20+ Commonly Used Advertising Techniques that Work
Have you ever watched a commercial and found yourself thinking about it hours or even weeks later? Maybe you can quote the whole thing from beginning to end. From catchy jingles to emotional stories, effective advertising techniques have the power to captivate and influence us.
Think about Nike’s “Just do it” or Skittles’ “Taste the rainbow.” You may remember buying your first iPhone or MacBook, feeling smarter, cooler, and more professional than your peers – all because of Apple’s incredible brand recognition. They have mastered the art of elevating their products in a way that still resonates today.
When done right, advertising can change the course of marketing history. Let’s explore the most common and engaging advertising techniques to make your brand truly unforgettable!
20+ Types of Advertising Techniques to Try (With Examples)
1. Storytelling
Storytelling in advertising is all about creating a compelling narrative that resonates with the audience and forging an emotional connection that makes your brand memorable. It’s not just about selling a product; it’s about sharing a story that aligns with your brand’s values and mission.
Video storytelling, in particular, is incredibly powerful. In fact, most consumers (72%!) prefer video marketing to text. Videos combine visuals, dialog, music, narration, and emotional engagement to create a captivating experience, making it easier to convey the message and ultimately driving stronger brand loyalty.
2. Color Psychology
Color psychology in advertising is like a secret weapon. Colors evoke emotions and influence consumer’s decisions.
For example, red grabs attention and creates urgency – perfect for “SALE” signs. Blue builds trust and calm, which is ideal for banks or tech firms. Green represents health and freshness, making it great for eco-friendly products. Yellow, the cheerful color, adds energy and optimism, grabbing attention and lifting spirits.
Combining colors strategically enhances an advertisement’s appeal and strengthens brand identity. When you see an advertisement that resonates, it’s likely the colors are working their magic to make the message stick!
3. FOMO
Creating a sense of urgency is like adding a dash of excitement to your advertisement. When you use phrases like “limited-time offer” or “only a few left,” it’s like a subconscious nudge telling people they better act fast. This strategy taps into the fear of missing out (FOMO) and gets consumers running to make a purchase before it’s too late. It’s a simple way to boost conversions and keep your audience on their toes.
Marketing email from CoSchedule
4. Native Advertising Technique
Native advertising is like the cool guest at a party who blends in perfectly. Instead of interrupting your feed with a glaring advertisement, it matches the look and feel of the platform it’s on. This makes it less jarring and more engaging because it feels like a natural part of the content you’re already enjoying.
Native ads are designed to promote valuable information or entertaining content to the viewer while they are browsing the web and are open to discovering new products or offers. In this way, native advertising keep the online experience smooth and seamless for consumers, building trust and interest without the hard sell. Native advertising is your go-to technique if you want your message to fit right in and capture attention effortlessly.
If you decide to give native advertising a shot, work with a native network like Outbrain to get access to premium publisher sites and high-quality ad inventory.
5. Influencer Advertising Technique
Influencer advertising is all about finding that one cool person who can spread the word about your brand. When you team up with influencers, you’re tapping into their loyal fan base and gaining access to a huge audience. It’s like having a trusted friend give your product a thumbs up, which can make your brand feel more genuine and relatable.
Influencers can share your message in a way that feels natural and authentic and reach a wider consumer base. Partnering with influencers is a powerful way to boost your brand’s visibility and credibility.
6. Sponsorship and Endorsements
Ever seen your favorite celebrity flaunt the latest product on the market? Did it make you more curious or interested to try it? That’s the magic of sponsorships and endorsements.
Brands team up with celebrities to give their products that extra oomph and boost their reputation. Whether it’s a top athlete rocking a new sneaker or a beloved actor sipping on a trendy drink, these partnerships make the products seem like must-haves. Next time you see a famous face promoting something, remember: it’s not just about glamour, it’s about clever marketing at work!
7. Bandwagon Effect
Notice how everyone seems to be raving about the latest trend? That’s the bandwagon effect in action! It makes you think, “If everyone’s doing it, it must be awesome.”
Brands use this psychological trick to show you that their product is a hot commodity, so you’ll want to hop on the bandwagon. It’s all about creating an irresistible buzz and making you feel like you’re missing out if you don’t join in. If you want to try this advertising technique, remember, it’s not just the product that’s great – it’s the crowd. Apple does a great job of capturing this sentiment in just 10 simple words in the the ad headline below
8. Emotional Appeal
Ever wondered why those tear-jerking advertisements stick with you? That’s the emotional appeal at work, tugging on your heartstrings. By tapping into emotions like joy, fear, or nostalgia, ads can create deep connections with viewers. This technique isn’t just memorable; it’s powerful enough to drive your choices and actions. When you see an ad that makes you feel all the feels, know that it’s designed to make you take action. Who doesn’t feel more inclined to chew Extra gum after watching the emotional ad below?
