Although the design of an online ad is what catches the attention of the viewers, it’s the text that will make them click on it. For this sole reason, the wording of an advertisement is crucial. If you are in the marketing or advertising industry, then you understand that creating attractive and substantial ad copy is a vital part of your work.
Here are a few tips on how to make your ad copy effective:
Banner Ads
In the world of digital marketing, there are typically two kinds of ads– banner ads and PPC ads. Let’s start with the banner advertisements. Banner ads are pretty much like billboards but on the internet. You can find these ads almost everywhere over the web from random websites to blog sites and social media platforms like Facebook or YouTube. Although banner ads are very common, not all of them are actually effective. To be effective, they have to be converting. The wording is probably the most important factor to do so.
- Must Have a Brand Identity
First of all, the ad must have the identity of the brand embedded to it. You usually do this by placing the brand’s tagline on the ad. If the brand doesn’t have a tagline, then as a marketer, you have to make one. The tagline is what will separate your brand from the competitors. Think of it as having a catchy one-liner headline. Keep it short!
- Must Have a Clear Message
Second, your banner ad must have a clear and straightforward message. What do you want your viewers to do? Do you want them to buy something? Do you want them to subscribe to your page? You have to give them a reason to. With this, you have to give viewers a message. Tell them who you are and why they need your product or services.
The rules to writing a message would be first to make it engaging. For your viewers to grasp your message, you have to make it relatable. For example, if you’re selling tire chains, you don’t want to sell hard to them. You want to make them want it. You can do so by saying something like, “Does your tires always get stuck in the snow during winter? Ours do too, but we can change all that for you.” Then, introduce your brand and what you have to offer.
- Must Have FAB
If you’ve taken up a course in sales before, you’d probably know what FAB is. FAB stands for Features, Advantages, and Benefits. If ever you want to close a sale, you must always tell your potential clients these three things. Banner ads are no different. You must feature FAB in your ad. You can add this to the message that you want to tell to your clients. However, do remember to keep it short because no one reads an ad with a long text.
- Must Have a Call to Action
Lastly, your banner ad must have a compelling call to action. It must be short and very visible. Since a banner ad has very limited space, I suggest that you give at least a fourth of the portion for a call to action. You can put it in a button so that it becomes visible. All people have to do is to click on the button with the call to action, and they’ll immediately be lead to your landing page.
PPC Ads
The other type of online ads is the PPC ads. These are the ads that usually show up when you search for something in Google or other search engines. They often show up first before all the other relevant content.
Before we proceed to the tips, you must first know the parts of a PPC ad. PPC ads have three parts: the name of the website (and link to the website attached to it), the URL of the site found below that, and your message below the URL. All in all, PPC ads have three to four lines of text. Let’s start with the first line.
- Must Have a Catchy Headline
The first line tells the name of the brand and also what you are trying to sell. You can think of the first line as the catchy headline. Let’s say you’re selling insurance through your PPC ad. You can put a message that goes, “Top Rated Insurance Policies in X Area | Xinsurance.”
In this example, the headline is “Top Rated Insurance Policies in X Area”. This catches the attention of the readers because it tells them where the best insurance policies are in their area. Also include the name of your company so that people know who they will be purchasing the insurance from.
- Must Have a Short URL
The next line would be the URL of the website. Sometimes, a URL will end up extremely long with random numbers and letters (e.g. www.mysite.com/vhgj1/moretextandmoretext). You wouldn’t want your viewers to see that because it doesn’t look good. Hence, just put your standard URL (www.mysite.com/product); this looks more attractive since it’s shorter.
- Must Have a Clear and Attractive Message
Below the URL, you are given some space to add your marketing message. This is where you usually put your FAB. Now, the key to getting people to click on your ad is to highlight the key features and benefits of your product. Let’s go back to the first example about insurance.
In the last example, you want to sell top rated insurance. Your message can be:
“Get a Free Quote and Save 50%. 24/7 Customer Service, High Liability Coverage, Affordable Monthly Rates.”
As you can see in the example, the message starts off with an engaging message to attract potential clients. After that, the features and benefits are mentioned after. The text is very short which gives people enough time to scan through the ad and get an idea of what you’re trying to sell.
These are the quick tips on how you can improve the copy of your banner ads or PPC ads. When creating your copy, you must always remember the principle of KISS (keep it short and simple). People only have a few seconds to scan an ad, and you want to deliver your message within that few seconds. To do this, you must make your message short, concise, and direct to the point.
