What are Text Creatives?

A text creative is any text that you’ve written in order to entice consumers to click through to a landing page where purchasing takes place. You’ll see these used in pay-per-click (PPC) ads, on web pages and in promotional emails. And even if you’re dealing with image creatives, they all have text as well. Whether your text is just a few words, or quite a few, the important part is that it serves to generate an interest in the product you are promoting.

AIDA and CTA

AIDA is my favorite acronym. It stands for:

• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Action

What this means for a text creative is that it must first serve to catch the attention of a reader, then generate their interest. Once their interest is piqued, it must create a desire in the specific good or service, and then call the reader to action.

The call to action (CTA) should tell the consumer why they should be clicking on this ad.  For example, “click here” isn’t going to give the reader enough incentive to click. Using stronger language, such as, “Click here to save money” gives the reader the incentive necessary to take action.

Your text should always give the reader the most important information on what you’re selling them. Think of your text creatives like newspaper headlines. They should convey exactly what the reader should know about your product, promotion or service. With just a few words to convince someone to take action, it’s important to give the reader the information they need to know, with a strong call to action that will convince them to click through to the purchase page.

Be Specific, Don’t Mislead

Let your reader know exactly where they’re going. Again, text like “click here” isn’t telling them anything about what they’re going to find. “Click here to find out about schools in your area” is precise and succinct. Strive for accuracy in every single line of your text creatives, be they for PPC, email, or as accompaniments to images.

It can be tempting to offer more than what is actually being offered in text creatives. Doing so will only serve to diminish the effect of the initial incentive. If you tell someone they can get the deal of a lifetime, but are only selling goods and services at regular prices, it’s highly unlikely that they’re going to be convinced to actually convert into a sale.  And chances are if they see one of your ads again in the future, they will have no trust in you, or the product you are selling.  Hence, misleading someone can result in the permanent loss of a consumer.

Keywords

Whether you’re relying on PPC or natural search results, adding keywords that apply to the landing page you are sending consumers to will increase your chances of ranking higher in search engines, and give your readers more information on what is being offered.

Price and Promotions

Every consumer has one question: “How much?” Answering that question right off the bat, especially if you are dealing with a sale or a promotion helps the reader to distinguish what makes your deal special from the others. “Vacations from $450 all inclusive,” “Shoes starting at $15/pair.” This gives an opportunity for you to shine right off the bat.

Make sure that your text is not overselling the product on offer. Create a realistic impression of what the person who clicks on the ad is going to find when they get to the landing page. In the same way that a car salesman has one chance to create a good impression, so too must online marketers ensure that the creatives they use are serving not to repel, but to attract customers and gain their trust.

The most important thing is to test your creatives to see how they’re working. Stick with the winners and rework those that are not working as well until you find the winning formula. Remember that you must always be tracking your ads to see how they’re performing.

In the next segment in our series on creatives, we’ll look at image creatives, and how to best make use of them. And in the last part of the series, we’ll talk more about campaign tracking. Come back tomorrow for another installation.