How to Make Your Own Advertisement

Creating an advertisement may be intimidating to some. Most small business owners think they don’t have the time, skill or funds to create a great looking ad, so they rely on word of mouth or their brick and mortar visibility to increase exposure and growth. However, if you invest just a little time in creating an ad, you’ll likely see an ROI pretty soon after getting it in front of the right audience. There are plenty of great resources that make design simple. You don’t have to hire an agency, a graphic designer or even download photoshop to make a great ad. An advertisement has two components: graphics and copy.

Graphics

Advertising graphics include any images, logos, colors, or any aspect of design. Many people

think this is the more challenging part of the ad. Thanks to design apps such as Canva, which uses a grid for uniformity, predefined shapes, fonts and your own photos, DesignBold, which is very similar to Canva, Promo, which has all of the same features but for videos, bannersnack, which makes creating banner ads extremely easy, and Illustrio, which offers a huge selection of icons and has color-matching features, DIY ads are at your fingertips.

From a design standpoint, we think it’s best to limit the graphics to 4 colors and work with only 2 different fonts. In selecting a color scheme, you’ll find that certain colors complement one another, and check out Canva’s excellent guide on font-pairing, or Creative Bloq’s examples of matching fonts. Starting with the font and color scheme in your logo or icon will make it easier to start and will also serve as a guide. Some mediums or specific ad spaces require ads to be one color or limited to a few colors. The apps above make it easy to duplicate your designs and easily swap colors, so you can save multiple versions to your Spacewolff account.

You should include some or all of these graphics in your ad:

• Your logo. Creating a brand is really important, and your logo is your company’s personality.
• A picture of whatever you’re selling. If you’re marketing a clothing store, include pictures of the hottest new styles you’re carrying. If you’re a service provider, include a headshot, a picture of employees, or a picture of your office or a sample of your work. If you’re placing ads for a restaurant, include images of the most popular dish, or a picture of a lively crowd.

Copy

Copy would include the literal message you’re advertising. Less is more; you don’t want too many words to distract the audience from your key message. Here are a few things to include:

• If you didn’t include your logo or if the logo doesn’t expressly state the name of your business, make sure it catches the eye.
• What are you selling? Sometimes, the graphics and images aren’t enough. A picture of a model wearing a dress in an ad for a women’s clothing store may seem like an ad for a hair stylist. A few simple words such as “Our selection of women’s plus size dresses and jeans is the best in Miami,” will avoid any confusion.
• How will the audience find you? If you’re a brick and mortar store, include the address. If you also have a website or if you transact all business from the website, make sure that’s easy to spot.
• A call to action. What do you want the audience to do? Make a reservation at your restaurant? Visit your medical office? Visit your website?

If you’re able to invest in an ad, there are plenty of great firms that will create an eye-catching design for an affordable price point. We recommend The Netmen Corp.

We hope this guide helps! In a few weeks, we’ll post a guide on what to write in a script ad and  how to measure ROI on print and script ads. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest from Spacewolff.

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