Anyone who’s ever watched TV, flipped through a magazine, or used the internet has seen advertising. We can only guess how many ads a person sees in a day, but based on previous research—it’s in the thousands.
With this much competition, advertisers need to make sure their ads stand out. Marketers use many different techniques to get their message across, and the design of an ad is critical to its effectiveness.
Choosing the right ad design is, therefore, crucial. You need to learn about different advertising design types and styles to make the best choice for the brand, product, or service you are promoting.
Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and the right choice depends on the advertised product, target audience, and of course, the branding.
In this blog post, we will look at the many sorts of advertising designs as well as some sub-types. With this, you should be able to decide the best advertisement type for your business, or if you’re a graphic or web designer, for your next project.
Before we dive into the different types, let’s talk about an important element of design first — branding.
Any business owner worth their salt knows that advertising is key to bringing in customers and keeping your name fresh in their minds. But with the vast array of options out there, it can be difficult to know where to start.
That’s where branding comes in. A well-crafted brand will communicate what your business is all about and make a lasting impression on potential customers.
But branding is not just about having a cool logo — your brand should reflect every aspect of your business, from the products you sell to how you answer the phone.
In short, your brand is your most valuable asset. So if you’re serious about taking your business to the next level, it’s time to start thinking about how you can create a strong, unique brand identity.
As any marketing professional knows, building a successful brand requires more than just a great product or service. It also requires strong branding assets that can help to communicate the value of the brand to consumers.
That’s why it’s so important to work with a team of experienced professionals who can help you navigate the branding process and create a strong, lasting identity for your business. With their help, you can create a brand that will resonate with your target audience and help you achieve your business goals.
Here are some examples of assets where you need to apply consistency in branding:
There are a variety of tools that can help to build ad designs. While some businesses choose to create these assets themselves, others prefer to outsource the job to professionals to help with the process.
Either way, having strong branding assets and great ad design is essential for any business that wants to build a successful brand. Check this article on the 15 Best Web Design Tools in 2022 to find useful tools that make it easier for you to design, even if you’re not a graphic designer.
Now, if you have a team that works together to build strong branding and ad designs, you need to use tools that make it easier for you to collaborate with each other.
Some of the best tools for this purpose are:
Instacap is the design collaboration tool that lets you work together with ease.
With Instacap, you can annotate and screen capture in one step, and share visual feedback asynchronously directly on top of any webpage, image, or file via a single link—no sign-ups or meetings necessary.
Instacap is the perfect tool for ad designers who want to avoid long explanations, countless screenshots, and meetings. You can get visual feedback in context quickly and easily. Try Instacap today, it’s free!
GoToMeeting is another popular tool that allows you to gain a fresh perspective about your design. Through a desktop-sharing online meeting, you will gain important feedback about your work in real-time.
Slack is an online meeting software specifically made for the workplace. It has important features such as chat rooms, private messaging, and video conferencing.
Trello is an online project management tool that you can use to get feedback for your design in real-time. You can access your team’s comments and suggestions even on mobile devices such as cellphones or tablets.
Now that you know the importance of branding and why you must think of these in your advertising designs, let’s talk about the different types of advertising.
Display ads are a type of online advertising that typically includes text, images, and video. They are designed to catch the viewer’s attention and persuade them to take action, such as clicking through to a website or purchasing a product.
Display ads come in various sizes and shapes and are found on websites, apps, and social media platforms. While they can be effective, some people find them intrusive or annoying.
And when we say every person sees thousands of ads in a day, a bulk of them are display ads. As such, it is important for advertisers to carefully consider their target audience and design their display ads accordingly.
There are several different display ads, each with its advantages and disadvantages.
One common type is the banner ad, a static image that can be clickable or not. Banner ads are generally inexpensive to create, but users can ignore them if they are not relevant to the website content, or if they generally lack an interesting design. If you want to get your banner ads noticed, you need to design them so that they stand out from the crowd.
Another popular type of display ad is the full-paged ad. A full-page ad should be eye-catching and visually appealing. Use color and images to grab attention, but don't go overboard – too much clutter will only overwhelm readers. Keep the overall look clean and simple.
