Creating high-converting digital campaigns requires a balance of engaging design and persuasive messaging. This guide breaks down the best practices across four critical pillars: visuals, copy, display, and video. From authentic imagery, clear ad layouts and framing videos for cross-platform performance, these actionable techniques are designed to capture attention, communicate your value proposition quickly, and maximise user engagement across every touchpoint.
Top 5 Visual Best Practices
- Include People: People tend to attract more attention, use your target audience in the image, test different emotions. Focus on shoulders up.
- Keep it real and clear: Authentic and unpolished visuals with a clear focus point.
- Include hands holding: Feature hands holding products or pointing toward products, in contrast with inclusion of faces, which perform better as standalone visuals.
- Add motion: Keep motion subtle, too much movement can be intrusive and banner like, while subtle movement draws attention to your creative.
- Utilise eye-catching colors: These help attract user attention. If you have a recognisable brand coluor, incorporate it to cement association with your brand.
Top 5 Copy Best Practices
- Call out your audience and flatter them: Call out your audience by their demographic, interests, or traits to help generate engagement from high-intent users
- Include numbers: Numbered lists and time reference can be a good way to entice a user to click.
- Write in 3rd person or use experts: Start your title with who the expert is, followed by a quote or what they suggest.
- Include dynamic keyword insertion: Incorporate DKI like location or device type to make the ad feel hyper-relevant to your target audience.
- Fear of missing out and urgency when applicable: Creating a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) can help draw users to your page.
Top 5 Display Best Practices
- Maintain Visual Simplicity: Avoid clutter. Use clean designs with minimal text and focus on one key message. Follow the layout principle of "image > text > logo" to guide the viewer’s eye naturally and prioritize visual clarity.
- Ensure Brand Consistency: Align ad visuals (colors, fonts, and imagery) with your overall brand identity. Consistency helps build recognition and trust while making your ads more professional.
- Leverage High-Quality Imagery: Use sharp, high-resolution images that directly relate to your product or service. Relevant and visually appealing images capture attention effectively.
- Focus on Value Proposition: Clearly communicate what sets your product or service apart. Highlight unique benefits, discounts, or features that make users want to click.
- Encourage Interaction with Subtle Motion: Add animations or transitions to draw attention without making the ad feel intrusive. Motion should be purposeful and not excessive.
Top 5 Video Best Practices
- Frame wider than usual: So that the content can be cropped into multiple ad sizes and placements.
Ideally it can then be cropped to use either 16:9 aspect ratio (horizontal), 1:1 (square) or 9:16 (vertical) to ensure the video looks great on any device and platform. - Keep one clear focus: avoid cluttered backgrounds.
- Keep it short and hook early The recommended ad lengths are typically around 15–30 seconds, with many social/video placements benefiting from even shorter, fast-impact edits.
- Leave negative space To allow for headlines, logos, and CTA buttons.
- Capture interactions: Product/service interactions, like hands holding, using, or pointing at a product/service.
- Design for Sound-Off Viewing: Since many users watch videos without sound, include subtitles to ensure your message is clear and accessible.
