How to design a professional advertisement in 8 simple practical steps

 Marketing expert Philip Kotler defined ads from his point of view. It is a form of valuable and paid presentations, and these presentations aim to promote ideas, goods or services, through a specific medium.

From practical experience, successful advertising campaigns can revive the brand. Good advertising helps distinguish the brand in the midst of a crowded market full of competing brands.

Good ads also contribute to increasing the return on investment in them. The better the ad, the more it is shared by the public, as this contributes to achieving all marketing goals.

From the foregoing, we conclude that designing a good advertisement is one of the most important investment matters that must be learned, for anyone seeking to promote their business, and it is also one of the most important skills that anyone working in the field of marketing seeks to learn.

Steps to designing a successful ad

Marketing experts advise designing the ad with the same language and thought of the target audience, and of course each ad differs from the other in the nature of its target audience.

Each advertisement also differs from the other in the marketing objective of the advertisement, but in general there are several steps that the marketer must go through to design a successful advertisement.

Here are the preferred steps:

First: Analysis of the product and the company

It is not possible to launch a good advertisement without knowing a set of important information about the nature of the product, the status of the company that owns the advertisement, and the condition of the market in which this advertisement competes.

Although there are many analytical strategies, the SWOT analytical strategy is one of the best, most successful and most widely used, and the term SWOT refers to the SWOT analysis process.

It is an acronym for four main things:

1. The letter s: The letter “s” refers to the word strong, which means strength, that is, defining the strengths and distinctions of each of the product to be advertised, and the company that advertises in the market related to its field of work.

2. The letter w: The letter “w” refers to the word weakness, which means weakness, that is, identifying the most important weaknesses of the product compared to the same product of other companies, along with the weaknesses and negatives experienced by the advertising company.

3. The letter o: The letter “o” here refers to the word opportunities, which means opportunities, i.e. defining the opportunities available to the company that it can exploit to increase its profits and the success of its advertisement.

These opportunities are divided into internal opportunities, such as the strength of its products or the presence of a strong team, and external opportunities, such as the weaknesses of competing companies.

4. The letter t: The last letter here refers to all threats, which means threats, that is, developments that have appeared and may affect the company or advertise negatively, such as the emergence of a new competitor or a competing product stronger than the advertised product, and other threats that may withdraw The rug from under the feet of the company or advertising.

After conducting this comprehensive analysis of the current position of the company and the product, you will have obtained a full evaluation of the company and the product, and obtained the necessary information to exploit the opportunities for success and strengths while avoiding falling into weaknesses, and of course avoiding the risks that may hinder the success of the advertising campaign.

In order to increase the success of this comprehensive evaluation, the most important information about the company's relationship with its customers, the size of its budget, and its financial conditions must be included. Thus, you will know the basis on which the advertisement will be clearly built, and we will move on to the second step.

Second: Analyzing and researching the market and competitors

The second step in the ad design journey is the careful study of the market situation in the field of advertising, and determining the behavior of competitors.

This does not mean at all imitating competitors and their promotional campaigns. Rather, what is required is understanding the general state of the market, the popularity of ads in this field, in addition to knowing where competitors are located, the amount of competition in each marketing channel, and the volume of customer interaction with competitors' ads.

Third: Determine the objective of the advertisement accurately and clearly

To design a good advertisement, you must know the objective behind it accurately, and in general there are many marketing objectives, and here are the most important and most famous of all:

Increase brand awareness.

Increase awareness of a specific product or service.

Increase Sales.

Retention of old customers.

Enhancing presence in the market.

Marketing experts are advised to design an advertisement that attracts customers' attention towards its specific goal and not only draws their attention to the advertisement itself, and based on the exact goal that you set according to the brand's positioning and marketing objectives, you can move to the fourth step.

Fourth: Determine and study the personality of the target customer

As we mentioned before, a successful ad is the one that addresses the audience in their language, their thinking, and what they truly care about. Hence, defining the personality of your target customer is of great importance.

To design a good ad, you must know exactly who the ad is directed to, specifying their age, gender, place of residence, purchasing behavior, marital status, and all their demographic details.

for example; If you sell a smart watch, you can target your ad to young people who want to look fashionable, or want to enjoy the additional benefits of the watch such as heart rate and other features.

And if the watch is equipped with any safety features, it may target parents who want to follow their children, and of course the advertisement directed at youth will differ from the advertisement directed at parents.