Finally, there are interactive ads, which allow users to interact with the ad itself. Interactive ads are effective because they're not just about selling a product or service — they're about creating an experience. By allowing users to interact with the ad, businesses are able to create a more memorable and engaging experience that will stick with users long after they've finished interacting with the ad.
Display advertising is a form of online advertising that comes in many different shapes and sizes. While some people find these ads to be annoying, there are actually a number of benefits that they can offer businesses.
Overall, display advertising offers several advantages for both advertisers and consumers. But with the thousands of display ads that users see in a day, designing yours in such a way that it grabs attention without being annoying is necessary.
When it comes to social media ads, there are a few different design platforms that you can choose from. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, you name it — they offer ads that promote various businesses.
The types of social media ad types available differ from one platform to another. For instance, TikTok is a video-based social media network—it is only natural that ads within this network are video-based, too.
Facebook, on the other hand, is an image-based social media platform. Even when it has recently included video feeds in its offering, its biggest advertising format is the image-based one.
Before choosing what ad type to use or even what social media platform to use for ads, it would be best to learn about your target audience first. Are they using the platform you want to promote in? After which, you can decide what ad type to use based on what’s available.
Social media ads can be an effective way to reach out to potential customers and promote your business. Here are some of the benefits of using social media ads:
It has been said that social media ads have the best audience targeting options.
Social media ads can target people based on their age, gender, interests, demographics, location, and so much more. This ensures that your ad reaches the right people. Other ads like native advertising and display advertising could not hyper-target their audiences like social media can.
With social media ads, you can track how many people saw your ad, clicked on it, and even made a purchase. This data can help you adjust your ad campaigns to be more effective.
Social media ads can help increase brand awareness for your business. This is especially important if you’re a new business or launching a new product.
Overall, social media ads can be a great way to reach out to potential customers and promote your business. If you’re not using social media ads, you may be missing out on a valuable marketing opportunity.
There’s more to designing an effective video ad than just throwing together some footage and adding a voiceover. Like any other type of advertising, video ads need to be carefully crafted to capture attention and achieve the desired effect.
First, you need to decide what your ad will be about. What is your message? What do you want viewers to do after watching your ad? Once you have a clear idea of your goals, you can start thinking about the best way to communicate your message visually.
Do you want to use live-action footage or animation? What kind of music will set the right tone? And most importantly, how can you make sure your ad stands out from all the other videos cluttering up people’s feeds?
With careful planning and design, your video ad has the potential to reach a wide audience and make a real impact. But without thoughtful consideration, your video ad will likely lose it in the sea of digital noise.
Anyone who's ever tried to create a video ad knows that it's not as easy as it sounds. You have to come up with an idea, script it, storyboard it, film it, edit it, and then hope that people actually want to watch it. It's a lot of work!
Fortunately, there are a few tricks that can make the process a little easier.
The best video ads are often the simplest ones. Just take a look at some of the most successful viral videos—they're usually funny or heartwarming, not complicated or clever.
People love to laugh, and a well-placed joke can be the difference between an ad that falls flat and one that gets people talking.
Whether you're making people laugh or making them cry, your goal should be to create an emotional response. If you can do that, you're well on your way to creating a video ad that people will actually want to watch.
Now to if you want to create an effective video quickly and without the need for fancy video editors, you can use the following tools:
Video advertising is a type of advertising that involves video content to promote a product or service. You can use video ads to promote awareness of a brand, increase sales of a product, or provide information about a service.
When used effectively, video advertising can be an extremely powerful marketing tool. There are several benefits to using video advertising:
First, video ads are highly engaging and can capture attention more effectively than other ads. It has movement, it has sound, it can tell a story—what better way to catch someone’s attention?
Second, video ads can be very persuasive, especially when they’re well-designed and feature compelling messaging.
Finally, video advertising can be highly shareable, making it easy for your target audience to see your ad and pass it along to others.
Keep these benefits if you’re thinking about using video advertising to promote your business. With careful planning and execution, video advertising can be a highly effective way to reach your target audience and achieve your marketing goals.
Outdoor advertising is a form of marketing that promotes products or services through signs, billboards, and other displays in public spaces. Because a large number of people can see outdoor ads, they are an effective way to reach a target audience. Foot traffic makes any outdoor advertising successful because many people can see it at any given time.
