When I started running ads for Ezra, he’d profitably spent over $16 million to date on Facebook while spending a whopping $0 on YouTube.

You might be wondering, “If Facebook is performing so well, why bother with YouTube?”

It’s because Ezra knew that relying on 1 revenue channel was super dangerous. If his Facebook ad account got shut down, he could lose his business.

He also knew that the solution to his problem was to diversify his traffic sources. That way, if anything happened to his ad account or if his sales took a massive hit from a platform or algorithm update, he would have a secondary revenue channel to rely on while he figured things out.

This is like insurance for your brand — except instead of paying for it, it pays you! — and it’s something every business owner should have, otherwise you’re just one misfortune away from going bust.

Okay, that makes the next question, “Why YouTube?”

Why YouTube is the Perfect Secondary Sales Channel

Out of all the other sales channels out there — Google, Amazon, TikTok — why did Ezra choose to invest in YouTube to scale his Facebook ads, and why do I think you should, too?

To start with, YouTube has 2 billion active users. More 18–34 year olds watch YouTube than network cable, and it’s the world’s 2nd largest search engine after Google and the 2nd most visited site on the Internet. (You want scale? I’ll give you scale!)

But this platform isn’t just for streaming and search…

80% of shoppers say they use YouTube in their buying decisions, and 1/3 of shoppers say they’ve purchased products they discovered on YouTube. On top of that, YouTube gives you all of Google’s user data, making it the biggest customer pool on the planet!

The bottom line? This is a real shopping platform!

(Plus, there’s a secret ad type that’s perfect for driving cheap conversions. I’ll show you what it is and how to use it later in the article.)

So why isn’t every marketer and business owner investing in YouTube right now? The truth is, most people don’t know how.

What Most People Get Wrong About YouTube Ads

If you’ve ever heard someone say that YouTube ads “just don’t work” or they “can’t scale,” it’s probably because that person was doing one of the following:

❌ They didn’t start with the right ad

❌ They didn’t understand YouTube ad creative

❌ They weren’t using the right ad types and audiences types

❌ They weren’t tracking the right metrics for optimization

But don’t worry, that’s why I wrote this article — to help you avoid these mistakes so you can jump on this massive opportunity.

So let’s start from the top.

When I set out to make Ezra millions in revenue on YouTube, did I go pay the Harmon Brothers $100,000 to make us an Oscar-worthy video ad?

No way. Instead, I paid $0 to make an ad that’s just as good. How?

Here’s the secret that no one understands about YouTube ads: you don’t have to spend time or money on new creative — all you have to do is use your Facebook ads that are already working.

So if you have a successful Facebook ad, then good news: it just became twice as valuable to your brand, and you’re already 90% of the way to scaling onto YouTube.

(If you don’t have an ad, that’s okay. In a second I’m going to give you Ezra’s #1 video ad template from our campaigns.)

3 Keys to Choosing the Right Facebook Ad for YouTube

You might be saying, “Use your Facebook ads? That’s obvious!” or “I tried that but it didn’t work for me!”, and that’s because you can’t use any ad; it has to be the right ad.

Here are the 3 things I look for in a winning YouTube ad:

1. Is it a video ad? Sorry, but I have to ask. This is a video streaming platform, and even your best image ads will fail on YouTube.
2. Is the ad hitting your CPA? We want to start with a successful ad, and a good marker of this is your cost per acquisition.
3. Are you running the ad at a high sales volume? We don’t want a campaign that you just turned on, even if it’s hitting your CPA. High sales volume indicates that your ad is resonating with a large audience — this completes the package.

Okay, now that you’ve found a Facebook ad that checks all of these boxes, do you just throw it on YouTube? Not quite.

First, you need to optimize your ad for this new platform.

In some ways, marketing on YouTube is the same as marketing anywhere else: it’s about delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time…

But we execute that strategy differently on YouTube than on Facebook or anywhere else. The biggest difference is in the creative.

Why People Approach YouTube Creative All Wrong

Google says that 50–80% of ROI on YouTube is driven by the creative, so you have to get this right. Even if your targeting and budgeting are brilliant, if you don’t follow the tips in this next section then your campaign probably won’t work.

When I’m deciding which Facebook ads to use and how to optimize them, I focus on these creative elements that are working on YouTube right now:

1. The video has to do all the work.

Unlike Facebook, YouTube ads don’t have text above them, so everything from your hook to your call to action must be represented visually.

To optimize your Facebook video, take the information in the copy and include it in the video as text overlays. (And make sure your video has a strong CTA!

2. Nail the first 5 seconds.

On Facebook feeds, people can scroll right past your ad if they want to. But on YouTube, viewers have to watch 5 seconds of your ad before they can skip ahead to their cat video.

Use this time wisely! Start “high” with something exciting that will grab their attention.

3. Speak Directly to Your Ideal Customer

It’s not enough to get people’s attention — it has to be the right people.

On Facebook you pay for any impression no matter how brief, but on YouTube you only pay if someone watches for 30 seconds. (That’s right! More on this in the next section.)

That gives you time to connect with your ideal customers, filter out everyone else and lower your CPC.

Ezra’s top campaigns on both Facebook and YouTube use his “Love-Demo-Love” formula.

