What makes a winning ad?

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. Want to know what they are?

Here are 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 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 these traits 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 RTBs within the creative itself.

Tip: Use your brand’s colors to create clean color blocking and visual callouts for copy you want to highlight in the ad.

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 and the messaging doesn’t get cut off. If you’re going for long form copy, make sure that the initial hook isn’t truncated mid thought and can stand alone in case the user chooses not to see more.

Tip: Break up long-form copy into checklists with emojis to make the messaging more digestible and add a touch of brand personality.

5. Compelling RTBs

It’s easy for brands to focus on what they’re selling but forget to communicate why users should buy or even care. Having clear RTBs in your creative not only helps persuade the user to care about your product but by focusing each creative on specific reasons you can begin to learn more about what the consumer cares about and fine tune your marketing strategy. It's best to have a range of creative iterations highlighting different RTBs to tap into your audience’s different 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 UGC content 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 Meta 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.

Ready to make your ad creatives more interesting, impactful and profitable? Follow our six tips and get ready to create winning ads.