Banner advertisements of web banners may be small but framing a small, direct, crisp, succinct message is never easy. The design elements will play a role and will help to attract attention to the advert but it is the use of the write words and the ability to highlight and communicate the right intentions that make a copy a winner.

Banner advertisements are extremely important and are often the starting points of an ad campaign. Since banner ads are used to create awareness and communicate an offer for the first time, they have to be well crafted because there has been no prior awareness. You will also have to maintain brevity due to lack of space.

Banner ads are clickable rectangular or square display graphics that can link the current page that you are on to a particular landing page of the advertiser.

The transition

There was a time when banner ads were only about text and then mainly about images. Today, with the advent of flash and other technologies, the level of interactivity has gone up quite a few notches. Today text, graphics and sound can be incorporated and interwoven to create much more user friendly and interactive ad propositions.

Although the use of texts may have gone down, the fact remains that words still play a major role to elucidate an idea. Image icons and other visual aids are the supporting elements, which are generally useless without words.

If you want to write copies for banner adverts, you will need to know a few things and sharpen a few skills before you can gain complete mastery.

Points to remember when writing banner ad copy

1. Purpose of the copy

You will have to contemplate the purpose and intention of writing the copy. Are you looking for direct conversion in terms of sale or subscription to your website, blog or newsletter? Or are you trying to simply create awareness about your brand or a particular product, service, idea or initiative? In most cases, people don’t have any knowledge about the particular offer or idea prior to encountering your banner advertisement. Hence, you will have to create your short copy in a way where you can not only introduce the matter in the open before your target audience but also pre-empt the queries by providing appropriate answers.

2. Talk about the benefits

No advertisement copy will have fulfilled its purpose if it can’t foresee and address the exact needs of the target market. It will have to communicate the benefits that the service or product will offer to the user. It will in short have to talk about a problem which the writer knows the reader faces and the hook will be the promise of providing a solution.

3. Avoid fluff and use strong actionable word

There is a need, especially in banner ads, to steer clear of highfalutin ideas and grandiloquent language. You will have to connect with the reader and that is only possible if you speak his language. Use common, colloquial or “easy” words but each word should convey a purpose with conviction. Include a clear call to action.

4. Use stats and social proof

Numbers and statistics are easy to remember. A lot can be conveyed without expending too much space. They also help readers to make a quick, mental comparison with rival products and services. Social proofs help to convince readers about the “authenticity” of the claims made in the advertisement.

Most beginners and even professionals with years of experience will find it difficult to create a perfect copy without creating multiple drafts. Use A/B testing extensively to compare different creative ideas and choose the one that works.

Can we help you write the copy for your online banner ads?