The proof is irrefutable. Commercial advertisements are one of the best ways to encourage customers to buy your products. By understanding the psychology behind why certain purchasing decisions are made, you can influence your advertising approach for higher conversion rates.
You can use persuasive commercial techniques to get viewers to engage with your brand, new content, or make a purchase.
Remember that not all ads are equal. The results of two advertisements for the same product can differ greatly even if the budget for each is similar. To be truly successful, you need:
- a strong strategy
- an arsenal of marketing technique
- a true understanding of who your audience is and what they want
4 Elements of Persuasive Commercials and Ads
The goal of any persuasive commercial ad should be to get their customers to do something. If you want a customer to switch from a competitor, you may need to talk to them multiple times. This can take a while, so it’s helpful to have more than one way to reach your target audience.
There is a lot of work that goes into making an advertisement truly persuasive. Successful implementation won’t instantly happen. Ongoing strategy, creative input, and an understanding of human psychology are what is needed.
Storytelling
A good commercial should tell a story about how your product will save the customer from their problem.
People are more likely to remember a story that is interesting and vibrant, rather than a commercial. Research suggests that people are more likely to remember stories than facts or figures.
Instead of claiming that your product is the best, try to convince your consumers with rhetoric that will stick in their minds. You need to find a way to connect your product to a larger story in order to be remembered by your customers.
Tailored Messaging
If you want your advertisement to be successful, you need to understand what will resonate with your audience. You should also communicate with them in a way that feels personal and authentic.
Persuasive commercials typically have one overriding message, but there are exceptions. Some commercials have multiple messages in an attempt to Persuade viewers. The ad provides an offer that is appealing enough that the viewer does not want to miss out on it. If they are trying to make you feel guilty or pity someone, they are using emotion in an attempt to sell their product as a solution.
Effective persuasive ads are able to connect with their audience on a personal level, creating a memorable experience that encourages them to purchase the product.
Call To Action
Your persuasive commercial should include a clear and concise call to action for the viewer. Some ways that a customer might interact with your brand are by subscribing to your email list, following you on social media, or buying from you in-store.
You can place your CTA at the beginning, middle, or end of your ad. Just make sure it’s there! A call to action is an effective marketing tool that does not feel forced.
Visuals and Sound Effects
A commercial that wants to persuade viewers should have elements that are both visually and audibly stimulating to keep them interested.
Visuals can include imagery, video, and even copy. Breaking your ad down into smaller, more digestible sentences can make a big difference in how long your audience retains the information.
Persuasive commercials should also have great sound effects. You can set the mood for your audience by using background sounds, music, or even silence.
10 Tips for Persuasive Commercials and Ads
It is time to put the skills needed to create a successful persuasive commercial to work.
Here are ten tips that will help you create more persuasive commercials and ads, resulting in more power for your brand.
1. Start With a Bold Opener
You need to do something attention-grabbing to make people listen to what you have to say.
To create an engaging presentation, include strong verbs, exciting colors, and riveting images. This will capture your audience’s attention and hold their focus throughout your presentation.
Add in a bold opener with an “in your face” attitude.
Pepsi ran an ad during Super Bowl 53 that featured various celebrities.
The ad starts with Steve Carrell making a grand entrance. He seems angry at first, but he quickly turns kind, giving us a comedic twist and a bold opening emotion.
2. Use Creative Copy
While not everyone may have a knack for becoming a wordsmith, it is important for those who want to persuade others to take a certain course of action to be good at writing persuasivecopy.
Use stories and ideas sparingly so as not to overcomplicate your language.
This is an example of persuasive copy in a commercial. It is designed to make the viewer curious about what their friends think about them, in hopes that they will buy the product.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could see other people’s reactions to your videos? This persuasive copy would make that happen. After watching the first few minutes of the show, the viewer may wonder if they should continue watching it or leave. This type of persuasive copy is a great way to get viewers hooked.
3. Understand What Your Customers Want
There are a number of ways to make your commercial or ad more persuasive, but it is most effective to focus on what will appeal most to your target audience, in order to establish the best connection possible.
Your commercial’s persuasive copy should highlight how your product or service can improve your customers’ lives.
content that focuses on how your product is satisfying and filling will persuade customers who are looking for a quick snack that will fill them up
4. Use Celebrities or Influencers to Endorse Your Product
The public trusts celebrities and influencers, and what they say matters.
When you use celebrities or other influential people to promote your product, it makes your commercial more persuasive.
This is called social proof and it means that people are more likely to buy a product if the people they trust are already using it.
If you want to create persuasive commercials for your business, social proof and testimonials can be persuasive techniques to use. Try using proof from customers and employees to make your commercials more effective.