It may help you in this step to imagine a model for your ideal customer, so you specify his age, shape, marital status, place of residence, way of thinking, and the most important advantages that he might want to obtain, in addition to what problem he may face and you can solve it with your product.

It may also help you identify your target audience by asking yourself several questions:

Who is interested in purchasing my product?

What is the marital status of most of my customers or who are interested in buying my product?

What is the lead's job?

What social class would be interested in my product?

What age group is interested in my product?

What is the educational level of my producer?

where does he live

Most of my clients?

How well do my customers relate to competing brands?

Of course, other questions can be added to help you. In the end, you must think about all the characteristics of the personality of potential customers in order to be able to address them accurately.

Also read:

How to define a target audience (in practical steps)

Guide to targeting advertising campaigns for beginners (Ads Targeting)

Fifth: Determine the appropriate marketing channel

After identifying the personal characteristics of the target audience of the advertising campaign, knowing their thinking, and their age group, it is then possible to easily determine the appropriate marketing channel.

for example; If you are targeting the elderly over 60 years old, for example, television ads may be more appropriate for them than electronic ones.

But if you are targeting Egyptian youth over the age of 25, marketing via Facebook may be appropriate for them, or marketing via Twitter in the case of targeting Saudi youth, but if you are targeting Arab teenagers in general, advertising via TikTok may be more appropriate.

From this it is clear that by defining the age group only, the advertising channels differ, and therefore when increasing information about the target audience, the appropriate marketing channel is allocated, and the inappropriate marketing channels are excluded.

There is another very important thing when choosing the appropriate advertising platform, which is the cost, as the cost of advertising via Google is different from the cost of advertising via Twitter, which in turn is definitely different from advertising on television, so you must determine the budget for advertising and then choose the appropriate platform.

Sixth: Determine the basic form of the advertisement

What is meant here is not the idea or formulation of the advertisement, but only the basic form. That is, specifying whether the ad will be a short video, image, or written piece of text.

Of course, this will be determined according to the channel in which the advertisement takes place. If the advertisement is via Instagram, for example, it makes sense to choose between professional photos or short videos.

The basic format of the advertisement also differs according to the target audience. If the target audience is teenagers, a short video may suit them, and if the target audience is mothers, they can be targeted with attractive images.

The basic form of the advertisement also varies according to the cost. If the advertising budget is high, you may consider hiring an influencer to make a video, and if the budget is low, you may be content with designing images.

Seventh: Formulate the idea and words of the advertisement

This step can be the most difficult step in designing a good ad, as crafting the idea and words of the ad is the most creative step.

It should also be done with great care because it is the final form that is presented to the customer, and thus either attracts the customer to the brand and achieves the desired success, or does not affect the customer and thus wastes the money and effort that has been spent.

One of the best ways to come up with new, innovative and attractive ideas is to conduct a comprehensive brainstorming session.

One of the most important things to be taken care of is formulating the words and idea of the advertisement in a way that the customer remembers. The more the advertisement is fixed in the customer’s mind, the more likely he is to buy the product.

One of the things that may help you in writing the advertisement or getting an idea for it is to think from the customer's point of view, what does the customer need to hear. What are the things he might not like to hear? Among the most important tips given by marketing experts; Don't give advice or write words you don't want your family to hear.

Eighth: Displaying the advertisement and evaluating its results

Here we come to the last stage of how to design an ad. After completing all the previous steps, the ad is ready to be shown to the public.

After showing the advertisement to the public, the results received from the advertisement or advertising campaign must be analyzed, by knowing the volume of audience interaction with the advertisement, the volume of sales increase after the advertisement, or the increase in the rate of visits to the website or messages.

And after evaluating the success of the advertising campaign - after obtaining the data we mentioned - you begin to know the positive aspects of the advertisement to exploit them, and identify the negative points to avoid them.

Also read: Tracking in advertising campaigns (all the information and tools you need)

Components of advertising and how to manage them smartly

Before listing the components of the advertisement and how to deal with them, you must know that there are several factors that increase the success rate of the advertisement.

for example; The simpler and clearer the advertisement is in its idea, the greater its success, and the advertisement must also attract attention to the product or to the brand, according to its marketing objective.

And to design a successful ad, you must see it from the point of view of the target customer, and the ad is so precisely targeted to the target audience that anyone in this audience feels that the ad is directed to them personally.

