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1.19.21 | read time: 6.5 min

What Makes A Good Digital Ad?

116 & West

Running digital ads is kind of like watching a friend participate in internet dating: Your friend will have a list of requirements for a partner, and if the potential partner who pops up on the screen doesn’t have at least some of them, your pal will no doubt continue to scroll…or swipe left. Determining if a person is right for you obviously takes a little more than a quick scan of their photos and bio, but when it comes to internet dating and, well, digital advertising, you don’t always have that kind of time.

In general, people have a short attention span, and measurably less when they’re receiving advertisements. So, make sure your ad is doing the right things, otherwise, you’ll be ghosted.

Digital advertising, although easy to track (I’ll talk more about that below), isn’t always the most visible. And, because every other business is on the interwebz, it’s essential that your ad is targeted correctly and stands out.

So, whether you’re placing ads on Instagram, TikTok, or buying programmatic space, it’s important to remember that good ads:

ARE GOAL-ORIENTED

One of the #neat things about taking your marketing to the digital world is that it’s performance is measurable. You can see how many people see your ads (impressions), you can see how many people engaged with your ads (likes, comments, and shares), and you can find out how many people clicked on your ads (click-through rate).

Side note: Another important step in measuring how well your ad campaign does is to have  tracking set up on your website. Through it, you can see where people go once they get to your website or landing page—a product purchase, or another step in the sales funnel. You can even tell if they chuck the deuces and bounce.

Set up performance goals for your ad campaign. In the biz, we call these Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs. Goals have to be both large- and small-scale. For example your larger-scale goal will be what you expect out of your overall campaign (growth percentage, sales, etc.). Your smaller-scale goals will be based on how you measure success for the ads themselves. It’s good to have target goals for things like impressions and conversion rates. You can also have target goals for how many people you’d like to see engage or click through. (If you need help figuring all this out, click that “let’s work together” button on the right side of your screen.)

A good digital ad is built with the campaign goals in mind. That way, if something isn’t performing to the KPIs you’ve set up, then you can rework it and try again.

ARE WELL BRANDED

It may be tempting to pull out all the stops for your digital ad and make it POP. Do any research about colors and advertising, and you’ll no doubt come across articles talking about how blue is calming, red is alarming, and so on. If you find that green is supposed to help sales, but your brand colors are grey and pink, always go with your brand colors.

Your name, your logo, and your brand colors are much, much more important than whatever color might make someone more likely to buy. Because, not only are you selling a product or a service (whatever your business might be), you’re also making it easier for people to recognize your brand. If your brand is well-known, the selling of a product or service becomes much easier. Take for example Tylenol. You can probably buy the same generic product without the label (and probably pay less). However, the popular name and branding make it feel more trustworthy.

That’s what you want for your brand. So be consistent with your logo and branding through all of your digital advertising. That way, it will be easier for people to draw the connection between your brand and the messaging of your digital ad.

INCLUDE AN OFFER

Now, if you’re running an ad without an offer, that’s okay. Not every digital ad has to come with some kind of sale or promotion. Some campaigns are solely for brand awareness. Some are to garner interest in an event. If you have an offer, however, lead with that.

Placing an ad without the offer is a lot like burying the lead in a news article. The most important information needs to be the first thing people see. If you have a compelling offer, people need to know about it. And, if you’re paying for advertising, you’ll want an ROI. One of the best ways to get a return? Make your ad compelling so people click on it.

IDENTIFY A CTA

You’ll want all those digital eyeballs on your ad to do something other than look. If possible (not all ad sizes can accommodate this) include a call to action, or CTA. That means, if you’re trying to get people to your website, send them there. If you’d like them to go to a landing page, a menu, or any other specific digital place, make it easy for them to get there with a single click.

Ads that give people direction are the most successful, and are the easiest to track for success. People like being told what to do (cough, sheeple), so give them the opportunity to be led.