5. Color Psychology
The conscious use of color is the first example. This is a technique that is used frequently in all types of visual marketing.
The color psychology advertising technique can be easily misunderstood or used incorrectly. If the tonality of a color is slightly off, it can give the wrong emotion, not the one that was intended.
Color plays an important role in the overall design of a website, appearing in the background, photography, fonts, visual accents, and branding elements. This is why it’s critical to consider the color scheme each time.
It’s important to consider the importance of each color and if it’s effectively conveying the desired message. Creative advertising uses colors to send a message without words. Bold colors for call-to-action buttons can lead to more clicks.
Coca-Cola Red and Tiffany Blue are both examples of colors that have become their own entities.
The use of the Tiffany Blue brand color and a black and white photograph creates a sense of sophistication and elegance. The model is looking directly at the viewer, which will be discussed further later.
6. Composition
A balanced composition is very important in every type of visual. The composition of an image is the way in which all the elements are placed in a visual space.
A composition can be designed to draw the viewer’s attention to one specific point or to create a visual flow from top to bottom.
There are many ways to create a balanced composition. The principles of Gestalt theory can be applied to create visually pleasing compositions. These include visual rules like simplicity, synchrony and association.
In the advertisement, the mother is placed on the left side and the sun is shining on her from the right. The text is set beneath to give it a sense of importance.
This advertisement uses design techniques like the rule of thirds, focal point and visual path to send their message.
There are templates in the Visme library that have well-balanced composition. All you need to do is input your content.
7. Rule of Thirds and The Golden Mean
In addition to the Gestalt principles, there are two other techniques that designers use to create balanced visual advertisements. There are two main composition methods used in photography, which are the rule of thirds and the golden mean.
There are two visual tools that help designers with placement of elements in a space: the rule of thirds and the golden mean. Both of these tools create a visually appealing result.
The rule of thirds is a guideline which suggests that an image should be divided into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, so that there are nine parts. The four points where the lines intersect are considered to be the most important part of the image, because that is where the eye is naturally drawn. By placing important elements at the crosspoints of the rectangles, they appear more significant while still appearing balanced.
The Fibonacci sequence is a mathematical pattern in which each number is the sum of the previous two. The golden mean is a percentage derived from this sequence which is often used as a visual guide.
The rule of thirds and the golden mean tool are both used to place elements in a balanced, harmonious way.
8. Focal Point
It is just as important to have a focal point as it is to have colors and typography that work well together. As the viewer looks at the advertisement, they should have a clear focus point to help them absorb the message.
There are a few different ways that you can create a focal point. There are two useful tools that can help you create a successful focal point. These are the rule of thirds and the golden mean.
Other techniques to settle on a focal point are:
- Selective Focus: Keep the focal point focused and background blurry or vice versa.
- Exposure: Manipulate dark and light areas in an image to make the focal point pop.
- Light Source: Illuminate the focal point exclusively.
If there are two focal points in your design, you can use Gestalt principles to create a balanced composition. The ads below have strong focal points where the letters have been rubbed out.
9. Visual Path
A visual path is a technique that takes the viewer’s gaze to a specific element. This text describes how the content of a piece of work can be experienced as a journey by the viewer.
When looking at a visual graphic, people will follow a visual path. This path can be influenced by the design of the graphic.
The first shape is a zigzag. There are two notable visual path shapes: a zigzag and ____. The first movement pattern is a Z shape, in which the gaze starts at the top left, moves towards the right, then returns left and moves down diagonally before moving across to the right again.
The second visual shape is an F. The F and Z are similar, but the F goes down in a straight line instead of going back to the left on a diagonal like the Z does.
This landing page demonstrates how the “Z” visual path works. The heading catches our eye first, then we look at the man’s face and notice his body language. Finally, we look at the button and the mobile phone mockup.
10. Typographic Composition
Another important visual technique is the use of typography. Most visual advertisements contain some sort of typographic element.
How the visuals and text are balanced is very important. The purpose of typography is twofold: to convey the message in words and to have a visual appeal.
Font pairing refers to the combination of fonts used in a design, which can make or break the design. The words and letters should be a color that goes well with the background, so that everything looks good together.
Some typographic techniques involve manipulating the letters to make them look like shapes or putting a texture inside the letters.
The amount of type and words used is important in some cases, such as Facebook ads. The Facebook algorithm only accepts ads with a certain text-to-image ratio.
When creating visuals for Facebook, creators need to be mindful of how much text to include. Too much text can limit how much reach the visual has.
In traditional advertising, typography is often used as the primary element. Take this Cadbury ad for example. The product they’re selling is tiny in comparison.