9. Association Marketing
Think sports drinks and athletes. Pepsi and singers. Willy Wonka and chocolate. That’s association marketing doing its job by linking products with certain values or traits – like performance or luxury – so that brands can appeal directly to your interests. When a product is tied to something you value, like fitness or sophistication, it makes you more likely to grab it off the shelf. If you add an influencer or celebrity, it’s a double whammy.
10. Social Proof
Word-of-mouth is strill the most powerful marketing method, accounting for 20% to 50% of all purchase decisions! It’s also the basis for the advertising technique known as ‘social proof’.
Social proof uses testimonials, reviews, and user-generated content to build trust and credibility. Seeing real people rave about a product makes you think, “Hey, if they love it, I will too!” It’s like having a trusted friend vouch for a product before you take the plunge. With so many options out there, reviews and feedback hold weight and can be the final thing to sway a consumer to buy.
Social proof is a big part of Amazon’s user experience, for example, with star ratings and reviews flooding the site and fueling purchases.
11. Landing Pages
When a consumer clicks on a digital ad, that’s only half the experience. The next stage is the landing page they arrive at. Having shown interest in the ad, the landing page must now take them even deeper on the journey with the advertiser.
Effective landing pages are crucial for converting traffic from ads. They should keep the consumer on the page and keep them engaged.
If you’ve ever clicked on an ad only to be greeted by a super clear, convincing page, that’s a landing page doing what it should! The landing page delivers a powerful message and call to action to convert your click into a concrete move, such as making a purchase or requesting more information.
12. Symbolism
Symbols are like visual shorthand – they convey big ideas quickly! Ths makes symbolism an ideal advertising technique when you need to catch consumer attention fast.
Think of the heart symbol for love, a red apple for education, or a green light for “go”. In advertising, symbols quickly communicate a brand’s core message or values, making them memorable and enhancing brand identity. If used correctly, they can create engagement, enjoyment, and understanding all in one quick glance.
13. Rule of Thirds
Want your visuals to pop? Use the rule of thirds! This technique divides an ad into nine equal parts, helping you place key elements along the lines or intersections. It creates balanced, engaging visuals that take your eyes where they need to be, grabbing your attention and keeping you hooked. This isn’t only useful for online ads but also a common advertising technique in video commercials. An image is meant to say a thousand words, and when it’s an advertisement, you want it to say so much more.
Source (Courtesy of Michelle E. Cottyn)
14. Brandformance
Branding and performance go together like a horse and carriage? Yes. Brandformance blends the best of both worlds – creating brand awareness and driving conversions. It’s a hybrid strategy that ensures your brand not only gets noticed but also gets action. It’s like hitting two advertising goals in one brilliant move!
“Brandformance marketing promises to bridge the gap between the more granular, rigorous approach of performance marketing and brand building’s looser, creativity-centric priorities. They no longer need to fight one another for space.”
Brandformance 101: Outbrain blog
15. Infographics
Struggling to explain complex information? Infographics are an eye-grabbing advertising technique that lets you do just that. These visual wonders simplify data and make it easier and more enjoyable to understand. By turning statistics and facts into easy-to-digest visuals, infographics make your message clear and memorable. You can use colors to make it pop and grab the reader’s attention or keep it simple and direct. They’re like a friendly guide to your brand’s information.
Check out the classic “Infographic of Infographics” by Ivan Cash, which explains everything you need to know about infographic marketing, in an infographic!
16. Attention Targeting
In a world full of distractions, grabbing attention is key. Attention targeting is a fairly new digital advertising metric that measures actual the actual attention level of viewers as they interact with your ads.
Traditional metrics, like impressions or viewability, are vague. They can tell you how many times an ad is ‘seen’, but don’t really provide actionable data about whether or how much the audience is really paying attention to the message. Attention metrics capture a range of factors to calculate an ‘Attention Score’, including eye tracking, dwell time, scroll depth, contextual alignment, and other proxy signals. Combined with predictive AI, the Attention Score can tell you the ad’s true performance, and not just how many scroll-bys it received. That’s powerful information!
