to generate high-converting audience ideas in seconds!

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟯: 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲, 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗢𝗳𝗳 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 🔧

The key to YouTube Ads success is continuous optimization. Unfortunately many people throw the baby out with the bathwater instead of actually optimizing within a campaign.

Here’s our process:

- Give campaigns at least 3–4 days to gather data before making major changes.

- Use the “Tree Trimming” method to Pause underperforming ads & targeting audiences

- Increase budget for top performers

- Create new variations based on what’s working

Monitor Key Metrics:

- Click-Through Rate (CTR)

- View Rate (VTR)

- Cost Per View (CPV)

- Cost Per Conversion (CPA)

- Conversion Rate (CVR)

Pro Tip: Once you have some winning Audiences & Videos — combine them into a “Winning Campaign” you can use — sometimes these are our best campaigns!

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟰: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 🌳

Scaling isn’t about pumping money into one campaign (like a balloon — which risks the campaign ‘popping’) — it’s about creating a robust ecosystem of campaigns (like a forest of trees). Here’s how:

Start with your Core Campaign (The Trunk)

This is your proven winner with solid ROAS so Scale this campaign slowly over time (maintaining it’s performance)

Branch out with Similar Campaigns:

- Create variations targeting different but related audiences

- Test different ad creatives

- Experiment with different landing pages or offers

- Cross-Pollinate & Take winning elements from one branch and apply them to others

- Use retargeting to nurture leads across campaigns

Pro Tip: Aim to have at least 3–5 solid “branches” before significantly increasing overall spend. This creates stability and resilience in your ad account.

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟱: 𝗢𝗺𝗻𝗶𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗻 🚀

Our OmniPresent Retargeting strategy has been a game-changer by allowing you to retarget your leads across every major platform!

Here’s how to implement it & Create a Robust Retargeting Structure:

- All Converters & Leads

- Website visitors (past 30, 60, 90 days)

- Video viewers

- Engaged with channel (Subscribers, Likes, etc)

- Previous Customers (if relevant)

Craft Specific Messages for Each Audience:

- Recent Converters: Address objections and reinforce benefits

- Website Visitors: Re-engage with new content or offers

- Video Viewers: Provide next steps based on the content they watched

- Previous customers: Upsell or cross-sell related products/services

Use Multiple Platforms:

- YouTube Ads for video retargeting

- Google Display Network for image ads

- Facebook/Instagram for social proof and testimonials

- AdRoll to blanket your image/face on thousands of websites

As well as MANY MORE!

Pro Tip: Stay Tuned we’ve got something exciting coming in the Omnipresent Retargeting world in a day or two 😉

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟲: 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁, 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁, 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁! 🧪

Constant Testing is the key to Long-term Success — the people who test the most find the most winners & the people who find the most winners scale the most!

Use the “Video Blocks” Strategy to Create Multiple YouTube Ad Creatives (in a fraction of the time):

- Create multiple hooks, educate sections and CTAs

- Mix and match to create dozens of ad variations quickly

Test These Elements:

- Hooks: Test different pain points, promises, or questions

- Ad Audiences (Custom Audiences & different Varieties)

- Landing pages: Test long-form vs short-form, video vs text-based

- Use A/B Testing Tools

Give each test enough time and budget to reach statistical significance

Pro Tip: Keep a “swipe file” of your best-performing hooks, stories, and CTAs. This becomes an invaluable resource for future campaigns. You can also spy on competitor ads with KeywordSearch

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 #𝟳: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲-𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 📱

Adding a phone number field to our opt-in forms has been very impactful at extracting maximum value from our YouTube Ad campaigns — I wrote a whole post on it a few weeks ago!

Here’s how to make it work for you:

- Implement a Phone Number field on your landing pages

- Make it a required field for higher-ticket offer funnels

- Use software like Aloware to manage texts and calls efficiently

Set up an appointment setter system:

- Hire appointment setters on a base + commission structure

- Train them thoroughly on your offer and ideal client profile

Create a follow-up sequence for every new lead that comes into your funnel:

- Immediate text confirmation

- Call within 5 minutes of opt-in

- Follow-up sequence of calls and texts over 7 days

Track key metrics:

- Opt-in rate

- Contact rate

- Appointment set rate

- Show-up rate

- Close rate

Pro Tip: Use a dynamic typeform to qualify leads in real-time. This ensures your team is focusing on the highest-quality prospects. (Stay Tuned — more on this soon too! 😉 )

These are just 7 of the lessons I learned from our multi-million dollar YouTube Ads journey!

I hope you found this valuable & stay tuned for some exciting announcements coming soon!

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Aleric Heck

YouTube Ads & Video Marketing Expert | Founder & CEO of AdOutreach | CEO of KeywordSearch.com - AI Ad Targeting SaaS | Free YouTube Ads PDF AdOutreach.com/Gift