We see hundreds of ads every day; some are good, and some are really bad. Unfortunately, it's the bad ads that stand out in our heads, and not in such a good way.
You see, an advertisement is supposed to make people think, "wow, I really want to learn more about this brand," not, "what were they thinking?" When creating an advertisement, it's your job to make your ad stand out, but it's important to make sure you're standing out for all the right reasons.
Here we'll show you four ways to make your ad pop (in a positively memorable way):
1. Use a bright, clear photo
Humans are visual creatures, and we take in most of our information through our eyes. When a consumer sees an ad, the first thing he or she thinks about is how it looks, and if it's visually appealing.
Bright, clear, proportional photos are the best way to quickly grab consumers' attention and draw them in. On the other hand, blurry, grainy photos in your advertisements are one of the fastest ways to make potential consumers go running in the other direction.
If you don't have high resolution photos, hire a professional photographer to take some product shots, or your iPhone and a backdrop at home can also produce some pretty nice photos. Even if your business isn't hugely profitable yet, investing in nice photos is 100% a worthwhile place to spend your money.
2. Use a font that's easy to read
There are some beautiful handwritten calligraphy fonts out there, but your next ad probably isn't the best place to use something like that.
Stick to a font that's easy to read, even when it comes to smaller print. If consumers have to tilt their heads and squint their eyes to read what your advertisement says, there's a good chance they're just going to keep scrolling.
3. Keep your text short, simple and to the point
An advertisement isn't the place to tell readers every little detail about your new product or brand. Think of yours ads like a billboard: they should be catchy and attention-grabbing, with just enough information to make the reader want to learn more.
After seeing your ad, the goal is for readers to go to your website, visit your social pages, give your business a call, etc. -- they should want to do whatever you asked them to do in the advertisement. Your ad should kickstart the process of the consumer learning more, but it's not the place to overwhelm readers with paragraphs of text. Save that for your website.
4. End with a call to action or an offer
Your ads are more likely to get a response when you ask the reader to perform an action, or give them a reward for doing so.
Ending your advertisement with a call to action ("Sign up here," or "Buy now and save 15%," for example), encourages readers to do something after seeing your ad instead of just viewing the ad and turning the page or continuing to scroll.
Using an offer or a special incentive is a great way to get readers to take action, and it's also a great way to track how your advertising is working. You can see what codes work best, and where the bulk of your conversions are coming from. Once you have that data, you can optimize your ad campaign to run only the ads that perform well (most agencies will keep an eye on this for you, and run only the highest performing ads for the remainder of your campaign).