Banner ads are one of the most recognizable online marketing tools you see today. In fact, just about every site on the planet has banner ads on their pages – so many, in fact, that it really takes skill, effort and multiple tests to strike the right combination of elements to make your banner stand out.
Here’s an easy checklist of things to help you get perfect banner ad designs that counts:
1 – Message
a) Brevity: Banner ad copy is short. Following the K.I.S.S. (keep it short and simple or short and straightforward, as some versions go) works here. Every word has to be the right one. Note that even if you’ve only got seven words in, if two words out of those seven are just fluff, then what you’ve got is a copy ad that’s just two words too long.
b) Targeted: Make sure to use details that connect you with your target market or audience. Picking out the right word choice, to create the right tone, is crucial. Using location details in the ad to refer to a particular locale or area also helps. The more specific the ad is, the more targeted the message. Targeted messages result to higher traffic. And higher traffic means higher conversions for your business.
c) Call-to-action: These are marketing staples since time immemorial and though they’re transparent, they’re often pretty effective too. Phrases like “Call now” or “Buy today” or any other phrase that successfully conveys a sense of urgency to your consumers fits the bill to a tee.
2 – Creative Use of Space
A great deal of creativity is needed to transform tiny spaces. That’s the same idea you’re working with when it comes to banner ads. There’s only so much space you can use and you’ve got to be smart and clever with how you use it so it can convey everything you want it to.
See also: Size Matters When it comes to Pull Up Banner Dimensions
A banner ad that comes off as crowded isn’t going to net you the attention and clicks you want—and neither will one that has too much negative space though. Remember to render everything—text and space—in balance.
3 – Typography
Pick the font that matches the brand identity of your client or company. Visual consistency is often a mark of credibility. Make sure it fits the design, tone, vibe of the business or product being advertised. For instance, formal fonts work for advertising services in fields like law and health care while playful fonts are a natural favorite for promoting from toy and candy products.
4 – Brand Awareness
The brand has to be mentioned. The point of your campaign is to drive brand awareness and a banner ad that doesn’t satisfy on that point is a failure and a waste of money.
5 – Incorporate Humor
People are more likely to click on banner ads when it resonates with them or piques their interest. One efficient way is to employ humor in your banner, whether through text or visual cues. Just make sure the humor is appropriate, not just for the brand or service, but for the company too. Banner ads are an extension of a company. Anything—tone or humor—that deviates from that detracts from the value of your message and the credibility of your business.
6 – Spot-on Images and Photos
Photos improve consumer engagement. However, this only works if the photos provided follow the same theme or idea of the banner ad. A random photo only succeeds in driving customers away.
7 – Colors
Make your banner ads clickable and visible by picking contrasting colors. However, the colors have to match the brand colors too so keep that in mind as well.
For instance, brands like Apple are strict with all elements of their promotional materials—they have specific instructions for everything, from the font size to be used and the exact position of images right down to the shade of permissible colors. That’s because of brand consistency. Everything in the ad has to reflect the brand’s personality and character, including the colors used. Anything that doesn’t support that is discarded and replaced.
8 – Do tests.
Create many sets for your banners. Experiment with keywords, colors, images and typography. Be bold and creative. And effective, which means you have to measure the results. Everything in your business should be measurable. That way, you can tell how well a banner is performing or not. Continue doing tests with different banners until you’ve got a click-through-rate of 100 percent.
But don’t stop there. Keep experimenting. One successful try isn’t enough. User habits are changing. With the way mobile optimization seems to be the next big thing in the consumer market—with retail sales expected to increase by as much as $689 billion in 2016 because of the mobile influence factor, as reported in the June 2012 MediaPost article—it’s likely that we’ll be seeing more changes for banner ads in the very near future.
For other tips and resources, explore online. Visit sites like Designhill. Examples of the perfect banner ad design at Designhill are plenty, helpful, and easy to find.
Featured image credit: Messy Architect’s Table with Work Tools/ShutterStock
