According to Google, people consider moving on from a website after only one second. That is hardly more than a blink of an eye!
As an online business, you have very little time to catch the attention and deliver your message to the user.
What about the ads, though? The attention span of audiences is even lower. Much lower.
The reason why people pay less attention to ads as compared to websites is that when they see an ad – they are not in the mood to shop (depending on when and where they see it, but in general this is the case).
However, when someone is on the website, they are either looking for a solution/product/service or are about to make a purchase.
To top that off, companies are pouring millions of dollars into paid media platforms and running their ads. It makes it even more difficult for the smaller players to set foot and scale their business through ads.
With an ever-decreasing attention span and cut-throat competition, how do you catch and more importantly, keep the attention of users on your ads?
In this guide, we are going to teach you exactly how to do that.
DO: Create ads that are worthy of attention
When you want to grab the attention of your audience, you must not consider the question of how but the question of why.
Why do you want to grab the user’s attention? To make something worthy of attention, you must first figure out the objective of doing it.
Once your objective is clear (brand awareness, more sales or leads, etc) – ensure that your content is worthy of their attention.
Why should someone spend their time watching your ad instead of doing a million other things? Give your users some value. Make them prioritize your content.
DON’T: Disregard the user’s most valuable asset, their time
As we discussed earlier, you must provide them with some value. Your ad should not seem like a waste of time. Don’t disregard the user’s time. Ever.
In addition, your ad should not be too boring or too disturbing. It can unwittingly sabotage your audience’s expectations.
DO: Deliver on the promises your ad states
Your ads must live up to their promise. The definition of clickbait is a piece of content that doesn’t live up to its promises. You do not want this to be you.
However, if your content (ads) live up to the promise it shows, it’s not clickbait.
Delivering your promises is key to a successful ad campaign.
DON’T: Talk down to your audience or make them feel bad
Sometimes, businesses try to educate their customers on the stuff they already know. It gives the impression that you look down on your audience.
However, most people would never do this with such an intention – but you need to take extra care and ensure the audience doesn’t feel that way.
This is most important when you’re advertising items like health products and the like, you don’t want to make your audience feel bad because of something that came off the wrong way.
DO: Do the best you can with your targeting
Content is king. The number of people attracted to your ad is directly proportional to the quality of your ad’s content.
Now, the quality of an ad’s content depends on many different parameters. And honestly, it varies from niche to niche.
But the most universal rule is to analyze your target demographic and see what interests them the most. Then, center your ad around the likes of your demographic.
Your ads need to be contextual and the targeting has to be dialed in. You can have the best looking ads that you spent thousands and thousands of dollars on (we don’t recommend this, sign up for GetAds and save), but if you’re targeting is wrong people will never convert.
DON’T: Neglect the superpower of contrasts
Contrast plays a pivotal role in directing the eyes of the users on a piece of visual content. It gives your content a visual hierarchy.
When designing your ad, how you present the elements and the contrast between them plays a crucial role in its performance.
Use contrast to present the important and unimportant elements of your ad. Don’t make the crucial parts small and the less crucial ones big. Direct the attention of your user with the help of a visual hierarchy – this can be done very well by properly using colors, fonts, and other elements.
DO: Prioritize elements over one another
Every ad has a distinct goal. It can be sales, brand awareness, or any other specific message.
If you want to make your ad campaign successful, you need to stick with the objective and ensure that the arrangement of visual elements in your ad support that objective.
You must also keep in mind that finding out the right balance between the different visual elements of your ad is an iterative process. You must split-test your ads to figure out a way!
DON’T: Get too extreme and overdo it
Making your ads stand out and prioritizing some elements of them is the right thing to do. But, you must also ensure that you don’t overdo it.
When you are working with such a short span of attention, ensuring the harmony between the elements of your ad is critical. The amount of information, animations, color theory, and placement are all equally important.
We recommend you have a balance in the visual elements of your ads. Don’t overuse colors, animations, or anything else – or the overall performance will be impacted.