A plea for creativity in digital communication

You deal with digital content? Online campaigns? Website content? SEO copywriting? Copywriting for Google Ads, social ads, landing pages or for newsletters? And know how these work? Maybe even studied it? In any case, inhaled plenty of studies, rules, how-tos, whitepapers, conference papers, blogs and podcasts on the subject? Then all is well. Or?

Not at all.

Digital communication from the consumer's point of view and ...

From the consumer's point of view, it looks like this: We are all exposed to a constant information overload. And the communication sauce we are served is becoming increasingly monotonous. Who really gets excited about looking at the same Instagram sunshine & riches pictures anymore? And even more so the utterly turn-off ads from coaches promising to make you rich or at least famous in no time at all? Who was last fascinated by a Google Ad text? This already addresses the two biggest buyers of advertising money. It feels like no one watches linear television anymore anyway. The number of moviegoers is also not overwhelming. And when do you really see a poster that you tell your colleagues about in the office? Even collaborations with influencers and celebrities are not a communicative sure-fire success in times of Kanye West and the Adidas fiasco associated with him. No wonder. Creativity? Not a chance. Breaking the rules? Not at all.

... from the perspective of the creators of online campaigns, etc.

We have to ask ourselves how communication is actually created in the digital realm. What do all the marketers who are responsible for creating content do? First and foremost, they are interested in achieving their goals. There's nothing wrong with that. After all, the measurability of advertising was one of the achievements of digital advertising. It already started with the first forms of advertising on the Internet: banners. Even this very simple and today practically extinct advertising form of the simple banner (optionally with the also extinct Flash animation), which leads to the website or to the online store, had a significant advantage over conventional advertising. It was possible to count how many times it was actually displayed and how many people clicked on the banner. Numbers that billboards and TV commercials could only ever approximate. The most consistent and therefore overwhelmingly successful form of advertising is the Google ad, which, as we know, only generates costs when clicked. With further tracking in Google Analytics, any advertiser can easily see how much a sale or lead costs them. That's great. No. Because: Google is a publicly traded and therefore profit-oriented company. It also has a virtual monopoly on search ads. The click prices have therefore been going up steadily for years. At 5 euros per click, however, the fun stops for many. Therefore, other forms of advertising are again in demand. And other forms to get the attention of the target groups. Especially since there are products that hardly anyone searches for in Google. And not in social media either. For example, many nutrition products.

What makes advertisers tick?

A second aspect is the advertisers' need for security. Sure, we live in uncertain times. At least I don't want to take any risks on the job. Unplanned events? Please don't. Risk a shitstorm because the choice of words in the ad doesn't conform to 100% rules? And then the subsequent discussion with management as to why someone might feel offended by the joke? I'd rather leave that alone.

If I am focused on the measurability of the measures I manage from the beginning of my professional career, I am programmed for security. The question I then ask myself day in and day out is: Where can I most safely get the most leads for 100 euros? In the pre-digital world, the focus for advertisers was on creativity. Sure. In a non-measurable world, where I have to promote my product in a super-expensive 30-second ad during the commercial break of the pre-digital show, it needs to achieve a high level of awareness. Who still remembers the Cannes reel of the most spectacular and witty commercials? Or the discussions about which spot was the most spectacular during the Super Bowl commercial break (no matter who won)?

Why creativity pays off ...

Creativity in online campaigns pays off because

• standardized forms of advertising lose attention
• Google and social ads are becoming more expensive
• Third-party cookies to be abolished as of 2024
• she is fun
• and thus can also emotionally charge the advertised product
• invites them to tell others
• creative communication has the potential to be disproportionately successful

Yes, it's true. More opportunity always means more risk. Creative digital communication, no matter where it is played out, can be much more successful than standardized ads. But it can also go down the drain. It can flop. Not catch on. Nobody clicks. And then a few people get upset about the choice of words or the image motif.

Nevertheless: It can also be the other way around. Millions of people click. The spot goes viral. It's clicked and shared like crazy. And everyone talks about it. Like the Edeka Christmas clip 2015. Or 2016 the Breaking2 campaign from Nike. And again and again Hornbach - last 2022.

Besides, didn't we all go into marketing because we wanted to experience exciting things and help shape them? Want to get to know many companies in an agency, from startups to corporations? Or want to make a big difference in the company? Exactly. For ads controlling, we could have started right away in accounting. And that's not what we wanted to do.

Therefore: More courage. Break the rules. Develop original ideas.

... and not only in online campaigns, but also:

And that applies to all forms of digital communication.

Because it's not just online campaigns that are becoming increasingly standardized and boring. Websites, too. And social posts. And ...

Everyone who deals with the matter knows a lot of rules. A few examples:

• There must be no more than seven navigation points in the main navigation of websites
• The call-to-action must be visually striking and contain an action-oriented verb.
• Keyword must appear in the Google ad
• etc. etc.

That it can be done differently, I have experienced, for example, through an email this morning. The Website of the agency Schmitts Katze is brave. Colorful. Different. And it works. I get x number of emails every day promoting all sorts of things. Sometimes I look at the website. Almost always gone right away. This one I have memorized.

Even with the supposedly super boring Google ad texts, there is potential for creativity. How about, for example, not using the entire available length (as almost everyone does), but writing extra short ads? Or try it with a provocation? Or appeal to the strongest emotions, like love, hate, fears? In any case, worth a try.

It should go without saying that the content on the website also needs an interesting textual introduction. User-oriented, of course. But that doesn't have to be boring.

Conclusion: Creativity is not only good for you. It is necessary. And in the best case, it pays off. And that's how you can really score points with the management. Let's get started!