5 Questions To Ask For Successful Ad Creatives

Not all content is good content. Not all videos are winning creatives in ad campaigns. And the difference lies in the foundation.

There are five questions we always ask before we get started on creating videos for ad campaigns to make sure we have a strong foundation—we know our ideal audience, what they care about, and why they should buy from the brand over the alternatives. Otherwise, a lot of energy, time, and money could be poured into video ads that aren't set up to convert.

So, let's dive in...

1. Who is the brand targeting? (Spoiler: it’s not “everyone”)

It’s impossible to market effectively when you don’t know who you’re marketing to. When a brand has a buyer persona defined, you’re able to get valuable insight into what the customers care about most, their interests, language, and pain points. In our experience, if a brand doesn’t have a buyer persona yet, it may not be ready to outsource and create content just yet.

All of these things are what make the difference between a video that is scrolled past/reaches the wrong audience and one that is effective and has people thinking you’re inside their heads because the messaging resonates so well.

2. Why should people buy from this specific product versus alternatives?

This question is about competitive differentiation and unique selling proposition (USP). It’s important to really hit on why someone would want to buy this product over all of the alternatives. Is it because it’s higher quality? More sustainable? Designed specifically for older women? The more specific we can be, the more likely we are to win.

3. What platforms will this video be used on?

This will help with understanding what style (language and fonts) should be used to make it most native. Plus, you need to know aspect ratios. For example, Tik Tok is a vertical portrait (9:16 ratio), but Instagram and Facebook might be a 1:1 square ratio.

4. Does the company have any branding guidelines?

It’s important to understand what can and cannot be mentioned in the video. Do they have certain fonts and logos they want to be included?

Also, don’t reinvent the wheel! If the brand has any successful videos that have been made in the past, they should share them so you can see what’s worked before. They can also share inspiration and other videos they came across that they loved.

5. What defines success when working with an ad creative partner?

This can be an easy question to brush off. Obviously, companies want more sales and higher ad performance from UGC-style content. But that’s too general considering a lot of that is out of your control as the creator. The creative could perform but there are issues with ad management or web performance.

It’s essential to set expectations. What are we, as the creators, responsible for and how will everyone know that we've been successful?

Maybe the brand's definition of success when working with a content partner is having high-quality videos that hit on their USP and free up their plate to focus on income-generating activities. We usually go even deeper and work to define what “high quality” means, too.

If you want to take your ad creatives up a notch, but don't have the expertise or capacity to do it in-house, we'll be an extension of your team. Check out our portfolio here.