How to Create High-Converting Ads in 2022
The dream of every marketing guru is to create a high-converting ad that drives revenue and growth. The truth of advertising is more complex. Some ads perform better than others. While you can’t always predict which ones your audience might react to, you can utilize specific elements that give you the best chance possible of high conversion rates.
The process starts by asking where your ads will perform best. Do you want placement on social media, Google, a newsletter or a website? Even if you can answer that question quickly, you then must decide which specific platforms are best suited for your audience demographics.
How Do You Make High Conversion Ads?
In a recent Forrester report, experts predicted retail media spending will reach $50 billion in 2022 globally. Not only do you have to create ad content that speaks to your target audience, but you also have to compete with the other brands out there doing the same. Some may even do it better than you, meaning you have to consistently improve your effectiveness.
How can you ensure the ads you place to create new leads and customers?
1. Keep It Short
One thing advertisers do on social media that rarely works is post long strings of text and try to share lengthy videos. People on social media platforms want quick information that gets to the point in seconds.
You can always provide additional details as people move into your sales funnel. Always opt for the shortest message that gets the main objective across and expand from there.
2. Share the Solution
The demand for new data grows at an exponential rate, making it smart for businesses to provide content to a hungry audience. Research shows businesses focused on solving problems rather than just selling a product tend to perform better.
Share case studies with useful tips on how to apply the product or service to the consumer’s life. What is the pain point your typical customer faces and how do you solve it? Don’t just tell your leads–show them with videos of happy customers, case studies, images and stories.
3. Choose a Single Objective
Don’t try to do everything with an ad. You don’t have to increase brand awareness, explain a new product and fight for a cause all at the same time. It’s best to stick with a single objective and hone in on a particular audience segment.
You can always create additional ads. The high-converting ads tend to have one topic and one goal.
4. Write Great Content
Advertisers spend around $32.1 billion per year on content, with predictions the format will continue to expand. Great content answers user questions and highlights what you do best. While it’s okay to have a call to action (CTA) and promote yourself a little, at the heart of content must be a solution to your users’ problems.
If you produce fabulous content consistently, people will start to follow you and share your posts. You’ll gain word-of-mouth marketing without spending any additional dollars.
5. Show Discounts in Dollars
People aren’t always great at math. Instead of telling them they get 20% off at signup, show them the actual dollar amount they’ll save. For example, $50 off sounds far more impressive than 20% off.
If you aren’t offering a discount, you can always focus on how much your service saves them. You probably have seen this type of advertising from companies when they say you can save up to a certain dollar amount.
6. Balance PPC and SEO
Should you place your ads as pay-per-click (PPC) or focus more on search engine optimization (SEO) and driving traffic to your website? There isn’t a clear answer about which way to go, so most companies balance their efforts between PPC and SEO.
Good SEO is always a smart move. Use the keywords people search for when seeking a service such as yours, write great content and continuously improve your ranking in search engine results pages. However, you should also pay to rank higher than zero in search engine results.
When people search for a particular keyword and you’ve paid to place your content there, they will see the sponsored ad before anything else on the page. Ideally, you will have such excellent SEO that you’ll appear both in the sponsored slot and just under it.
7. Show Your Product in Use
One of the best ways to blow your competitors out of the race is by showing your product in action. What makes yours better than the others out there? Place a video ad highlighting the benefits of choosing yours.
Think about the most common uses, but don’t be afraid to think outside the box a little, too. Is there any other way people utilize your products? For example, a ballet class typically attracts ballerinas but some sportspeople take ballet lessons to help with balance.
8. Use Bright Colours
It might sound simple, but using bright colours helps your ad pop on the page. If you think about the amount of black and white text on sites such as Twitter and Facebook, you’ll see why a pop of yellow or fuschia grabs attention.
Even other advertisements tend to stick with neutral colours. Scroll your feed and you’ll get an idea of what colours might grab attention.
Pay Attention to Analytics
Nearly every advertising platform offers some performance metrics. Spend time studying the analytics of your ads. Who is clicking on them? What happens when they land on your site? Learn from each campaign and make improvements until you have higher conversion rates. With a little attention to detail and consistent effort, your ads will convert much higher than you ever expected.
Eleanor is the founder and managing editor of Designerly Magazine. She’s also a web design consultant with a focus on customer experience. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dogs, Bear and Lucy.