Banners have been used for decades all over the world as an effective advertising tool in building and cultivating brand loyalty among customers. Even today, in the face of the spread of modern communication technology and the internet, banners still remain an important marketing tool and are used by millions of companies worldwide.
The main purpose for using banner ads is usually to build awareness of your brand and to attract new leads. As they say, a single picture is worth more than a thousand words. Although the best banner designs have to include some words to explain what they are about, they are essentially supposed to be pictorial expressions of presentations of specific messages. If you have decided to use banner ads as part of your marketing campaign then you will most probably want to use HTML5 banners as that way you will be able to reach a much larger audience. Below are 5 tips that should be able to help you come up with effective HTML5 banners.
1. Planning and banner sizes
When it comes to designing a HTML5 banner, the size of the banners matters a lot. If you make them too small then people will not be able to get your message and, on the other hand, if you make them too large then most people will just find them irritating and annoying. Most of the websites that accept banner ads or that have banner exchange programs are usually quite clear about the sizes of the banners that they accept so it is wise to find that out in advance and then design accordingly. In addition it is always a good idea to have banners of different sizes especially if you plan to post them on multiple websites.
2. Hierarchy of information
The whole idea behind creating HTML5 banners in the first place is to pass a message and so proper care should be taken to make sure that the massage in the banner is not lost to its viewers. There are three main sections that have to be provided for in every effective banner design and they are explained as follows;
- Your company logo; the banner gives you an opportunity to inform the general public about the existence of your company since that is the first step to building brand awareness. Having your logo on the banner can help you do this. On top of that, placing your logo in the advert informs past and present customers that the offer or promotion is from your company and this helps to build brand loyalty. Make sure that your company logo is prominently displayed on the banner though not as prominently as the offer.
- The offer; give a brief summary of the offer or promotion in 3 to 4 lines of text. Here is where you tell viewers what you have to offer. When creating text for the offer, try to be brief and to the point since most [people will only read your banner Ad for a couple of seconds. Also try to use big front sizes and designs that stand out and attract attention.
- The call to action; this is where you invite the people reading the banner to take some action. Whether you want them to subscribe for something, purchase something or just to visit your website, this is where you let them know. The call to action should, ideally be a button or a clickable link that takes the readers directly to the offer.
3. Use borders
It is common and accepted practice to add borders to your banner designs both to make them stand out and to separate them from the other offers or banners that may have been piled up alongside it.
4. Be creative
Remember that the people viewing your banner had no prior intention to do so and have other important things they would rather be doing. So you only have a few seconds within which to captures and hold their attention. Therefore try to be creative in terms of how you word your offers.
5. Use visual aids
Pictures and animations add an extra level of excitement to HTML5 banners which can be quite useful in drawing and holding the attention of the people that view your banner.
