Writing an Effective Ad Creative
Start Strong by Starting With “Why”
For most audio advertisements, the top priority is grabbing the listener’s attention to avoid your audience muting the Ad or changing the station. With podcast advertisements, your podcaster doing your host read already has their audience’s full attention, so off the bat as an advertiser you already have the upper hand. Use this positioning to your advantage and start off strong by immediately informing your audience what you can offer them. Don’t waste time by making your podcaster provide a prolific description of your company or service before diving in. Get straight to the point and be completely clear about why they should use your product.
Every successful marketing campaign starts with why. Not what you offer, or how you are offering it, but why you offer it and why it is important for your audience. Simon Sinek has an amazing TED talk that breaks down the effectiveness of starting with “why” which you can check out here.
As a helpful exercise, make sure you can answer these questions clearly and concisely before writing your ad creative:
1. What are your goals with this ad campaign?
Why did you decide to create this campaign in the first place. Is it to build brand awareness? Is it to get more traffic to your website? Is there a code or coupon you’d like your audience to use to redeem an exclusive offer just for them? It is pertinent that you clarify your end goal in simple language so you can effectively communicate it to your audience.
2. Why is this campaign important to your listeners? What’s in it for them?
Be real about this, don’t make something up that you don’t believe yourself. Inauthenticity becomes clear in podcast native ads. Imagine yourself as a listener, and ask yourself the hard question “Would I care about this if I heard it on a podcast I listen to?” Think to the old adage “People don’t want a drill, they want a hole in the wall.” The most effective ad campaigns are the ones that speak to the inner emotions of their audiences, so find what makes them tick, figure out their discomforts, and offer them a solution.
Know Your Audience
Do the leg work to scope out your podcasters and read the descriptions of their avatars. Knowing your audience is vital in determining what they want and why your product or service matters to them. Your podcaster has already provided this information for you. Use it.
Write Talking Points, Not a Script
Give your podcaster some room to make it their own. As a rule of thumb, use the following guidelines to choose how much information to give, but keep in mind you want your podcaster to weave the endorsement casually into their content with their own words and slow delivery:
- 60 seconds = 150 – 160 words
- 30 seconds = 75 – 80 words
- 15 seconds = 38 words
Avoid confusing the listeners with complicated words or long sentence structures. Writing too much will force your podcaster to squeeze the information into a tight time frame. Give your listeners time to absorb what they just heard and take action on their own. You want your endorsement to be conversational, which is inherently much slower that ads you hear on television or even on the radio.
Simple and Strong CTA
Always finish your ad with a call to action.
Whatever your call to action is, keep it simple. Unlike web advertising, podcast audiences can’t click on a link or immediately go to your website. Most of them won’t even have have time to write down a number or remember a long complicated name. If you’re using a different URL make sure that it’s catchy, something short that they will remember when they have access to a computer. Drive home your CTA by asking your podcaster to restate it multiple times throughout your endorsement.
If you need any help with any of this, the team at YEA Networks would be happy to provide assistance.