Here are a few different design subtypes commonly used for outdoor advertising:
No matter what type of outdoor ad you choose, the key is to make sure that it is well-designed and catches the eye of your target audience.
Outdoor advertising is a powerful and effective way to reach consumers. They are difficult to ignore, and they offer a variety of benefits for businesses that are looking to reach a wide audience.
Here are some of the benefits that you can gain by designing a compelling outdoor ad:
First, outdoor ads can be highly targeted. Businesses can choose to place their ads in locations that are frequented by their target demographic, ensuring that their message will be seen by consumers who are most likely to be interested in what they have to offer.
Additionally, outdoor ads are relatively inexpensive, making them a cost-effective way to reach a large number of consumers. You don’t need to pay for air time on television or radio; people can see the advertisement the moment they reached the spot where the ad is located.
And finally, outdoor ads can be highly effective at generating brand awareness and driving consumer behavior. In fact, studies have shown that outdoor advertising is one of the most effective forms of marketing, with the average consumer being exposed to outdoor ads an average of 20 times per day.
The act of sending a commercial message to a group of individuals using email is known as email advertising. In its broadest definition, every email advertisement sent to a possible or current client could be classified as email marketing. The purpose of the email advertisement is to obtain sales and donations, as well as inquiries for more information.
According to Constant Contact, email marketing still has a high ROI because, for each $1 you spend, you can anticipate a return of $36. However, there are so many promotional emails in one's inbox that it's critical to craft a visually appealing message that encourages people to act.
There are a few different types of email advertising design to be aware of when planning your next marketing campaign.
This is simply one large image with your message overlaid on top. This can be effective if you have a strong visual, or if the image can speak for itself.
The newsletter style uses a more traditional layout with multiple smaller images and sections of text. A newsletter is good for giving an overview of your products or services and including a call to action.
This highlights recent changes or additions to your offerings. This can be a great way to keep customers in the loop about what’s new with your company.
Email advertising is one of the most commonly used marketing tools today. While the basics of email advertising are fairly simple, there is always room for improvement. A well-designed email campaign can be highly effective in terms of reach and engagement.
Here are some benefits of improving your email advertising design:
Email advertising doesn’t have to be complicated. By following some simple design principles, you can create email campaigns that are more effective and engaging for your recipients.
Merchandise designs promote the sale of a product, usually through visual elements like spokesperson endorsements, product photos, or slogan placement. These are often called walking advertisements because they advertise your brand wherever they go.
While some merchandise ads are informative and designed to educate consumers about the features and benefits of a product, others rely on emotional appeals to make a sale.
Effective merchandise ads should be clear, concise, and interesting to capture potential customers’ attention. They can be an extremely effective way to boost sales and promote brand awareness when done well.
Here are some examples of merchandise where you can place ads:
There's no question that merchandise design ads can be eye-catching. But are they really effective? Does anyone actually remember what they've seen in a merchandise design ad, let alone what product it was for?
As it turns out, research shows that merchandise design ads do have a positive effect on viewers. In one study, participants were shown a series of ads, including some for products that were not necessarily related to the ad itself.
For example, one ad showed a pair of jeans with the words "I'm so fit!" written across the back pocket. The participants who saw this ad were more likely to recall the brand of jeans than those who saw an ad for a different product.
So why are merchandise design ads so effective? One theory is that they help to create an emotional connection with the viewer. When we see an ad that makes us laugh or feel happy, we're more likely to remember it. And if we have a positive emotional association with a product, we're more likely to buy it.
So next time you see a merchandise design ad, don't just dismiss it as being "all style and no substance." There's a good chance that it's doing its job — and helping the brand capture people’s attention.
Mail-in advertising, also known as direct mail, is a type of advertising where businesses send physical materials to potential customers through the mail. This can include postcards, flyers, catalogs, coupons, and more.
Studies have shown that people are more likely to respond to a direct mail ad than an ad they see online or in a magazine. As a result, businesses that still use direct mail can achieve a high return on investment.
So, how do you design a good direct mail advertisement? Here are some things to consider:
When designing direct mail ads, size is an important factor to consider. Are you going to send a postcard, outside envelopes, or folded self-mailers? The size of the ad will determine how much space you have to work with and where it will be placed in the recipient's mailbox.
