You can't be sure that a campaign is optimized, let alone complete, without first doing some tests. You can have two similar banners that have very different levels of participation, as shown in the image below. Test variations should cover most aspects of your ad, but they'll only change one small thing at a time. Otherwise, you won't know which element is having the most impact.
So modify first, for example, the copy. Then, once you've tried it, move on to the image, and so on. After that, you can be confident that your ad will be fully optimized. An image may be worth a thousand words, but with a banner ad, you need to get the text that goes with that thousand-word image.
You only have limited space with banners, so your text should be concise. Of course, you can simplify things with two- or three-word CTAs, with action verbs, but it will always be useful to use a little text to evoke an image in the user's mind. You should also remember that you don't want your ad to be too loud. Of course, use bright, flashy colors, but don't make it too busy.
A fully optimized banner will capture the user's attention without having to beg for it. If you use retargeting, it's not a problem since the ad will be shown to the user based on their browsing history, but you'll still want the offer to be very relevant to your audience. To do this, you need to know who your audience is and where to find it; buyer personas will really help you with this. To ensure that your banner is fully optimized, you need to dig a little deeper into the human mind. It's okay to have a fantastic copy, but are you really accessing the parts of human consciousness that really drive a decision?Next, to optimize your display ad campaigns, you'll need to create custom audiences.
In addition to Google's like-minded audience and internal audience segmentation, you can also create custom audiences to help you reach the people who are most interested in your business. For example, if you're targeting business executives, you can create a personalized audience of high-level employees who make business and financial decisions. Optimizing a banner ad involves much more than meets the eye, but if you follow these steps you can ensure that your campaign is as good as possible:
- Make sure your banner roughly matches your brand colors or at least uses the same type of palette.
- Ensure that your offer is relevant to your target audience.
- Create custom audiences for retargeting.
- Use concise text and bright colors.
- Choose an appropriate location for your banner.
- Use responsive ads for easy setup.
- Make sure the image or video of your banner ad is of high quality.
This means that you need the image or video to be of the highest quality; it should be designed specifically for your banner rather than using a stock photo or something captured with a phone. If you dig a little deeper into optimizing banner ads, these are the exact reasons why it's important:
- Ensure that your offer is relevant to your target audience.
- Create custom audiences for retargeting.
- Use concise text and bright colors.
- Choose an appropriate location for your banner.
- Use responsive ads for easy setup.
- Make sure the image or video of your banner ad is of high quality.
