In a world of increasing digital content, creating effective ads can be difficult. With the Internet available to people worldwide, there is a lot to consider when creating an ad that will reach your target audience and have a desired result.
Formatting options
There is a great variety of digital ad formats available. A few of the most commonly used include social media advertising, search engine ads, and display ads.
Social media marketing often involves having a company social media page and posting updates or promotions through that channel. Search engine ads involve going through a search engine like Google and having a specific ad appear to potential clients in the results when searching a topic related to your product. Display ads are an entirely different format that can be equally as effective as these other advertising strategies.
What are display ads?
Display ads are basically what they sound like: a display or image of some sort that advertises your product. These images often include overlaid text or a clever caption.
Thesearchengineshop.com describes how display ads on Google work. You can choose to have your ads appear to particular groups of people, for example, those within certain geographic locations, or those who have visited your website in the past.
Once you choose your target audience, designing the ads themselves is complicated. Even the simple qualities of these ads, such as the color, can play a role in who pays attention to them, and ultimately converts to a paying customer. The complete design of these ads is where uniqueness is necessary and where effectiveness can then be determined.
What drives action in display ads?
Dates
Specific information stands out to people. It is something to remember or write down. If there is a special going on for one weekend only, make sure those dates are explicitly outlined in the ad.
Specific details
Other specific details including money-saving opportunities will attract more attention and potentially drive action in display ads. For example, if a client buys now, they will receive free shipping, or a second item free. People love to bargain shop, and if the ad outlines what it is they will be saving on upfront, they will be more likely to take action and buy whatever your company is selling.
Redirection
Of course, the small areas available for display ads are frequently not large enough for all of the specific details or purchase information you want to share. Fortunately, you can create wording such as “learn more” so people can find the additional and essential details. Since this requires a two-step process of both finding the original ad intriguing, and then clicking to learn more, your initial wording has to be catchy and clever enough to keep your potential clients hooked.
Calls to action
Ultimately, you want your display ads to include a call to action. The addition of dates, other specific details, and redirection can help you form a powerful call to action that leads to customers buying your product.
Samples include:
- Shop us now
- Find out more
- Book now
- Sign up
- Download
- Start for free
- Unlimited access for one month
- Find additional samples at HubSpot Blogs
Including these calls to action that incorporate detailed information (or link to more information) in your display adds can increase your customer conversion. This ultimately increases product sales by telling customers what they need to know right away, and inspiring them to make the purchase now.
Written by: Alexandra Kennedy
Alexandra is a freelance and contract writer based in the Greater Boston area. She is a biologist, animal lover, lifelong student, and traveler.