17. Statistics and Figures
Numbers don’t lie. Using statistics and figures adds credibility and power to your claims. When you back up your message with solid data, you give your advertisement a boost of authenticity that is crucial to building trust and persuading the audience to try or buy. Also, when used correctly, numbers catch the eye and attention more powerfully than words. If you’ve got convincing numbers at hand, be sure to use them in your ads.
18. Video Advertising
Video advertisements are the star of the show, getting average click-through rate of 1.84% that banner ads could only dream of (display ads get an average CTR of just 0.5%)
Unlike static ads, videos can evoke emotions (see advertising technique #8), demonstrate products in action, and convey messages more dynamically, capturing attention quickly. With the rise of social media, native networks, and streaming platforms, video content is highly shareable, increasing its reach and potential for virality. Video advertising a powerful way to build brand awareness, drive conversions, and connect with consumers on a deeper level, ultimately leading to higher engagement and ROI.
For example, UK retailer John Lewis’ Christmas commercial has become an annual tradition. Consumers eagerly wait for its release to see this year’s creative angle and story. It is often seen as a cultural barometer, reflecting the zeitgeist in the advertising world.
19. A/B Testing of Headlines and Images
This advertising technique involves testing two versions of the same ad – each with a different headline or image – to see which performs better. By analyzing real results, A/B testing helps you identify what connects most with your audience. This way, you can fine-tune your advertisements based on actual performance data, and create new ads that you know will get higher engagement.
20. Advertorials
Advertorials are one of the oldest modern advertising techniques, the precursor to digital native ads. They blend interesting editorial content with promotional messages, offering readers valuable insights or tips while subtly trying to steer them toward the product or service they’re selling. Advertorials combine the best of both worlds – editorial and advertising – and they have always gotten results. This explains why they have been around for so long, like this advertorial for a breakfast cereal that looks and reads as a cartoon, from the 1930s.
21. Programmatic Advertising
Ever feel like your phone can hear you when you mention wanting a trip to Greece, then bam! An ad for a cruise to the Greek Islands? Programmatic advertising uses automated systems to buy and place ads efficiently, ensuring your ads reach the right audience at the right time.
Programmatic advertising leverages enormous amounts of data to analyze and understand audience behavior, and uses automated systems and algorithms to place the right bids on behalf of advertisers so they get the best possible ad placement at the best price.
The fact that programmatic advertising is automated makes it a powerful and efficient advertising technique for advertisers. Ad placements can adjust in real time, without extra work by advertisers, improving engagement and optimizing ad spend at the same time.
22. Contextual Advertising
Do you have ads that magically align with what you’re into right now? That’s the wonder of contextual advertising. It’s all about matching ads with the content you’re currently enjoying so they hit you with precisely what you’re interested in. The matching puzzle piece.
Imagine it as ads that have a sixth sense – they know what you’re reading, watching, or searching for, and they serve up content that feels very well-timed and relevant. However, there’s no magic behind it. Contextual advertising relies on web crawlers and algorithms to understand the contect of a web page and serve ads that match the topic.
23. CTAs
A call-to-action (CTA) is possibly the most important single element of a digital ad, as it drives the viewer to take another action towards conversion. An effective CTA combines clarity and excitement, creating a buzz that makes you want to take the next step and interact with the brand or business. Whether you’re clicking to buy the latest gadget or signing up for a must-read newsletter, a great CTA must be motivating.
There are several best practices to creating CTAs that work. A good CTA is a combination of , factors woring together to grab viewer attention and spark urgency to click, including copy, design, placement, and even color.
24. Humor
Who doesn’t enjoy a good laugh? Humor in ads is like a breath of fresh air, making your message not just memorable but downright shareable. When humor hits the mark, it crafts a positive, engaging vibe around your brand, making you the life of the party in your audience’s eyes. When done right, funny ads are the secret ingredient to turning everyday marketing into a delightful experience, and if they go viral, we’ll you’ve hit the advertising jackpot!
25. GenAI
When advertising techniques meet the future! Generative AI helps advertisers create original, engaging content, from videos to advertisement copy, without needing to break the bank. Use GenAI to brainstorm new ideas, generate creative concepts, and design visuals that look like a million dollars.
GenAI tools can also provide detailed insights into an ad’s performance allowing the advertiser to fine-tune their strategies in real-time. With Generative AI, your campaigns won’t just be on point; they’ll be attractive, on target, and highly effective.
Advertising Techniques to Put You Back in the Game
Incorporating these advertising techniques can transform your ad campaigns into more engaging, persuasive, and effective experiences. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just beginning, these strategies will help you connect with your audience and achieve your advertising goals. Start experimenting with these advertising techniques today and watch your brand grow.
