Here at Outmark, we like our marketing to be fun. But our tagline isn’t “it’s fun.” Our tagline is “it’s fun to be good.” Marketing should be fun, of course, but it also has to come from a place of strategic excellence, which is why we want to talk to you today about best practices when it comes to writing effective ad copy.
Writing ad copy may seem like a simple process of drawing potential buyers to your website’s landing page, but the truth is that it’s actually much more intricate than that. Content not only affects your ranking in the paid search results but also the cost-per-click.
Small alterations in the copy itself can make the difference between an effective PPC campaign that drives leads or an unsuccessful campaign that wastes your advertising budget. So whether you’re drafting a CTA (call-to-action) or the headline, the ad copy needs to be clear, direct, and provoking.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Craft a thought-provoking headline
You have a short window of time to capture the attention of a potential buyer. One of the best ways to hold their attention is by addressing how you can solve one of their pain points. Create content that not only describes the problem but also provides an attainable solution.
Remember your call-to-action
Without a call to action, people won’t know what action to take after viewing the ad – it’s like planning a party without telling your guests the location. Think about your goal of the ad — do you want to drive traffic to your website? Collect leads? Enhance brand awareness? If you want to enhance brand awareness, use a soft CTA like “Learn more,” but if you’d like to drive sales, you’d use a more direct CTA like “Shop now.”
Use keywords
Always use keywords in the main body of your ad content. Think about words your target audience might use to search for your product or service. Creating content with specific keywords has to be balanced between readability and SEO. It’s like a PB&J sandwich: you want a little bit of both in each bite! The tone of the copy still needs to sound natural while integrating both general and targeted keywords.
But wait! We know what you’re thinking – the more keywords, the better. Actually, that’s far from true. Overusing keywords will cloud the message that’s being conveyed and make the ad look like, well, an ad. There’s little time to capture the audience’s attention, and too many words will result in a quick trip to bounce rate city.
A/B test your ads (Testing, testing…is this thing on?)
A/B testing your ad copy is the best way to identify which elements of your ad are performing well versus those that might contribute to a lower click rate. This testing allows you to compare the outcome of two ad copy variations with the same goal. Keep the value prop for each ad in mind and pay attention to the specific copy used in the body text and CTA. Run both ads simultaneously and analyze the results to determine which ad copy best resonates with your audience. Then, continue to optimize as needed.
Although PPC strategies and the digital marketing field as a whole continues to evolve, there’s one component that should remain top of mind regardless of the platform, software, or device — quality content that grabs the user’s attention.