For example, a large ad may be more likely to catch the eye of someone sorting through their mail, but it will also take up more space in the mailbox. On the other hand, a small ad may be less likely to stand out, but it will be less intrusive in the mailbox. Ultimately, the best size for your ad will depend on your goals for the campaign.
Consider adding customization to your mail ad design at all times. Variable Data Printing (VDP) is a type of printing that enables marketers to create personalized messages and templates for individual people. All of this may be done very quickly.
Copy or pictures tailored to the receiver will improve the relevance of the message. This establishes a closer bond with the mailer and increased response rates and Return Of Investment.
A pet store, for instance, might offer "10% off all nail trimming for all pup customers" as an incentive to get people in the door. They may use VDP to improve the design. The name and a photo of the breed of dog the discount is for should be included on each mail piece.
When it comes to designing direct mail ads, choosing the right color is essential. The color of your ad will dictate how well it stands out from the rest of the mail, and ultimately how successful it is. While there are no hard and fast rules about what colors work best, there are a few general guidelines that can help you make the right choice.
First, consider the tone of your ad. If you're trying to convey a sense of urgency or excitement, brighter colors like red or orange will capture attention. For a more subdued message, on the other hand, softer hues like blue or green may be more appropriate.
Additionally, keep in mind the demographic you're targeting; certain colors may resonate more with certain age groups or genders. With these factors in mind, you should be able to choose a color that will help your ad stand out and get noticed.
Choosing the right image is essential to designing a successful direct mail campaign. The right image will capture the attention of recipients and convey the message of the ad, while the wrong image will be quickly dismissed.
When selecting an image for a direct mail ad, it is important to consider both the content of the ad and the audience that it is targeting. For example, a fun and whimsical image may be appropriate for an ad aimed at families, while a more serious and business-like image would be better suited for an ad targeting businesses.
It is also important to ensure that the image is high-quality and able to be reproduced clearly on a variety of materials. With careful consideration, incorporating the right image into a direct mail ad can help to make it more successful.
Designing an effective direct mail ad involves more than just choosing the right paper and printing method. To really capture your audience's attention, you need to think about the overall layout and design of the ad. After all, people are bombarded with advertising messages on a daily basis, so it's important to make sure your ad stands out from the rest.
Here are some benefits of improving your direct mail ad design:
By following the above-mentioned tips, you can design an effective direct mail ad that will grab attention and get results.
There's no question that advertising has come a long way since the advent of the internet. While physical ads like outdoor ads and merchandise ads deliver results, people turn to internet advertising for quicker evaluation of performance and cheaper costs.
But with the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing, it can be tough to keep up with the latest best practices for designing effective ads.
Luckily, we're here to help. Here are our top tips for designing display ads that will capture attention and drive results:
With so much noise on the internet, it's important to make sure your ad stands out from the rest. Keeping your message and design simple will help ensure that your ad is seen and remembered.
People are visual creatures, so using strong imagery in your ad is crucial. Make sure the images you use are relevant to your message and product, and high-quality to boot.
Like we said before, with so much content out there, you need to make sure your ad is clear and to the point. Using concise language will help make sure your message is understood by your audience.
Your ad should have a clear call to action that tells people what you want them to do next. This could be anything from visiting your website to signing up for your newsletter.
Always test your ads before you launch them to see what works and what doesn't. A/B testing is a great way to do this, so you can try out different versions of your ad and see which performs better.
By following these tips, you can be sure that your display ads will be effective and help you achieve your marketing goals.
By now, you should have a pretty good idea of what ad type is right for your business. If you're still not sure, why not try out a few different types and see what works best? There's no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of which ad type is best for your business. The best approach is to experiment with different types of ads and see which ones generate the most interest from your target audience.
You may find that a combination of different ad types is most effective. For example, you could use video ads to raise awareness of your brand and product, and then use social media ads to drive traffic to your website or online store. Whatever approach you take, the important thing is to keep testing and tweaking until you find an advertising strategy that works for your business.
But one thing is for sure — team collaboration during ad design creation is of the essence if you want an edge over the competition. For this purpose, Instacap can definitely help. Our easy-to-use platform and real-time feedback system will help you create eye-catching and effective ads in no time.
So what are you waiting for? Get started with Instacap today!
