Businesses need to step up their advertising and marketing efforts to compete with competitors. Banner advertising is one of the promotional tools widely used in social media that appears on a website that can easily attract customers. Read on to know more about design tips for marketers and beginners.

14 Banner Ad Design Tips For Marketers And Beginners

Social media marketers are highly flexible creatives tasked to create visual and text-based content to promote products and services on social media, to name a few.

If you are a social media marketer, you have to upskill and polish your craft to keep up with the fleeting trends in this field. Learning additional graphic design skills and trying new software that promises to make your job a little less complicated can make a big difference.

One of the things that marketers need to know about is making banner ads. Advertising is a huge part of your work, so you must at least have a working knowledge about making them.

This article will help you in creating banner ads that get the engagement that you aim for with smart tips to get you going.

But first…

Banner Advertising: What’s It About?

Banner advertising is a form of promotional graphics in varying rectangular displays that appear on top, sides, or bottom of a website. They are specifically created to promote a particular brand on the web. Because it’s image-based, banner advertising requires the use of persuasive and compelling imagery.

Banner ads must be straightforward in conveying the advertiser’s message to the target audience. And to get them to hit the CTA button that will ultimately lead them to the advertiser’s website.

Banner ads are still the most cost-effective form of online, in-home, or mobile advertising. The average ROI for banner ads is 16.8%, which is way higher than radio, newspaper, and TV ads.

Statista says banner ads have gained prominence in the last few years. In 2017, 85% of digital advertising and marketing funds were spent on banner ads and were forecasted to rise to 91% before 2024.

Things to remember when creating a banner ad:

Be goal-specific. Make sure the audience immediately knows what your banner is created for the moment they see it.
Choose colors that are gentle on the eye and relevant to your brand for consistency.
Overstuffing is a red flag. A single banner ad can’t showcase everything you want your audience to know.
Proofread your copy thoroughly to avoid disastrous grammatical and spelling mistakes that could turn your viewers off.
Never forget to include your business address and link/s to your website.

How to create a banner ad in 3 easy steps?

There are a lot of banner generation tools for digital and social media marketers and graphic designers – beginners and experts alike. You can create graphics using these graphic generation tools in three easy steps:

Open the online banner generation editor of your choice. Look for the tab that will give you different banner templates. These banner templates are ready-made and customizable graphics that come in different sizes. From Leaderboard, Medium and Large Rectangles, etc.
Select which of those templates you prefer or start from scratch. It’s okay if you have zero graphics or banner ads design knowledge.

Using a banner generation tool is easier compared to using Photoshop. It allows you to edit your banner ad in a snap, apply effects and filters, add text or quotes, icons, and shapes—all in one place.

Done editing? Simply click on the “Download” tab found on the right (top) corner of your screen. And wait a few seconds for your edited video thumbnail as it gets generated and automatically saved on your PC.

The pros and cons of banner advertising

Pros:

Compared with conventional forms of advertising such as TV and newspaper ads, banner ads are easy on the budget, which is great for small and startup businesses.
Banner adverts help in retargeting the audience. You can redirect your advertising campaign to locations where your products or services aren’t performing well.
The visual publicity they generate attracts potential customers and increases traffic to your website, which eventually translates to better rankings in search engines.
Aside from driving traffic, banners ads that appear on different websites and platforms gather leads that result in a conversion.

Cons

The cost of advertising is considered either an investment or part of company expenses. Hence, every penny spent to advertise a particular product is passed on to the consumers.
56% of banner adverts that pop on screens don’t get viewed due to ad blockers and internet users who don’t want any distraction while searching on the web.
Banner ads have size specifications that aren’t suitable for some websites. For this reason, you get to advertise just one product per banner ad to avoid confusion on the part of the viewers.

Now that you have familiarized yourself with banner advertising and its pros and cons, here are banner ad design tips you can use:

14 Banner Ad Design Tips For Marketers and Beginners

1. KYC (know your customer)

A deeper understanding of customer demographics (age, gender, residence, education, preferences, interests, etc.) based on diligent market research builds trust and fosters confidence between you and the buying public.

It’s important that the banner ad/s you’re about to create targets exactly what your potential customers and loyal patrons need. Knowing that will help you formulate new marketing and PR strategies.

2. Invest in your advertising and marketing campaign

The average internet user gets over 1,700 “annoying” banner ads every month but sees only half of those. And if yours isn’t worth a view, it’ll end up falling into the other unseen half. So make sure it’s watch-worthy.

The US-SBA (United States Small Business Administration) says seven to eight percent of your business’s gross revenue should be allotted for advertising and marketing efforts. And it shouldn’t be considered as an expense. It is an investment.

3.Simplify

A site visitor will probably take just a quick look at your banner ad for a mere second or less. So the simpler and shorter, the more effective the message will be.

