Designing Banner Ads Like a Pro
Web Marketing Today, July 17, 2000
Do-it-yourself banner ad designers need a lot of what Yiddish calls "chutzpah." They have to believe that they can design a more effective banner than the professionals, one that gets an equivalent click-through rate (CTR). A good banner could pull a 2% to 3% CTR or more, while a mediocre banner might pull the industry average of 0.4%. In other words, an effective banner can have a huge effect on your advertising campaign, the difference between a triumph and a trouncing.
As a banner ad do-it-yourselfer I've turned out some pretty pathetic banners that I thought were good -- and a few winners. When I talked to two banner ad professionals, I found out why some of my banners were failures. Here are the key elements involved in effective banner design.
Set Objectives
Ad design firms begin with a precise understanding of what their client is trying to accomplish. Here are 10 questions that Lounge Lizard Graphics asks of its prospective clients:
- What is your vision of the brand?
- What is your business objective for banners?
- Describe your target audience.
- Any consumer thoughts we need to overcome?
- What is the single most compelling idea that the target audience should take away from the communication of the banners?
- What personality do we want to convey for the brand?
- What types of imagery and communication do you feel are inappropriate for the target audience?
- Where will the banners be running?
- File size restrictions including looping and dimensions?
- What is the launch date of the banners?
Once you have identified your goals clearly, you're much more likely to achieve them.
Provide Succinct Copy
The conceptual phase comes long before the graphic artist puts mouse to canvas. What message are you trying to communicate? How succinctly can you say it and still get it across?
I designed a banner for my own site a couple of months ago with my message spread across four frames of animation. I thought it was cool. But Ken Braun, president of Lounge Lizard Graphics on Long Island, told me. "You have one frame of a banner to catch their attention, two tops -- but two is pushing it. Three or four frames are way too long." I was ashamed to tell him what I had done, and said something like, "Of course, Ken."
But he's right. The message needs to be very brief and very concise. As a writer, I know that this kind of precision takes much, much longer to compose than a sentence or two. The best analogy to a banner ad is the highway billboard. You have one to eight words to make your point. Anything longer is unreadable as you whiz by.
Whether you prepare you own banners or employ professionals, refining your message is your job as a marketer -- unless you want to pay ad agency prices. Decide what you want to communicate, then bring it to the banner ad specialists.
Infuse with Creativity to Break the Norm
People's eyes are trained to ignore banner ads. If the ad looks like the same old banner-type stuff, no one will give it a second glance.
The best design firms put their creativity to work to express your message in a way that breaks the norm. Something that surprises, shocks, suggests, seduces. Creative people tend to be a little off-beat themselves, half a scoop shy of a full cone, so that helps.
The average small businessperson just doesn't have the creative juices to produce a winner. Neither do computer whizzes who love to run graphics programs. Creativity is a gift. So when you're looking for a banner ad professional, look for something creative. Ask to see their most recent campaigns (not just the pretty one's they show on their site), and look for creativity in expression.
Find a Visual Metaphor
The creativity extends to finding a visual metaphor that carries your key message. Ken Braun told me, "The message really needs to be communicated through visuals, not the text, since humans respond better to images than to words."
A metaphor suggests a likeness or analogy between your message and an object. For example Lounge Lizard prepared a banner for RagingBull.com that shows an investor riding a Wall Street sign as if it were a bucking bull. http://wilsonweb.com/wmt5/images/ragingbull.gif Clever, different, shifts the company mascot into a clever investment image. I've made the mistake too often of relying on the words rather than the image.
You find the visual metaphor by brainstorming the basic concept. What are we trying to communicate? What actions or objects have something in common with that concept? How can I get the message across without words? Then narrow it down to a simple, easy-to-recognize image.
Attract Attention with Animation
Animation is important to catch the eye and pull it towards the banner ad. Studies have shown that animation dramatically increases the click-through rate. But animation can go too far. Michael Chung, general manager of BannerWorkz.com, thinks that people no longer fall for an ad that's too gimmicky, that tries too hard to get attention. "It's a branding issue," Chung says. "The more legitimate your product or service, the less you need to use wacky, flashy, obnoxious animation." Indeed, many websites limit the number of times an animation can repeat.
The best use of animation is to reinforce rather than compete with the message you are trying to communicate.
For example, Lounge Lizard designed an ad for the Minolta Vectis 2000 camera to emphasize its small size and portability, by showing ants carrying it away. The movement of the exiting camera conveys the message and add enough animation to catch the eye. http://wilsonweb.com/wmt5/images/minolta-ants.gif
An ad from BannerWorkz features a hammer tappping on text that forces you to read the ad copy that is being tapped. Clever. http://wilsonweb.com/wmt5/images/etools-workz.gif
Qualify the ProspectsWhile the click-through rate is easy to measure, the most important measure is cost per sale. Ad professionals have found that banner ads can help them pre-qualify visitors to their website, and attract only the best prospects, those who are already looking for their product or service. Let's say your banner has a photo of a sultry woman with the caption, "Come up and see me sometime...." This kind of "teaser" banner is likely to get a huge click-through rate, but a dismal conversion rate (percentage of visitors who make a purchase), a high cost per sale. "Teaser banners need to be tailored around the product," says Ken Braun. "Blind teasers don't work."
Ask for the Click
Web veterans may take banners for granted, but newbies don't. "Tell them to click," says Braun. "They don't know." But there's also an art to this "call to action." Contrary to logic, a large, bold "click here" caption doesn't usually get as high a CTR as a small, more subtle invitation to click.
Test Thoroughly
The final nugget of wisdom I learned is to test, and test extensively. It helps to have a "test bed" where you can try a number of banner ads in order to determine the kind of click-through rate each receives. This could be part of your own site, or a second site that you own. If you do a lot of advertising on a particular site, perhaps they can assist you in doing some testing, since you are already sending business their way. Another way to test is through banner exchange networks, though you will need 1,000 to 5,000 banner impressions to get an idea of how well a particular banner is pulling.
Sometimes changing even minor elements can make a big difference in the click-through rate. Michael Chung told me about a set of travel banners his firm designed for Away.com. Conventional wisdom was to include beautiful scenery, but testing showed that a plain blue background got a better response than a beautiful background. Testing is inexpensive compared to putting into service an untested ad that may pull less only a fraction of its potential.
Experience Counts
Like many areas of business, experience pays. While great graphics software can give you high quality graphics with effortless animation, it doesn't substitute for the kind of learning that comes from failure.
I love the story of the young bank trainee who files into the CEO's office to meet the boss with the other trainees of his class. Somewhat awed by seeing this company legend in the flesh, he asks the crusty old banker, "Sir, how did you learn to make such good decisions?"
"Experience, young man," retorts the old banker.
The trainee, thinks for a moment, and then inquires, "And how did you get your experience, sir?"
"Mistakes, young man. Mistakes."
Will I continue to design my own banner ads? Probably. But I find that learning is sometimes painful. When you hire professionals, you are paying for what they have learned by making mistakes ... on someone else's project. :-) How do you design banner ads like a pro? Trying, testing, failing, and trying again, just a little wiser the next time around. That's how the pros get to be pros.
My thanks to Ken Braun of Lounge Lizard Graphics http://www.loungelizard.com and Michael Chung of BannerWorkz.com http://bannerworkz.com for generously sharing their wisdom and permission to display a few of their banners.
