Planning to Do Your Own Digital Advertising Creative?

Consult our cheat sheet before you dive in.

1. Digital creative includes design and copywriting—Whether you are advertising via paid search or social media, many of your creative units will need a copy strategy in addition to a visual asset.
2. Search creative requires strategy—Paid search requires many creative components to make the most of the available ad iterations, from standard ads to responsive ads, from sitelinks to structured snippets. And, to maximize effectiveness, all of these copy opportunities should be aligned with your keywords and the words on your landing page.
3. You have to deliver a variety of ad sizes and versions—Don’t forget — your images must be sized appropriately for the platforms on which you are advertising. For each creative execution, you will need to deliver a variety of ad different sizes. Good campaigns should have 3-5 different ads per ad size.
4. Remember your audiences—If your campaign is targeting a variety of audiences (e.g., prospective students, parents, competitors), you will want to vary your ad creative to address each audience specifically. A one-size-fits-all approach is not recommended.
5. Plan for A/B testing—Use your advertising creative to give you data around your key messaging. Not sure what messages appeal best to your target audience? Build a few different ads and let your audience react to them.
6. Creative gets stale—If your creative concept has been running for some time, consider refreshing your image and/or copy strategy. This is especially true if your campaign is running continuously or over a long period of time.
7. Be mindful of standards – Remember to revisit accessibility and brand standards. Be sure your logo and font are readable, and that your creative choices align with U-M’s brand & visual identity.  And, if you have questions about these things, let us know. 
8. Responsive ads need a variety of headlines—If you are going to use a responsive ad, which is an ad type that optimizes toward your best copy, it’s best to populate it with 8-10 different headlines. Responsive ads work best when the platform (e.g., Google or Facebook) has a lot to work with.
9. Consider how your ads will appear in platform – Be mindful of different dimensions, ad configurations, and formats where your ads may appear. Most platforms have requirements on logo and text usage as well as clear space. Review ad creative mock up tools in each platform and adjust your design accordingly.
10. Choose a strong CTA—Your call to action is key to getting the viewer to engage. Can you stretch your creative strategy beyond “Learn More” and other standard CTAs?
11. Budget (time and money!) for a review—Upon receipt, the Michigan Creative digital team will review your creative, and will provide you with feedback or approval. If your creative assets are not complete or to the correct specifications required, this could delay our launch date.
12. Ask us about developing a landing page for your campaign—Michigan Creative can also share with you best practices for outstanding landing page and form development.