What makes a good ad?
Marketing has always been a combination of art and science, and this is even more apparent when it comes to building out ad creatives. While subjectivity still plays a part in determining whether a creative is good or not, there are several key elements that can make your ad objectively better than the competition.
6 things to consider when building out your next money making creative
1. Creative hook 🪝
Time is money. Make sure you have a creative hook in your ad that grabs the user’s attention in 1.7 seconds and provokes emotion. This can be engaging motion and video, attention-grabbing messaging and/or bold graphic elements.
Tip: Run a report analyzing 3 second video views/impressions to measure the impact of your hooks.
2. Less is more
Brands often feel the need to shove as many value props or competing visual elements in a single ad, which often ends up hurting performance more than helping. Use concise copy and break up text in a way that’s easy to digest. Make sure the objective and CTA of the creative are immediately clear, the message is easy to understand and all copy is legible on different media placements and devices.
Tip: A/B test different real-time bidding (RTB) messaging points to see what resonates best with your audience.
3. Thumb-stopping visuals
It’s no secret that humans are drawn to bright, shiny things and, as marketers, it’s our job to leverage this to our advantage. Bright and bold colors can help make the overall ad stand out in the feed, as well as draw attention to value props, promo information and RTB's within the creative itself.
Tip: Use your brand’s colors to create clean color blocking and visual callouts for copy you want to highlight.
4. Triple C: clear concise copy
The second thing that users look at, after the creative asset, is the post copy. If you’re going for short-form copy, make sure to be concise and straight to the point so the user can absorb all the information in a single glance. If long-form copy is the goal, ensure that the initial hook isn’t truncated mid-thought, and that it can stand alone if the user chooses not to see more.
Tip: Break up long-form copy into checklists with emojis to make the messaging more digestible and to add a touch of brand personality.
5. Compelling RTB's
It’s easy for brands to focus on what they’re selling but forget to communicate why their audience should buy, or even care. Having clear RTB's in your creative not only helps persuade your audience to care about your product, but, by focusing each creative on specific reasons why they should, you can learn what the consumer cares about and fine tune your marketing strategy. It's best to have a range of creative iterations highlighting different RTB's in order to tap into your audience’s varying motivations and viewing behaviors.
Tip: Create an RTB bank of concise claims and messaging points that your creative team can pull from when iterating creative concepts.
6. Authenticity
When it comes to creative, authenticity can take on many forms. Branded content needs to be authentic to the brand’s guidelines and tone, whereas user-generated content (UGC) needs to be authentic to the creator’s voice and following. From a platform perspective, TikTok and Reddit require bespoke creatives that feel native to those platforms, where asmMeta properties can handle more direct response creatives. Regardless of the placement, your creative tone should be branded yet human to drive authenticity and relatability.
Tip: Don’t be afraid to be a little unpolished; people want to see something real.