An average internet browser’s attention span is somewhere between 1 to 8 seconds. Unless distracted by external elements around him, 8 seconds at the most are all you’ve got to catch his attention and hold it. Long enough for him to absorb what your banner says. So make the most out of it.

4.Take note of standard ads sizes

Banner ads are created to be published and distributed to many different websites and social media platforms for optimum results. They should comply with the industry-recommended standard sizes to be viewed on various devices.

The recommended standard sizes for high-performing banner ads are:

Square (250×250)
Banner (468×60)
Vertical banner (120×240)
Half Page (300×600)
Half Banner (234×60)
Skyscraper (120×600)
Wide Skyscraper (160×600)
Leaderboard (728×90)
Medium Rectangle (300×250)
Large Rectangle (336×280)
Billboard (970×250)
Portrait (300×1050)
Mobile full page flex (320×320)
Mobile Leaderboard (320×50)

5. Offer a real value proposition that delivers

In banner ads, the value proposition is your (as the advertiser) promise to consumers. You should be able to keep your word and address user intent without fluff: how will your product or service help or solve your consumers’ concerns?

A value proposition is a potent advertising tool that boosts sales and builds a solid customer base. It also helps bolster your company’s marketing and advertising campaign.

6.Complement that promise by adding relevant imagery

The human brain processes images in a flash (13 milliseconds). Or 60,000 times faster than it does to text-based content – even when both convey the same idea.

A well-crafted product-related visual helps the viewers be more aware of what you’re selling.

7. Use a legible font

The font design is as important as all the other components in a banner. Bold fonts enable the designer and the advertiser to make statements that capture viewers’ attention.

Sans Serif is a favored font for banner ads primarily because it’s clean-looking, neutral, and easy to read.

8. Put your “signature” on your banner ad

The company logo is the signature of your brand. It renders uniqueness to your brand identity, and it’s what makes you stand out from the rest of the competition.

Logos help amplify brand recognition and awareness. People should know who you are and what you offer just by looking at your brand name and logo.

The graphic design of your banner gives you options on how you want your brand to be advertised in a way that’s relatable to both your prospects and loyal customers.

9. Get your message across through the language of colors

Colors play a crucial role in graphic web design. It’s a reliable tool in advertising and makes banner ads visually attractive, from background to border. With the right combination of colors and skillful execution, you can conjure up images that are retina-friendly. They also add vibe and zest to your site, which results in a positive user experience.

Colors have the power to communicate. Blue means serenity. Yellow: happy and warm. Green means stillness and nature. White stands for harmony and cleanliness.

Black may mean grief or darkness. Although in some cultures, it conveys class or mystery. So how we see and interpret colors is subjective. It depends on one’s spoken language, religion, orientation, culture, etc.

10. Use ad extensions

You can opt to include your official business address or site links to your banner ads or even to business cards. These are called ad extensions.

11. Use animation on banner ads

According to a recent study by Inskin, 50% of internet users recall a brand’s animated banner ad after only 1-2 seconds of viewing. It shows that banners with integrated animation outperform static banner ads and generate a higher audience engagement.

12. Choose your format

What file format your banner ad also matters. Because it ensures that your banner will be displayed correctly in the publishers’ blogs or websites, your banner’s file format should suit and blend into a website’s layout. Most files are in JPG, PNG, and HTML5, depending on what banner generator the designer used in creating them.

13. Highlight your CTA button

Make sure your CTA button is prominently visible. It should be conceived in a way that viewers won’t get confused about whether to click on it or not.

Be flexible and original. No rule dictates where the CTA should be in the banner as long as it’s recognizable as the other components in an ads banner.

CTA’s in banners adverts are used to attract the attention of consumers and expedite the buyer journey by directing them to the next destination – your website. Ensure that your landing page is ready to accommodate visitors and its design is consistent with the design of your banner ad for easy recognition and brand consistency.

14. Declutter

Banner ad creation and design is a long, creative process. A designer needs a keen eye for the smallest of details to notice whether a simple word or a speck bears enough importance not to get deleted.

Don’t think twice about decluttering. Delete irrelevant details and confusing language. Anything that doesn’t contribute to your ad’s proposition value.

Minimalism speaks louder in banner ads. With internet users getting a shorter attention span, long, bulky texts, and colors that overwhelm make people leave and increase your site’s bounce rate, which isn’t good for SEO and Google rankings.

Learnings and Takeaways

The competitive world of advertising and marketing is continuously evolving. The trends are temporary, and so are the tips enumerated above.

Sooner or later, you’re going to try your hand at creating the “perfect banner ad” that’s in sync with your market niche and personal preference.

And when you do, unleash the “beast” in you. There’s no limit to one’s creativity. Do not be afraid to try new backgrounds, different headlines, fonts, CTA buttons, etc., till you get them all right.

Banner Ad Design Tips For Marketers and Beginners