This is our most successful video ad ever, and it’s the perfect execution of my 3 tips for creative optimization.

The ad opens with a customer testimonial (love), then cuts to a product demonstration (demo), then finishes with another testimonial (love).

This ad lets the video do all the work by including text overlays and a strong CTA, and it nails the first 5 seconds by opening with a testimonial that speaks directly to their ideal customer.

If you don’t have a winning Facebook ad to scale onto YouTube, I recommend that you read Ezra’s article on how to copy his Love-Demo-Love Facebook ad campaign.

What makes YouTube such an effective marketing platform for driving conversions? You’re about to find out.

These are 2 more YouTube secrets hiding in plain sight.

Only Pay if Someone Watches 30 Seconds of Your Video

There are a lot of ad units on YouTube, but the best one for driving conversions is TrueView for Action.

These are in-stream ads that appear before and during videos, and here are 2 great things about them:

1. People must watch 5 seconds of the ad before they can skip to their video. That gives you a chance to hook them so they watch the rest.
2. You only pay for an impression if someone watches 30 seconds of your ad. (Yep, you read that right.)

This means TrueView is an amazing value for advertisers.

As I said above, on Facebook you pay for every impression no matter how brief. But on YouTube, you only pay when you put your video in front of people who are interested in your message — it’s amazing!

Now, all you have to do is target the right people…

Convert 30% More Customers with Custom Intent Audiences

Now that we’ve nailed our creative and have the right ad placement, we just have to put it in front of the right people. (Even the perfect video will fail if the targeting is off.)

When getting started on YouTube, the best audience type is custom intent audiences.

It combines the precision of search with the power of video. 86% of people use Google to shop for products, and custom intent lets you target YouTubers based on their Google searches.

And here’s the kicker: we often see 30% more conversions with custom intent vs. other audience types

So you turn on your ads and hope for the best, right? Of course not!

You need to track the right metrics so you can optimize and troubleshoot your campaigns.

Here are some of the metrics you need to look at:

View Rate: The percentage of people served your ad who actually watch your ad. Over 30% is good, and signifies a good message-to-market match; under 20% is bad, and means you either need to change your audience or change your creative.

Average Cost Per Click (CPC): Ideally, this is at or below your non-brand search CPCs, so it’s important that you know your conversion rates. If your CPC is really high, it means not a lot of people are clicking through.

Organic Search: This isn’t something you need to monitor, necessarily, but it’s fun to. YouTube ads will often boost your organic search results, and advertisers will often see around 8% more search conversions, a 3% higher search conversion rate, and a 4% decrease in search CPA.

******

That’s it! Those are the 4 steps you need to scale your Facebook ads onto YouTube.

After we implemented this strategy for Ezra’s brand, something unbelievable happened: for a few months, YouTube actually matched Facebook in ad spend and beat it in CPA!

What started as a way to protect his business turned into a fully matured sales channel with practically unlimited room to scale.

And Ezra was so impressed with our results that he asked me to create a new training for Smart Marketer that breaks down exactly how to implement this campaign for your brand.

I’m very excited to Introduce… the YouTube Kickstart Blueprint.

In this article I gave you the ingredients for a successful YouTube campaign, but in the YouTube Kickstart Blueprint I give you the full recipe.

It’s an in-depth, 13-video training that shows you exactly how to scale your Facebook ads onto YouTube and start seeing quick and significant results from this sales channel.

No figuring things out for yourself… No trial and error… I take you into the backend of YouTube and show you step by step how to bake the cake of YouTube success.

Once you go through this Blueprint, you will have a consistent secondary sales channel for your business and a proven formula for scaling your on YouTube.

The YouTube Kickstart Blueprint Teaches You How To:

✔ Easily Scale Your Facebook Ads onto YouTube

✔ Optimize Your Existing Ad Creative for YouTube

✔ Copy My 3 Best Video Ad Templates

✔ Set Up Your YouTube Ads Account for Success

✔ Build Out Your TrueView Campaign from Start to Finish

✔ Track the Right Metrics for Troubleshooting & Optimization

50% Off For a Limited Time

This brand new training is part of the Smart Marketer ‘Blueprints’ series, where he focuses on one proven marketing strategy and teaches you everything you need to execute it…

And for a limited time, we’re offering the YouTube Kickstart Blueprint for only $197 — that’s 50% off its normal price!

Does This Campaign Work For Your Business Model?

Whether you’re in ecommerce, info products, coaching, consulting, services, software, you name it — I’m certain that this YouTube campaign works for every business model.

How am I so sure?

I managed $100 million in ad spend last year alone, and not only have Ezra and I seen great success with this campaign, I’ve also leveraged it for dozens of my other clients as well.

Sign Up Now!

If you want to generate thousands, even millions of dollars on YouTube, then please take my advice and invest in this Blueprint.

Don’t put your business at risk by relying on Facebook as your only sales channel…Don’t throw money at YouTube without knowing what you’re doing…

Remember, this is like insurance for your brand (only better because it pays you!). If Ezra can spend $14 million on Facebook last year and have his account shut down twice, then it can happen to you too.

$197 is all it takes to protect your business while breaking into an entirely fresh sales channel with practically unlimited scale.

At that price, you can’t afford not to go through this course! But we’re only offering this 50% discount for a limited time…