Why Does Creative Advertising Matter?
There are over 30.2 million small businesses across the US, so it's critical that you do all that you can to stand out.

This means running a marketing campaign that reaches and engages your target consumers. Regardless of the form that this might take, it's crucial that you invest in creative advertising.

But what exactly does it mean to advertise creatively? Why is doing so important?

Here, we're going to answer these questions and examine the ways that creativity in advertising can boost your business.

​Read on for some information on sending the right message with your next marketing campaign.

What Is Creative Advertising?

Creativity is generally defined as using original and imaginative ideas to create something.

At the most basic level, creative advertising is simply coming up with imaginative and unique marketing campaigns. However, telling the story of a brand or product is also an essential part of creative advertising.

Nearly every brand is using advertising and marketing campaigns to generate leads and draw consumers' attention to their business.

Digital marketing strategies like PPC ads and social media marketing are important, but they're also fairly common.

Creative advertising either deviates from these norms or builds upon them to make an individualistic marketing campaign. Its end goal is to build connections between your brand and your consumers.

​You want them to view you as an interesting and unique entity that they look forward to engaging with and learning more about.

Creative Digital Advertising

To truly understand what creative advertising is, it's important to look at some examples of it in the real world. First, let's consider the ways that you can put a creative and engaging spin on classic digital marketing strategies.

Video marketing is one of the core parts of any digital marketing strategy.

This makes sense since 73% of consumers are more likely to invest in a good or service after seeing a video about it.

However, to come up with a good video marketing strategy, you'll need to think outside the box.

Using video to tell the story of your brand is a great way to draw in customers, and Lego can attest to this.

Their Rebuild the World ad centers around the theme of rebuilding the world around them to eliminate various challenges.

This showcases the values of the brand- they want to make the environment that we live in a better place by building it up brick by Lego brick.

Storytelling sets a brand apart from the competition, and Lego did a great job of this. If you emulate this concept and tell a memorable story to your target audience, you are likely to form a connection.

​This is especially true if you incorporate engaging themes and memorable characters.

Unique Creative Ad Campaigns

Because creativity is boundless, you don't need to stick to traditional or digital marketing campaigns. Creative advertising consists of many different methods of getting the word of your business out there.

Domino's Pizza once experimented with reverse graffiti for their ad campaigns. They applied detergent and water over a stencil that said 'Domino's American Legends' alongside their logo.

They essentially cleaned the street within the areas of the stencil to deliver their brand message in a unique, memorable, and totally eco-friendly way.

One great way to get creative with advertising is to use the tools that you already have at your disposal.

For FedEx, that tool was their big white trucks. They painted their classic FedEx trucks to look like a normal truck on the back and included the slogan 'Always First' on their front half.

​This showcased that FedEx was always faster and more efficient than its competitors in an interesting, visible, and on-brand way.

Cutting Through the Clutter: The Importance of Creativity in Advertising

Creativity in advertising is primarily important because it piques the interest of your audience.

Dull and overused advertising strategies bore the consumer and make them unlikely to click on the ad.

They will believe your product to be one of many and disengage upon seeing your website or advertisement.
Thus, the core benefit of creative advertising is that it's versatile.

No matter where you are or what tools you're using, there's a way to market your business resourcefully. This gets your brand and your image out to a wider audience both in real life and online.

People also get sick of seeing the same ad types over and over again.

Think about how many billboards you pass by every day- you probably don't remember any of them.

However, you'd probably remember a restaurant that painted a mouth around a tunnel that lead to the rest stop that they operated in.
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Creative advertising isn't just versatile but is also memorable. You need these strategies if you ever want a chance to stand out.

High Sales Contribution

While 'creative advertising converts' is a lofty claim, there are numbers and data that back it up.

A 2006 poll found that 65% of a brand's sales came from creativity in their advertising campaigns. Ads that were generic or boring performed poorly.

This may be an older statistic, but more recent data proves that it's still relevant. Nielsen found that 47% of an ad campaign's effectiveness comes from creativity.

Other elements include targeting (9%), context (2%), branding (15%), reach (22%), and recency (5%).

As you can see, none of these other elements come close to creativity when it comes to contributions to sales.

​This makes sense when you consider that creativity is also intimately linked to other aspects of an ad campaign. For example, creativity is necessary for creating a context that makes the ad campaign relevant.

Cross-Media Conversions

While every ad campaign aims to target a certain demographic, it's inevitable that others will see the advertisements as well.

Luckily, this is a good thing for both businesses and consumers. More people may realize they need your product, buy from your business, and have a positive experience!

It's interesting to note that creative advertising has the greatest effect on both on-target and off-target buyers.

Across all media, 49% of all sales contribution comes from creative advertising (as opposed to brand or media marketing).

For on-buyer target consumers, this percentage is only around 41%.

However, off-buyer target audiences generate 59% of all ad-generated sales as a result of creative marketing.

This suggests that creative marketing is successful at drawing in new audiences across all media platforms (TV, social media, print, etc).

​If you're looking to find new customers and branch out to different markets, a creative advertisement may be your way to getting a foot in the door. 
 

Storytelling and Engagement

Stories are one of the best ways that people can learn about new things. Professional psychologists note that they create a sense of connection, build familiarity, create trust, and make complex ideas easy to digest.

Since the goal of any brand is to build connection, familiarity, trust, and understanding, storytelling is essential for any ad campaign.

Using creative mediums and individualistic ideas is a great way to weave a complex story that showcases your brand.

In turn, it's a great way to get people to remember and trust your business.

Storytelling is also great because people find a way to connect with characters and storylines that they relate to.

Even in a short advertising video, you can pack a punch if your characters and messages are memorable.

​People will feel a deeper connection to your brand and come to you over your competitors.

Improved Brand Recognition

Brand awareness is the very first step in the marketing funnel, and advertising is the biggest way that companies can create this awareness.

Creative advertising is an ideal way to get people to recognize your brand. After all, no one is going to forget seeing a Nissan in a glass box that says "break glass in case of adventure."

People will forever remember Nissan for that and ultimately think of them when it is time to purchase a new car.

​A good creative ad has an impact in the long term because it generates interest in your brand forever.  

Get Started

Now that you know about creative advertising and its impact, it's time to learn more about the process of creating an engaging marketing campaign.

To do this, you'll need to professionally educate yourself on how to develop, maintain, and nurture a brand voice that makes you memorable to your target audience.

The San Francisco School of Design offers online courses that you can access on your schedule with no time limit.

​We're committed to giving you solid information about applying your brand voice to advertisements that convert to sales. Sign up for Copywriting 101 today to begin your journey towards a more successful business.