ARE SIMPLE

Again, it may be tempting to use ALL THE WORDS AND ALL THE COLORS on your ad, but if it’s too busy without any messaging hierarchy, then it’s unlikely anyone will engage or click on your ad.

Not only do people have short attention spans and need direction, they are easily overwhelmed. (The human race needs some work, huh?) The main point of your ad needs to be at the forefront. Everything else can be toned down or even removed. Good ads, especially when you’re low on space and copy, exemplify the idea that “less is more.”

ARE BUILT FOR THE PLATFORM

Advertising works best when it’s created for the platform. The size, style, and messaging of your ads should look and feel appropriate to where they are. For example, if you’re running an ad on Instagram Stories, then the size of your ad should fit the requirements. And, because there aren’t many words allowed on IGS, keep your message concise. Further, because you’re only allowed 15 seconds, it’s imperative the length of your ad is appropriate, or at least interesting enough to get people to “swipe up.”

Programmatic ads are generally very small. You don’t have much room to do much other than show your logo, a few words of copy, and then a CTA. So, when you’re creating ads for that space, it’s important that you’re smart with your messaging, and that you are really specific with what you want people to do or see.

It’s also essential that your ads are made for the people on that platform. For example, an ad on TikTok should be made for a different audience than for the one on LinkedIn. And while one could argue there is some overlap in audience, the content on each platform is vastly different. Your ad should feel like it’s made for the people and the content they expect. So, even if your ad campaign is for a single sale or event, the ads you make for it should vary to meet each audience on each platform.

ARE MADE WITH LOVE

You know we’re all about this. If you’re new to the biznas of digital advertising, or are veteran who needs some fresh ideas, give us a call, send us an email at whatsup@116andwest.com, or swipe right on your “agency dating app.” Our media and creative teams work closely together to make sure your digital ads will POP (to the right people, in your brand colors, on the right platform).

 

 

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1.8.21 | read time: 6 min

Our 2021 Trends and Predictions

116 & West

Trends play a large role in our industry. As marketers and advertisers, we have to be aware of trends. Not only do we walk the thin line between staying on-trend without being too trendy (read: basic), we help our clients decide which trends work for them and speak to/for their brand. Trends, from an advertising perspective, mean anything from design to wording, to tactics, to pop culture.

As we slowly acclimate to the new year, we can expect some 2020 trends to expand their shelf life, as well as new patterns to emerge. Here’s (some of) what we think will go down.

(Not Quite) Out With The Old

Messaging

Although social issues have been part of our culture for a long time, they didn’t commonly present themselves in the world of commerce before 2020. Last year, many brands took public stances on social issues, such as racism and environmentalism. In 2021, you can count on brands continuing to discuss such matters and actionable items they will take to address them.

A more unfortunate messaging trend that will continue into this year is the pandemic. You can expect to continue hearing brands share Covid-related messaging—how they are protecting their customers/workers and how they are continuing to support their communities through these unprecedented times. (We’re hopeful the usage of “these unprecedented times” and similar phrases will steadily decline through 2021, though.)

Brands are motivated to address both social issues and Covid because they both influence shopping habits. Consumers want to support companies whose values align with their own. Companies who have chosen to be proactive and outspoken may have found a highly loyal audience that will stick with them for years to come.

Design

There are a few 2020 design trends that will also bully their way into 2021: muted colors, serif fonts, and lots of data visualization charts.

Colors

Muted colors are colors that essentially have their edge taken off; they have been, according to the linked article, “subdued, dulled, or greyed.” Brighter colors had been in the limelight for several years, so while this change is natural, it also complements the vibe of the contemporary world—or at least the vibe we all really need right now: calmness.

Because the world has felt really hectic, it’s a smart move to provide shoppers with soothing imagery.

