Putting together digital ad content is fairly straightforward; there’s no need to completely reinvent the wheel when you take your ad campaigns from print to online – but a few key tips and tricks can help ensure your content stands out from others.

Use your words

Before you start composing the text for your ad content, be clear about your goal. Do you want your audience to click on through to a listing, contact you, or click through to your website in the case of a personal branding campaign?

All the words in your ad should be focused on, first catching your audience’s attention, then encouraging them to take the next step that you want them to take.

Think about your target audience and what, based on your experience, is most likely to appeal to them about what you’re advertising, whether it is a property, a personal brand, or a company. Write your written content around what you know they’ll be looking out for.

And remember to keep it brief. Social media platforms and the Google Display Network are largely visual tools and people scan them quickly, particularly if they’re on their phone.

Around 125 characters is a good guide for most digital ad text, though the exact specifications may vary between platforms and types of ad. If your text is too long it may end up cut short when they’re displayed on a phone.

There are also some quick ‘don’ts’ when it comes to boosting your ad impact with text.

• Don’t use all capital letters. It can seem aggressive and shouty.
• Don’t overuse exclamation marks. It can seem forced, try to build excitement through your words instead.
• Don’t forget a spelling and grammar check.

Keep it visual

Your text content is all about keeping potential clients interested, once you’ve hooked their attention with amazing visuals. So make sure those visuals are amazing. Make sure your images are eye-catching and the right size, so they’re not pixelated. On the flip side of that, make sure they’re not too large or they’ll be slow to load.

Using great visual assets in your ads doesn’t just apply to property ads, it is just as important to have eye-catching visuals on your personal brand campaigns. While it’s great for new potential customers to see your face, try using images that show you on the job, or connecting with other people. It will help people get a sense of who you are and is more engaging than a formal head and shoulders. Short video updates on your local market activity or community events are another good way to connect with your database.

Test and learn with a marketing platform

If you’re not sure exactly which content is going to motivate your audience the most, consider setting up two campaigns as an A/B test to see which gets the most engagement.

Using a digital marketing platform like ListingLogic makes this fast and simple to do, with clear, real-time results that will show you how your audience is responding. It can also help you customise your ad assets – both written and visual – to ensure you meet all the requirements and ensure your ads find the right audience.