“Anytime you learn, you gain.” - Bob Ross
I’ve learned a lot over the last few weeks...about making creative for ads! Currently, all of the ads that I’m running were made by me.
Are they perfect in terms of design? Probably not.
I’m getting the same or better ad quality rankings though.
And Bob Ross was right. I’ve made gains. Making my own ads has changed how I work as a growth marketer for the better.
Why did I start making my own ads?
“I think there’s an artist hidden at the bottom of every single one of us.” - Bob Ross
In short, I needed several quick iterations of some video ads and working on them myself was going to be the fastest way to get them.
Why did I think I could actually make my own ads, without a design background?
Messaging
As a growth marketer, I’m constantly talking to Marketing, Product, and getting customer or prospect feedback. Those conversations help me decide what kind of messaging and visuals to test in our ads.
I know the message that I want to portray in the ad better than anyone
Software
There’s software out there to help us non-designers! More on that later.
Timing
I can create the videos and static ads that I need on my own fast-paced timeline.
Designers are usually being pulled in several directions across a company. I have one focus: growth.
Plus, you don’t lose additional time in the feedback process required when a separate designer is building something for you. I can tweak the creative until it matches what’s in my head, vs. doing multiple rounds of feedback > edit > feedback that you do with a designer or agency.
How did I start making my own ads?
“If you do too much, it’s going to lose its effectiveness.” - Bob Ross
I didn’t need to take a course on design and basically become an amateur designer. That’s too much and would slow my other work down.
There is software out there for this exact scenario: to keep non-designers from embarrassing themselves or their brand.
My current favorites: Wave Video and Canva.
Two quick tips, to better replicate what your usual designer would have done:
- Ask your designers for the hex color codes that match your brand. With Canva or Wave, you can save those hex codes and easily put them into each piece of creative that you make to stay on brand.
- Make sure to check how your ad looks for colorblind people with this site.
Go make some gains!
“We don’t make mistakes. We just have happy accidents.”
For a small company in growth phase, it’s not about the perfect creative. It’s about testing messaging, learning about your audience, problem and/or product market fit, and showing glimpses of your product to get people interested.
Consumers expect beautiful ads from Fortune 500, not startups.
Plus, many of your ads should look organic anyway, like Instagram/Facebook story ads or ads in the main Instagram/Facebook feeds.
If your creative is not great and no one is engaging with it on ad platforms, the ad platforms will tell you it’s low-quality and/or stop showing it anyway. So you don’t have much to lose by trying!
So go make some happy accidents and make gains from your learnings!
