How To Create Phenomenal Digital Ads That Absolutely Grab Attention

Posted on August 13, 2018

Digital ads: bane of the Internet or helpful guides for finding products and services? Well, that’s for your business to decide.

Many companies don’t give the average Internet user the proper respect they deserve. Instead, many businesses create intrusive and drab digital ad campaigns that focus totally on what their product or service is before—if ever—actually engaging with the potential client.

You can bet a year’s worth of revenue that that is something a digital marketing consultant like me, Mauricio Piña, won’t ever advise.

Today, I cook up an informative post that can give you some insight into what it takes to make a good digital ad. So grab a pen, some paper, and let’s jot down some notes.

What is a digital ad?

Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is a “digital ad”? Is that like a pop-up? No, not really. In fact, Google dislikes pop-up ads probably as much as you do.

Why? Well…pop-up ads are intrusive and have been shown to lose potential customers. Think about it. No one doing their thing online gets a pop-up ad, clicks on it, and says, “Boy, am I glad to see this ad because I need to buy this obscure foreign instrument.

It just doesn’t happen. In fact, in a survey conducted by HubSpot, 73 percent of respondents strongly disliked ads that popped-up over the entire screen.

Because of these old digital marketing practices, digital ads have evolved to encompass so much more than annoying pop-up windows that you have to click out of. Now, it’s the funny ad before your YouTube video starts. It’s that inviting advertisement on your Facebook feed. It’s the link that pulls up in the search engine results page when you search for a particular product or service.

It’s about being less intrusive and obnoxious; more about catering to user needs.

Kind of sounds like a no-brainer, right?

Truth is, digital marketers are just starting to get the hint, and nowadays, ads are becoming less intrusive and more aligned with the interests of potential customers.

While it may seem like advertising on the Internet is an uphill battle, reality is that advertisements (so long as they aren’t intrusive) don’t really bother the general populace. The same HubSpot survey mentioned previously reflects that fact, noting that 83 percent of respondents do NOT consider all ads to be bad. At the same time, these same respondents would like to filter out the really obnoxious ones.

Since people’s opinion regarding digital ads seems favorable, so long as you stay within polite parameters, below are some tips that you should consider before drafting plans for your next digital ad campaign. That is, if you want it to be successful and improve your click-through rate.

Food for thought for your next digital ad campaign.

Before you launch your next digital ad campaign, it would do your business well to make sure that your ads do not fall into the same old routine. Gather your team, order some take-out, and start hashing out ideas for your next ad with these pointers in mind:

Less is Better – The less an advertisement seems like an ad, the more receptive potential customers will be toward it. The goal is to encourage customers to watch your commercial, and not make them feel like you are force-feeding it to them.
Make Your Digital Ads Consumer Friendly – As stated earlier, a good digital ad will invite someone to view the ad rather than force them to watch or read it. That means:

No unskippable ads before a YouTube video.
No autoplay in video or in-banner ads.
No banners that take up half of the screen.
No banner that obscures or hides the ‘x’ button.
And for the love of everything sacred to digital marketing, no pop-ups!

Ensure Your Ads Are Worth Viewing – You’ll need to really do your research to create a digital ad that engages well with potential customers by doing something that not many other companies get right – either through humor or drama to name a few angles.

One classic example that falls out of the digital marketing scope, but it rings true for great advertising, are the Geico caveman commercials from way back in the day. Their commercials hit the funny bone for of a lot of people, solidifying Geico commercials as a humorous brand of ads, while still attracting business.

Use Design to Your Advantage – Going the extra mile on your digital ad with these tips can be the difference between a great or disappointing click-through rate:

Don’t be afraid to add a little white space in your digital ads to emphasize your message.
Use your branding colors to draw attention and promote your brand.
Evaluate what size of ad would work best with what you want to sell. But also make sure that it falls in line with being courteous to your potential customer as well.
Make sure your logo is on the digital ad to promote brand identity.
Make sure your digital ad design is consistent with the landing page.
The digital ad copy should be the same on both the ad and your landing page.
Determine the word count with your designer.

Generate a Clear and Catchy Call-to-Action (CTA) – A CTA is absolutely necessary in advertising. A good CTA encourages potential customers to inquire more about your product or service because of its enticing copy and design. You’ll also want to link out to your landing page or your website’s order page with clear instructions on what to do next (e.g. make a purchase, read more about a subject in your blog, etc.).