Looking for ways to improve the response of your display advertisements? The solution can be as simple as following a few design techniques . While timing and selecting the right audience to target are important, the campaign won’t reach its full potential if ad creative best practices are neglected. Here are the top 5 rules to follow when designing your next display campaign.
1. Less is more
An average display ad will have a consumer’s attention for less than 3 seconds making it imperative for your ad to make an impact. With that, depending on ad size the copy should stay between 5-10 words to ensure your message is clear, concise, and can be quickly processed. Keep in mind the goal is to get clicks to drive prospects to your landing page. Your landing page can then provide additional details you want to include.
For smaller ad units and mobile you will want to stick closer to the 5 word max whereas larger ad units for desktop have more flexibility to include up to 10 words.
2. Avoid the clutter
Building upon the less is more theme, the simpler an ad the better. To create something that stands out, avoid busy photos/images and complex copy. Choose images that stand out and are pleasing to the eye. There may be a short amount of time to make an impact but if it’s done correctly it can be a great success.
3. Pick one message
Because you have a short amount of time to grab the consumer’s attention, keep it to one key message or key product benefit. There is a lot of noise and content an ad competes with. You don’t want to lose the attention by adding too much information to process.
4. Branding consistency
Branding and messaging should stay consistent throughout your advertising, including colors, fonts, images, and themes. It is best to always include the company logo. As for copy, that should be reflective of the brand and should be used to showcase brand identity. According to a BBDO report, it recommends against only using a product shot in an ad as it will “diminish the message.”
5. Strong call to action
Last but certainly not least make sure the creative has a strong call to action (CTA). You want to entice the viewer to click further. The CTA should also stick to the keep it simple model, “Enter Contest”, “Book Now”, “Reserve Your Seat”.
*Bonus Tip*
These 5 tips are a good guide to follow, but the icing on the cake for display advertising is creativity. While you can utilize all of the best practices for your ad, creativity shouldn’t fall short.
At MassLive Media Group we have a talented creative department that build and design effective campaigns – at no extra cost. Contact us to learn more about our creative services.
Now that we discussed the top 5 rules to follow, what do you do if you have a lot of information to include and can’t keep your message short? Our next article will talk about strategies to overcome just that.