e creative tips to improve your PPC performance

PPC marketer are used to spending hours in front of a spreadsheet crunching data, analyzing bidding models, finding statistical significance and planning the next step.

PPC was logical and data-driven, more science than art. But the industry has changed, and Creative may be the most effective tool PPC managers can use to maximize performance.

Performance agencies are therefore forced to adapt quickly, and balance the scales of art and science.

How can you prepare the performance marketing team to adapt to this new environment? Here are some tips to help you get started.

1. Asset coverage is a priority

First, it is important to understand that using AI for the creative optimization of a team’s work can be a burden on them.

Google and Facebook, two of the largest advertising platforms, are racing to incorporate generative AI capabilities.

These capabilities, however, are fraught with problems related to brand safety, ownership and brand standards.

These are not issues that the ad platform will address before releasing these new features to the public.

How can you strike a balance between the need to “feed” the machine and not overtax your creative team?

Asset coverage is what you should be focusing on. Asset coverage simply measures whether your creative assets are available for use in the locations you desire.

The optimal asset coverage will depend on your media plan. However, a good guideline for most performance marketers would be: 3 asset types times 3 aspect ratios times 3 asset lengths.

Asset Types

Video, images and text ads should all be included in your creative assets.

• Videos: The most underutilized assets are videos, but 54% marketers believe that video is the most powerful. Video is the most engaging storytelling medium and most effective in engaging audiences. It’s a must for any media plan.
• Image TikTok and Reels are video-only networks, but other ad network inventory is still heavily based on image ads.
• Text: All good performance marketers should run text ads.

Asset Size/Ratio

Advertisers can reach a vast majority of inventory if they focus on three sizes.

• 1×1An image or video that has a 1×1 ratio is important for many reasons. This ratio allows you to run ads on the majority of Meta stock, such as Facebook/Instagram Feeds and Instream Videos. It will also allow you to run some Google responsive inventory.
• 9×16 The vertical rectangle 9×16 provides the best performance on mobile devices. A 9×16 that is strong will give you access to Facebook Stories, Instagram Messenger Ads and Google’s responsive search ads.
• 16×9 : The horizontal rectangular, 16×9 will give you a strong performance on desktop devices, both YouTube and Google.

Asset length

• You can reach most places with a 30-second spot, if you cut it down to 15 and 6 second.
• The 15-second video will allow you to access inventory that is not skippable and can’t be skipped, with a bit more space to tell your story.
• You can now access YouTube bumper ads and Shorts & Reels inventory with 6-second videos.
• You can skip most of the inventory by watching 30-second videos.

2. Diversify the types of stories you write

Your messages will not be received by all customers in the same manner. Some customers may be more focused on price. Some may be more price-driven, while others may be more feature-driven.

AI allows brands to select the message they want. AI will choose the message that is most likely to engage a particular user. It’s therefore important to have a variety of story types.

Product Features

• Show your product’s features and why they are important. This will help you to differentiate it from the competition.

Discounts, promotions or price reductions

• Use a promotion or special price to entice your audience into purchasing. Use this type of story to lower barriers to purchasing for longer sales cycles.

Aspirational or introductory

• Aspirational and introductory stories can help you introduce your brand to your audience, and engage them.

3. Nail the Beginning

Remember, if you do nothing else… nail the first 5 seconds.

In the first five seconds, every PPC marketer must look for two things.

• Branding: Does the advertisement clearly state what it is about? Is the logo visible? Does the logo appear?
• Value prop: Does your audience know why you think this is important?

Be prepared for creative teams to push back against these guidelines. It interrupts the story line and the creative flow.

Now is the time to remind everyone that this creative is built for performance and not branding.

Before users scroll down, you have five seconds to grab their attention.

Balance between art and science

It’s not overwhelming to rebalance the art and science behind performance marketing.

These three guidelines are the foundation for a strong performance-driven creative.

Advertisers can leverage one of the most powerful levers of performance marketing by ensuring that they cover all assets, have a variety of story types, and nail the first five second.

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