What Are the Building Blocks of a Great Ad?

As a marketing and advertising agency, SharedTEAMS has run advertising campaigns for members in a variety of different markets and on many different platforms.

Part of running a business means you have to run successful ad campaigns – but those campaigns can look vastly different from company to company, and from one platform or tool to another. This of it like this: you may want to advertise a promotional campaign (say, 15% off your products and services), but your social media segment of the campaign shouldn’t look the same as your emails or Google Ads. When it comes to creating ad campaigns, there are a lot of considerations to be made.

Throughout all these campaigns, we’ve noticed that there are certain aspects that the most successful ads have in common. Understanding these basic building blocks of a great ad will set up your advertising campaign for success.

Building Blocks of a Great Ad:

1. A Well-Defined Audience

Before you start diving in to create the ads, you need to know who your target audience is. A great ad does not just cater to “anyone who will possibly pay money for this.” Instead, a great ad is created with a specific audience in mind and has optimized copy that speaks directly to that audience.

You use the language they use, the phrases they’re most familiar with – and to do that, you need to have a defined audience in mind.

For example, if you are advertising for a business that offers B2B services, you’ll have a more professional audience and your copy will be different from a business selling fashion items to an audience of teenagers.

It is important to make your audience as specific and targeted as possible.

2. A Problem Your Audience Needs to Solve

Most people who view an ad have a specific need or desire they want to satisfy – this is what makes them interact with it and with your brand or website. Addressing the specific problems your potential customer is facing is a good way to get your ad noticed. 

If you’ve already been able to establish a well-defined target audience (step 1), you likely already have an idea about the challenges they are facing. This way, you’ll be able to address actual problems as opposed to manufacturing a problem where one may not exist.

3. A Solution Your Business’s Products or Services Can Provide

Beyond addressing the problem your target audience needs to solve, it is also important to make it clear to your potential customers that you have the solution they are seeking to fulfill their needs or desire. But it can’t be just any solution.

The solution has to not only be helpful, but also priced well and presented in a way that grabs your audience’s attention and keeps it. For most consumer problems, there are dozens – even hundreds – of possible solutions. You have to describe yours in such a way that your audience can tell it is the best solution for that problem.

Ideally, the solution you can provide is something that can differentiate you from your competitors. Additionally, the solution can be anything from a direct solution (buying a product) to a more suggestive solution, such as providing a whitepaper for more information on how to solve their problem.

Advertising isn’t just about creating sales revenue. It’s about connecting with your audience and getting them to buy into your business philosophy, resources, and ultimately, the products and services you have for sale.

building blocks of a great ad

4. A Single, Targeted Message

We are in the days of instant gratification. Your audience likely has many other distractions competing for their attention. Creating a “one size fits all” promotion or trying to include multiple pitches in the same ad will only distract your potential customer, dilute the overall message, and make the ad less effective. 

Your products and services may have several competitive differentiators. Maybe your solutions are cheaper or your products are made with better-quality materials. Perhaps your service or program has been created by top experts in your industry or there are several freebies that customers are entitled to if they pay for your services on a continuing basis.

All of these characteristics are what make your product or service worth purchasing, but stuffing all the benefits of your offerings into one ad campaign is a mistake. Choose your angle and lean into it: if you want to tout that your products are high quality, use that as the central message for a full campaign. Muddling the message will just make your prospects scroll on.

5. A Strong Call to Action (CTA)

What do you want your reader or viewer to do after reading your ad?

Every great ad needs to make it clear what you want the potential customer to do next. Knowing exactly what you want your potential customers to do before putting together the ad will help you focus the entire message on your desired outcome.

The call to action need not only be mentioned at the end of the copy, it can also be mentioned early and repeated throughout. However, it is important to make the call to action as specific as possible, whether it is calling a phone number, downloading a whitepaper, filling out a form, or completing a purchase.

There are a lot of different things to consider when you are brainstorming your next ad campaign. However, making sure each ad you create has these five basic building blocks will set up your advertising campaign for success. 

Need Help Crafting Your Next Ad Campaign? Let SharedTEAMS Show You What We Can Do.

Creating successful ad campaigns across multiple platforms is a lot to juggle. SharedTEAMS is your on-demand marketing department and we are here to help you craft, track, and analyze every campaign in your advertising strategy.

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