Enhance Programmatic and Paid Social targeting with creative-led ads

No one wants to spend budget on advertisements that miss their target audience and don’t convert. The Programmatic and Paid Social bidding process gets ads in front of the right target audience at the best time. But how can digital advertisers ensure programmatic and paid social ads achieve conversions from their target audience? The answer is effective creative assets.

Search Laboratory’s approach to creative-led ads

Unfortunately, on its own, good creative does not necessarily translate to more conversions. There are no surefire, hard and fast best practices for creative that every company can follow. What resonates with one brand’s audience may fall flat with another. Data-driven creative testing is one of the best ways to determine the most significant impacts on performance and what resonates best with target audiences.

Data-driven testing

Creative testing helps the Programmatic and Paid Social team and our creative experts understand why ads are working well and why they may be falling short. The testing process begins with an initial discussion to outline the various aspects that will be tested, such as image copy, ad format, static vs. dynamic vs. video ads, etc. The Paid Social and Programmatic (PSP) team can report to the creative team on what has worked and what has not once the tests have concluded. The creative team can use these insights to influence future creative designs and improve performance.

Greg Gould, PSP Consultant at Search Laboratory, elaborated on the process further:

“When it comes to ad creation, the vital link that is often missing is how it connects back to the data. A pivotal part of our process is the PSP team providing feedback to our Creative team on the results. This collaboration provides a more strategic approach to ad creation and helps us understand what aspects of an ad are working to influence future designs and tests.” 

One example of the different ads that can be run to test the audience’s response can be seen here:

Here, two ads are encouraging users to register for the Master’s in Creative Writing program at the University of Hull. Two different approaches are being tested, despite the common goal, and these include: 

• Alternative designs 
• Imagery of people vs. animation 
• Different call-to-action buttons 
• More or less descriptive copy 

Again, this is a more than one-size-fits-all solution that will translate across clients. Even brands that operate in a similar industry may have different audiences that respond to different ads. The key is to stay up-to-date with what is working by continuing to carry out tests for every client. Having our Paid Media and Creative teams under one roof facilitates collaboration.

Reece Jones, Digital Creative Designer at Search Laboratory, had this to say about the process:

“I enjoy working on our mixture of Programmatic and Paid Social campaigns. It gives us the opportunity to work on different themes and styles, which expands our knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. We can test specific ads and quickly adapt to what is performing better, helping us create new successful designs.”