The advertisement must also be persuasive and far from grandiloquent complexity, and here we must differentiate between a simple touch of surrealism that excites the viewer's mind - this is a commendable touch - and the complexity and sophistication that wastes the idea of ​​the advertisement and makes the audience feel lost with it.

There is a very important point that you must keep in mind when writing or designing an advertisement, which is the distinction between what the customer needs and what he wants to sell. A good advertisement is what can address the customer's desires.

And do not forget that any advertisement must include what is called CAT, which is an abbreviation for the phrase call to action, i.e. the call to action, which is writing a clear and explicit sentence asking the customer to perform a specific operation.

Such as: order now, download the application, join from here, or buy now, and other direct requests that explain to the customer what he must do.

Now we will discuss the most important components of the advertisement with their explanation and mention examples and models of how to write them.

Note: Here we will assume in most of our words that the ad is text (that is, a written ad), but with some flexibility, you can apply the same idea in the event that the ad was passed

E (whether video or image) or even audio.

1. Write the address

The title shows a brief idea of the topic of the advertisement, and here the brand slogan can be used, which is a short, concise sentence that briefly explains the advantages of the brand.

It is preferable that alliteration, puns, or assonance be used in this slogan - and in the title as well, in order to make it easier for the customer to remember it, and to stick it in the mind of the viewer.

The title can include the problem and the solution, for example; Are you suffering from hair loss? .. Try shampoo (brand name), and in this title the viewer is attracted to know how to solve his problem, and here comes the role of the text of the ad.

The title could also bear a quote from another customer's opinion, for example: the ad begins with a customer's tongue, saying: I lost a lot of my teeth due to tooth decay, but I found the product that preserved my remaining teeth.

Or the title can also be written in the form of a question, such as saying, for example: Do you suffer from tooth decay? This paste is for you. In the end, the title should be short, attractive, and expressive of what the ad is talking about. After choosing the title, we come to write the text.

Note: The ad title is an essential component of almost all types of ads, whether it is a text, video or image ad.

2. Writing the body of the advertisement (Ad Body)

The text of the advertisement is its main subject and body, so it must be convincing and attractive to the customer and solve a problem he is suffering from, or draw his attention to a problem he has and then present its solutions.

The text must also carry a degree of emotionality in order to address the customer's feelings, and make him feel how the product relates to his feelings and life, and how this advertisement is specifically intended for him, as this increases the success of the advertisement.

There are many models of writing the body of the advertisement, for example; The method of telling a story, which is similar to the testimonial method in writing the title, in which the advertisement tells a story that presents a problem that the customer faces before purchasing the product, then an event that changes his life, which is buying the product, then solving the problem after purchasing the product.

Another example is the why writing form, which is a form that reviews the product’s features by answering why questions, explaining why your product is the best among competing products, why the customer should buy it now, and why he should buy from you specifically.

There is also a FAB form for writing the advertisement, and these letters are an abbreviation for three words: they are (features – advantages – benefits), and thus the text of the advertisement includes the most important features, characteristics and specifications of the product, then a review of the most important advantages of the product over others, and then a review of the benefit that the product provides to the buyer.

Of course, there are many other templates, and after choosing the appropriate template for your advertising campaign, we move on to the third step.

Of course, in the case of video ads, here the text or the body of the ad will be the video content.

3. Write the offer

Marketing studies have proven that customers are attracted to offers. When a certain offer is available in the advertisement, customers' purchase rate automatically increases, as the customer feels that he will miss something great if he does not get this offer.

The offer can be a discount of a certain amount for the first 20 buyers or for the first 20 who interact with the ad - if you are advertising through a social media application, and the offer can be a product that complements the original product as a gift mug offer with a drink product.

The offer can also contain a price for a specific period, for example; Explain that the price you're offering is only available for 24 hours, so potential customers flock during that period.

You can also write the offer before the text of the advertisement, and this may arouse the audience’s enthusiasm to know the details of the product to take advantage of this limited offer, and in general the offer depends on the idea of notifying the customer of scarcity or transmitting feelings of urgency to buy.

Note: The offer here is not an independent component of the ad, but it is an important element of successful ads. Here, the offer can be written in the ad title or in the body of the ad, or the offer can be a Call To Action.

4. Write a call to action

After drawing the customer's attention to the product and explaining its most important advantages and how it will positively change the customer's life, a specific and clear action must now be requested from the customer.

