Marketing doesn’t have to be complicated! If you are like me and often overcomplicate marketing tasks, think of these words from Mad Men’s Don Draper: “Make it simple, but significant.” The way to significance in online marketing often starts with simplification.
Advertisers have just a few moments to grab someone’s attention in this fast-paced world. Only 9% of digital ads are viewed for more than 1 second, so you don’t have much time to catch someone’s eye. What is it that will make a reader stop and look at your BookBub Ads?
Our team at Book Brush talked to many authors when we created our free and easy to use image creation tool. As we’ve worked with successful authors to create promotional images, we have discovered five simple things that will help you create effective BookBub Ads.
“Less is more when it comes to designing compelling BookBub Ads. Make sure your background isn’t so busy that it’s hard to read your text, and don’t forget your call-to-action button! My top performing ads are always the ones that are cleanest and provide all the info the reader needs at a quick glance.” – Melissa Storm, USA Today bestselling author
Feature the book’s cover in your ad
Above all, readers want to see your cover. Covers help the reader make a buying decision. Successful authors will have the cover take up around 50% of the BookBub ad space. This will build brand recognition and help them flow into the landing page you send them to after they click. Book Brush offers a variety of different 3D templates of books or reading devices where you can upload your book cover with just a click of your mouse. Here are a few examples of simple, yet effective ads that highlight a book cover.
Use the book cover as your background
For extra visual recognition, try using your book cover as the background of your ad. Authors spend so much time putting thought and inspiration into the design of their book covers, and that hard work should play a significant role in their ads! With Book Brush, it is easy to upload your book cover to use as a background for a truly unique, personalized, one-of-a-kind ad. For powerful brand recognition, authors can feature the most eye-catching graphic on their book cover. Here are two examples that utilize the book cover as the background.
Include a call-to-action
Your call-to-action (CTA) is a stimulus that tells readers what to do and sparks them to take action. A CTA on a bold colored button or high-contrast banner can be irresistible for some readers! It can be as simple as “Read now” or “Buy Now”, or you can combine the CTA with a deal, which readers love, or scarcity marketing phrases such as “3 Days Only”. Whatever you choose, you want your CTA to be clear and as tempting as possible! To create an effective CTA, choose an eye-catching color that doesn’t clash with the background and ensure the size and shape stand out.
Look how these call-to-action buttons pop:
Choose a legible font
If readers can’t scan your ad quickly and read your font, you might as well save your money! It is important that your font is easily readable and complementary to your book and genre. People can form a first impression about online content in a mere 50 milliseconds, so you want to select a legible font that aids in a positive impression.
A good starting point for font selection is to mirror the font on your book cover. Many ads pair two different fonts to create interest and stimulate the eye. Simple yet so significant!
Take Time to Test
When creating marketing images, it is also a great idea to test various creative design ideas to see for yourself which images generate the highest click-through-rates. When we asked authors for general tips, many shared that when they test different ads it is sometimes surprising which ones perform the best. With our Book Brush software, it is easy to quickly make several different ad versions to use in split testing. Here are two images for the same book with totally different looks:
All images in this article were created using Book Brush and are available as community templates for authors to use. Start creating simple but significant BookBub Ads images yourself here!
The views and opinions expressed in this guest post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of BookBub.
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