Creativity + Experimentation = Prize 馃コ
The creative element of an advertising campaign on Facebook and Instagram is getting more and more important and this trend is only going to increase as Facebook uses increasingly advanced algorithms and introduces new tools that simplify the technical part of the job.
The goal of good ad creativity is to engage and, if possible, entertain our audience. Furthermore, it's one of our best communication tool. It is not said in vain that an image is worth a thousand words. A good video goes a long way.
It is also our cover letter and positioning tool - in just a few seconds the audience can judge our professionalism and intentions.
Good creative is a powerful thing that's beyond any opinion - it's a measurable and demonstrable fact. When done properly, it can strongly increase the CTR of our ad (click-to-impression ratio) and greatly decrease our CPA (cost per acquisition - for example, the advertising cost of a sale).
In short, its importance is indisputable. The question is, how do we get to that winning creativity, and preferably without having to pay for an audiovisual blockbuster.
The answer is: with the combined use of creative intuition and systematic testing.
The creative possibilities are endless and can be overwhelming, but if we systematically test and analyze results, there will always be a winner which will allow us to hypothesize about the creative elements that have had the greatest impact on the results. Hypotheses that later will have to be tested.
What happens when we use this method for an extended period of time? Yes, it increases the bill of expenses to pay to the creative team, but there's more. If done well, we are gradually getting closer to the "ideal creatives".
It should be noted and remembered that perfection, the perfect ad, is unattainable. The reason that makes perfection so elusive? People's tastes and preferences change over time. What we liked a few months ago we may not like so much today or even be tiresome and repetitive.
To illustrate a phase of creative experimentation, let's take a relatively simple example to understand: the knockout stage of the Champions League. It all starts with 16 teams and ends with just one, the winner.
Imagine that we apply these knockout rounds to our ads, rather than teams. We start with the 16 best ideas we can think of (those who can't afford 16 different ads can do it with 8 or 4 .... or 2). For that, we need, of course, creative intuition and if we know that we are lacking it, we can try to outsource it to specialists or simply ask the people around us to see if they surprise us with a good idea.
Now imagine that we pitted ads against each other round by round using our systematic tests. Inevitably, there will be 1 that will be the best of the best. The award? The eyeballs of our target audience (not literally, of course). Normally, you don't have to be an art expert to understand why number 1 has worked better than the rest and with a little common sense, this is usually enough.
So, three important elements to consider:
Criteria when judging our ads
Remember that we judge ads not based on the chances of them being nominated for the Oscars, but something much simpler - based on the analysis of the performance they have shown. What kind of performance? More sales, more leads, more downloads, more reservations ... any event that is relevant to us.
Know how to differentiate and classify creative elements
When we compare two ads with each other, we are not necessarily talking about ads that are completely different from each other - they can be differentiated exclusively with individual elements such as duration, format, resolution, predominant color, with or without subtitles, starring male or female, etc.
Two-phase experimentation
Phase 1. We face the different ad ideas we have between them to see "where the shots go." At this point, it is preferable that the ads differ considerably.
Phase 2. Finished the previous phase, when we have the winning ad, (without ruling out the ads at the second, third, and fourth place) we take our experimentation even further with A / B Tests of micro variations of creative elements of these same ads.
The inevitable result of this practice is the increasing effectiveness of our ads in bringing us results.
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