Customers like to be clear about exactly what needs to be done, and marketing studies have shown that having a direct call-to-action increases ad clicks and sales.

This component is one of the most important components of the advertisement, if not the most important one, as it would increase the number of sales by a very large percentage, so the advertisement must include a clear and explicit request.

It is preferable to always end your ad with a direct request, such as: order the product now, share the ad on your page, join our group, buy now, or get the offer now.

Top tips for designing a successful ad

Some studies say that the customer is exposed to more than 4,000 thousand advertisements per day, because everything around us carries some advertisements, so with this huge amount of advertisements, every marketer or business owner is looking for excellence in his advertisement to attract customers.

Below we review a group of the best tips from marketing experts to achieve maximum success from advertising, as follows:

1. Keep your ad idea simple and creative

Some advertisers believe that advertising should include mythical elements and high cost, or some believe in the preference of complex ideas, but reality has proven that the simpler and more innovative the advertisement, the greater the success rate.

Who among the marketing officials does not remember the advertisement made by one of the tahini companies, and the idea of ​​the advertisement was to depict street cats as if they were talking and complaining about the lack of food that was thrown to them, because people began to devour their food completely after adding this tahini.

The idea of the advertisement was simple and its cost was low, but it resonated with the public.

2. Use visual metaphors

People relate more to pictures than words, so if you can communicate your idea through a picture, that picture will speak louder than many written words.

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make it clear; A flavored tea company made an ad with an orange in the shape of a teapot and pouring their tea out of it, the idea of this ad being the strength of the orange flavor in their tea.

Therefore, always try to communicate your idea with pictures more than words, as the marketing rule says show rather than say, and this ensures that customers are attracted to and increases their interaction with the advertisement.

3. Use exaggeration and humor

Some marketers are afraid to use exaggeration so that the advertisement does not violate the element of persuasion, but on the contrary, if used correctly, exaggeration will increase the success rate of the advertisement.

One of the useful strategies for using exaggeration without compromising persuasion is the use of humour, which increases the volume of audience interaction with the ad and even shares it with their own circles.

for example; A company producing soft drinks has advertised a diet soft drink. The ad includes a picture of the big cat Tom next to their drink, and he was able to enter the hole of little Jerry, in reference to the decrease in his size after drinking this drink. The ad received a large number of interactions and posts.

4. Pay attention to the title of the ad

Marketing studies say that the title of the ad is read or noticed five times more than the ad itself, so take good care of crafting a short and attractive ad for the reader.

An important factor in choosing the address is not to try to deceive the customer or write incorrect addresses, as this causes the customer to be upset and even lose confidence in the brand.

You should also be careful not to write negative words in the title, and you should stay away from negative words, because the customer may associate your product with negative words.

for example; If you write our product does not cause weight gain, the customer may skip the word “no” and associate the product with weight gain, thus turning away from this product.

5. Experiment with color variations

It is known that each brand has its own well-known visual identity, and most brands prefer to use specific colors in their advertisements, but why not think of a way to change the color pattern without disturbing the visual identity??!!

This method is used to create a state of renewal, and to break the state of boredom that may afflict the client, and this diversity can be done by changing the order of displaying the basic colors, or using new shades of color if you use one color in the visual identity.

6. Use optical illusions

Pictures with optical illusions or optical games attract the attention of customers, and make them stare at the advertisement more, which is definitely needed. This type of image is also one of the most interactive images that customers share on their pages on various social networking sites.

For clarification, we mention an advertisement made by a company to advertise a product for the treatment of acne. The advertisement was an image of the product with some spots in the background, and when focusing on the image of the product, those spots disappear, which indicates the disappearance of acne when using the product.

Another way to attract the attention of customers through simple tricks in the pictures, a dentist used to advertise the teeth whitening service known yellow things like bananas, and displayed it in white, and wrote on top of it we don't like the color yellow.

Here we finish our article, but the methods, methods, models and answers of how to design an advertisement will never end, as the world of marketing and advertising is constantly evolving and renewing.

But we promise you that we on the winners site always provide you with the latest developments in this large market, and here we do not mean marketing only, but all areas of the labor market, especially work via the Internet.

We hope that we have provided a comprehensive guide on the stages of ad design and how to formulate its words, and that we have provided you with the final tips that we have strengthened the article with, and we are waiting for your comments and inquiries below.