Too many businesses see branding and digital advertising as a separate arm of the company – distinct from customer service and product/service delivery – rather than an integrated part of the consumer’s experience with their brand.
The truth? A digital ad is a continuation of a brand’s conversation with current and prospective customers. And the elements of effective brand building are the same elements that go into building effective ads online.
- Quality
- Trust
- Creativity
- Relevance
Digitaland: Incorporating these ‘branding’ elements into your digital marketing strategy can help you build better, high impact ads for your next digital ad campaign.
High impact ads are high quality ads
Dynamic Rich Media
Let’s get one thing clear: high quality banners and effective ads don’t need to be the stuff of ad awards lists. Sure, animation, gamification and wickedly clever taglines are attention-grabbing. But, those avenues aren’t a good fit for every business’s branding or resources.
The formula for a quality digital ad is simple:
- Clear messaging
- High resolution images
- Balanced color scheme
- Seamlessly coded for fast loads
Remember: effective ads start (or continue) a conversation with your customers. That’s why quality, high impact ads are frictionless. They deliver a good digital ad experience to your prospects, complementing the content they’re consuming, not competing with it.
DoubleClick Partner – Trust is the backbone of effective ads
High Quality Banners
While interruptive ads are the most obvious breach of trust between a brand and the person scrolling through content, pop-ups and screen takeovers aren’t the only digital ad types that erode trust.
If you want to build high impact ads, steer clear of:
- Visual noise (too many colors, animations, unnecessary flashing or out-of-context animations)
- Sensational copy (overly salesy, fear-inducing, off message)
- Bait and switch (CTAs connecting to pages that are irrelevant to your digital ad)
Consistency is key to nurturing trust with your audience. All it takes is one bad encounter for someone to write off your company for good.
The key to building trustworthy, effective ads in every campaign? Take the time to consolidate your brand’s messaging guidelines. Be sure to build a robust QA into your digital production process, where all creative is vetted against those guidelines. Follow that process for every digital ad campaign.
Bottom line: the best way to build trust with your target audience is to consistently deliver digital ad experiences that respect their time, attention and intent.
Digital Creative Production – Creativity sparks high impact ads
Effective Ads
Too many brands misunderstand the role of creativity in building high impact ads, and it’s led to an avalanche of clever, pithy messaging that sounds great (and wins awards) but says nothing. Good creative is like a good meal: if you get the basics right, you don’t need a lot of fancy ingredients.
What are the basics? They’ll differ for every brand, but it helps to start at the beginning. The most creative, effective ads often come from revisiting these simple questions:
- Who are your customers?
- What are their pain points and goals?
- What information could you share with them that will make their life better?
- What might surprise them?
When in doubt, choose clear and concise over clever. This is especially important with a digital ad, where you only have seconds to snag your prospect’s attention. If they have to work to grasp your brilliant dark humor or puntastic wordplay, they’ll keep scrolling.
Why relevance is relevant for good digital ads
Dynamic banner production
Why do you build digital ads? Sure, you want to get the word out about your brand. But more than that, you want to build engagement and connections with the people you’re trying to serve.
One of the best ways to do that? Be relevant with DoubleClick Partner!
Case in point:
Imagine your car breaks down in the middle of the desert. You’ve been driving for hours and you’re on the final dregs of your snacks and water. In the distance, you see a small store. Tired, hot and thirsty, you arrive at the entrance, eager for a drink and some shade. The proprietor grins and says, “Boy, do we have a sale on steering wheel covers for you!”
It’s easy to laugh at the oh-so-obvious missed opportunity, but how many brands do the exact same thing with their digital ad inventory?
Use targeting and data to deliver relevant messages that your audience cares about. And consider these questions:
- What’s the intent of the person visiting the publisher where your ad is being served?
- How can you add value? Is it through knowledge, entertainment or a special deal?
- Is this campaign a good candidate for dynamic or responsive ads?