Fonts

A serif font is one that includes a serif.  A serif is “a small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol within a particular font or family of fonts.” The font used in this blog? Sans-serif. There are no extra lines attached to any of the letters. As a non-designer, I always remember it this way:

Serif = fancy fonts with extra, fancy strokes

Sans-serif = not fancy, literally sans fanciness (no shade)

There are a few reasons serif fonts will continue to be trendy in 2021. First of all, they’re super legible. Serif fonts are more legible than their sans-serif counterparts because people read the shapes of words rather than each individual letter. Serifs define the shape more resulting in faster and easier reading.

Additionally, serif fonts are old AF, and due to this, they tend to be perceived as classic, elegant, and trustworthy. Like muted colors, serif fonts can also help elicit calming vibes. AKA: Exactly what we need right now.

Data Visualization

Data visualization charts have been on the rise as of late, but 2020 surely accelerated their popularity and necessity. Why? Mostly because there was a lot of confusing scientific data that needed to be communicated to all of us normies. That’s the entire goal with this kind of imagery: making difficult subjects easily digestible. Because Covid is going to persist through at least part of 2021, data visualization will continue to thrive.

Also, if Spotify Wrapped has taught us anything, it’s that people kind of love data visualization, especially if it relates to their personal habits. (Alternatively, maybe everyone’s just a hipster at their core and wants to show off their music and podcast preferences—who’s to say?)

In With The New

Nielsen Expands Connected TV Measurements

Though we’ve discussed this one already, it bears repeating: Nielsen is adding YouTube and YouTubeTV to both Digital Ad Ratings and Total Ad ratings. This is happening now, people! Big news.

You can head to the previously linked blog for all the details, but this is super important to advertisers everywhere. This allows us to more easily track who is watching what, and where. With more than 100 million people watching YouTube and YouTube TV on their connected devices, this is a huge deal. We can easily gauge the success or failure of a campaign and can use data to pivot and try other avenues.

Instagram’s Shiniest Trick

A new year won’t fix all the problems we encountered in 2020, but at the very least it can offer some very shiny distractions. Instagram has a few up its sleeve. (Social media, in general, is becoming much more e-commerce friendly, so expect things to continue trending in that direction.)

One of Instagram’s shiniest new features is being able to search specific terms without having to use a hashtag. This update will challenge marketers to include key terms within captions so that their posts will appear in searches, hopefully resulting in more reach per post.

Featured Snippets

Prior to 2021, the top SEO goal was to get your business or product the number one spot in search results. As Fergie would say, that’s so “two thousand and late.” The 2021 SEO goal is to become the “featured snippet” result.

A featured snippet is “separated by a small box and located at the top. More importantly, it also displays extra, relevant information with the attempt at answering the user’s question without them needing to click on it, prompting the nickname ‘no-click search.’”

Anything that falls within that text box, anything that can be consumed without having to make an extra click, is a “W.” As consumers, we all know the joy we experience when we get answers in the easiest way possible. This 2021 trend is the digital equivalent of getting the scissors to glide through wrapping paper just right.

To become a featured snippet result, you have to build the keyword/phrase into your content as a question—typically how the question would most frequently be Googled—and then answer the question succinctly.

Online Events

Because of The Rona, many events that typically took place in-person had to pivot to a digital space. After helping with three digital galas in about four months, we are no strangers to a virtual fundraiser.

Sure, this started out as a necessity, but we will continue to see digital galas into 2021, even as the pandemic calms down. In addition to being extra safe with looming health concerns, virtual events are also way less costly and much more inclusive than in-person events. Less overhead + more reach = more potential profit/donations/etc. (an equation businesses usually like to see).

However, as time goes by, some events will begin to revert their traditional, in-person nature. After all, many of us have been starved for human interaction. But, this will take some time and will likely not ramp up until the end of 2021.

Trend On

These are the 2021 trends that we see happening in 2021 (and the ones that have us the most excited). If you want to share your favorite trends, or need any help ensuring that you never trend for the wrong reasons, drop us a line: whatsup@116andwest.com