Nov 15, 2017

Banner Ads: 7 B2B Advertising Best Practices

Banner ads can be so tricky to design. You have a limited size and space to communicate everything you need to attract attention among other flashing, blinking and dancing ads on the web page. In order to make sure your banner ad gets clicked on, here are seven steps we use to effectively design a banner ad.

7 B2B advertising best practices to design ads that attract and convert prospects

  1. Do Your Homework

    It’s time to size up your opponents. Find the biggest names in your field and look over several of their banner ads. Take some mental notes of the good and the bad to see if you can find any common factors. Things you should look for include colors, pictures, text size, text amount and how well the ad attracts your attention. Take note on what stands out to you when looking around.

    Banner ads that have a lot of design elements and text result in lesser clicks and lower brand recall. What you want is a few big, necessary things (such as your logo), and not several little things that can lead to distractions. Keep it simple.

  2. Choose your Words Wisely

    The mantra “less is more” definitely applies to text on banner ads. To make your ads as effective as possible, use larger fonts and fewer words. Text that’s too small will bury your ad within the website and other ads. Text that is boring or misleading will do the same, but in a different way. Make sure to also use strong call-to-action words and stay consistent with your brand’s voice.

  3. Size Does Matter

    Whether you’re given a size limit or not, it works in your favor to have a fast-loading ad. Files that are smaller in size will load faster than larger ones. Anywhere from 45-70 kb is a good size for an average banner ad. Another good rule of thumb is to examine your target market when determining the file size. Anyone connected at a slower speed most likely will move onto something else if your banner ad hasn’t loaded yet.

  4. Choose Colors with Context in Mind

    Too many businesses make the mistake of using the same banner ads on several different websites, without keeping context in mind. The site your ad will appear on probably has its own branding and company colors, so make sure your banner and its hosts play well together. Also check out other banner ads on the website to make sure your ad stands out from the rest.

  5. Location, Location, Location

    Your ads are specialized machines meant to attract your specific audience, so put them in an environment where they’ll thrive. Before you put your ads on a site, study the audience it attracts. You want their demographic to match your target audience as closely as possible.

    Can’t tell if you chose the right place? Find out using Google Analytics. It shows where your website traffic is coming from under its “Traffic Sources” button.

  6. Deliver on Your Promise

    Make sure there’s a rock-solid, functional and eye-catching website behind your ads. Otherwise, your visitors won’t stay long enough to turn into customers.

  7. Measure ROI

    Your store and your banner ads are a dynamic duo, and both need the other to be at their best. One easy way to track their combined success as a team is looking at your ROI, which in this case means how many of your clicks turned into sales. That way you can easily see which ads are sinking and which are swimming.

Hopefully you keep these in mind the next time you’re placing out a banner ad. Make use of these steps and hopefully you’ll see some strong results in your click-throughs and conversions!

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