6 tips for high-performing creatives in your online ads

The success of your online ads depends on many factors, from ad placement, to objectives, to audiences and more. And while all of these aspects play into your online advertising success, your creatives are what draw people in and convey the message you’re trying to communicate. Simply put, creatives are key to ad performance across networks. One study shows that creative quality is four times more important than the media plan in driving sales. And high-quality creative increases ad viewing time by six, and nearly doubles purchase intent when compared to low-quality creative.

So what exactly makes for great ad creative? What should you consider to make sure your creatives are helping you drive conversions and get the most out of your ad spend?

Here are our practical tips for high-performing creatives.

Tips for great ad creatives

1. Know your audience

Who are you speaking to with your ads? Knowing exactly who you are targeting, and understanding what matters to them, will help you define your creative direction to capture the attention of the specific audience you are trying to reach.

2. Have a strong concept and stick with it

Identify the core elements of your brand and build messages throughout your ads that stick to these. Don’t flip-flop from one wildly different message to another across ad campaigns, but focus on building a brand narrative that your customers and prospects can buy into.

3. Be clear and keep it concise

It should be easy to understand what your ad is about. Keep your visual messaging clear and your copy short and to the point. People are scrolling through feeds and content quickly, so you want to make sure users know what your ad is about at a glance!

4. Leverage dynamic creative

On Facebook, you can leverage Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) to deliver the creative that resonates best with your audiences. This feature will automatically test each combination of creative (image, video, title, description, etc.) and optimize delivery based on what is having the greatest success. This is an especially efficient tool for advertisers with many assets. Google also offers a dynamic creative solution, with Smart Display campaigns, which automatically generate ads from the building blocks you provide, like headlines, descriptions, logos, and images.

5. Think mobile

People are viewing more and more content on their smartphones, so it’s essential to make sure your ads will work well in a mobile format. Do your images and videos appear correctly when viewed on mobile? Does your ad text get cut off? Ensuring your creatives look great on mobile will help ensure you don’t miss out on any opportunities, no matter the device.

6. Test and iterate

Try different concepts and formats to see what will resonate with your audience. Maybe images or videos with people work better than without. Or maybe illustration resonates better. Building on the concepts that work will help improve performance over time.

Paragone partners with CREADS

We know that creative is a key pillar in your online ads performance. But it takes a lot of knowledge and skill to come up with the perfect creative. To help you get there, Paragone has partnered with CREADS! CREADS is an online marketplace for graphic design and other creative services. It’s your hub for finding exactly the right professional for your project: ad images, promotional videos, ad copy, and more.

Thanks to our exclusive partnership offer, Paragone clients have access to the platform’s creative experts who can produce exactly the ad creatives you need to boost your performance.

Combined with the powerful targeting, automation, and reporting capabilities of the Paragone platform, this partnership delivers the perfect mix of creative and performance to our clients.

Ready to get creative?

Interested in connecting with experts who will help take your ad performances to the next level? Get in touch via our partnership landing page to find out more about our exclusive offer for Paragone clients.