In one of the previous articles, we have already discussed the differences between white-hat (WH), grey-hat (GH), and black-hat (BH) approaches. The bottom line was that white-hat approaches are more viable in general and stable in the long run than their darker counterparts.
Today we will discuss one specific slice of the white-hat segment, namely the creatives for lead generation campaigns. The lead gen vertical is perfect for WH approaches, as it is a 100% people-oriented B2C vertical. The trending offers often include home improvement (installation of solar panels, boilers, windows, pools, insulation, etc.), security (alarm systems), education (schools, training, courses, etc.), energy (solar, gas, etc.), finance (bank, insurance, etc.), etc.
Let’s take a closer look at lead gen creatives by traffic source.
Table of Contents
Contextual advertising
Classic paid advertisements are featured in the users’ search results. The biggest source for contextual traffic is Google, so let’s take a look at their compliance policy.
Google has a Financial products and services clause in its ad policy which ensures that all the ads displayed on this network contain truthful information and fully comply with local regulations of your target GEO. You must also pay close attention to this paragraph if you promote loan services in your finance campaigns. Health insurance may border with healthcare topic, this means that it is better to check your ads for compliance with this section as well. If you have doubts, consult with Google’s general advice and best practices for your creatives.
Google Lead Form is a feature that is very useful in driving users to lead generation offers. For instance, you can add the lead form extension to your Discovery campaigns; the form will be displayed directly below the ads published on Google services and available for submitting contact information. To access this feature you must have a clean compliance history, work in an eligible vertical (consult with the Google ad policy), and provide a link to the relevant privacy policy.
Email marketing
This kind of marketing channel can be ideal for personalized ads and granular audience segmentation. The best results are usually achieved with a tried and tested email database that is provided by the advertiser or manually collected by the affiliate. The mailing lists that can be found for sale on the internet are not the best choice for campaigns where high-quality leads are a must. It is also important to check that all images and dynamic parameters are displayed correctly and that the approach matches the stage of the funnel.
Social networks
The undying trio: TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. The tough approval process and regular bans on these networks are well-known to any marketer, this is a sign of stringent ad guidelines.
Ads on Facebook must comply with their Community Standards and Advertising Policies. In short, the creatives should be truthful, respectful, and inclusive. The policies also contain paragraphs dealing with personal attributes, misinformation, and controversial content. These contain a variety of parameters including portrayal of gender identity, physical or mental health, financial status, use of social issues for financial gain, etc. Facebook’s best practices for ads creatives will help you gain a better understanding of the matter. Instagram follows the same rules, as the two networks are under one corporate umbrella nowadays.
Let’s take a look at some examples.
Facebook static creatives mostly lean towards the economy approach: promoting bonuses, no deposit, and discounts.
Showcase creatives are also a common choice for such campaigns.
Video and static creatives depicting the services are also popular. Here we have some examples of home improvement and solar panels creatives.
The landing pages for lead generation offers usually provide visitors with additional information necessary for thoughtful decision-making. Plentiful information, graphs, and research data also imply the idea of authority behind the offer. Marketing-wise, it is always a good idea to add several CTA buttons, so that they would be visible and available regardless of however far down the visitor scrolls. Testimonials of happy customers and more contact data provide the necessary sense of reliability and help convert the undecided. You can add more appeal to your proposition by adding an element of scarcity: “limited offer”, “get your quote”.
And these are examples of screenshots from video creatives for education offers on Instagram. The platform moved on from pure entertainment to word-of-mouth advertising with a noticeable testimonial or UGC (user-generated content) vibe.
The landing pages for lead generation offers usually give a sense of authority; they look neat and respectable. Users are looking for someone to rely on, to help them fix the issue. So trustworthiness is a clue in lead generation. For example, education or home renovation is the kind of things that people will not take seriously if it is presented in a flashy format. The landers are not overloaded with information to make them more user-friendly, but still provide many links to related pages with additional information on the subject.
TikTok limits the countries and languages available to advertisers, so this would be the first hurdle. The main policy points also include trustworthiness of your ads and high quality pictures. Lead generation campaigns must also include a privacy policy statement on the landing page and never request sensitive personal information (e.g. identity, insurance status, health, etc.) on the instant form.
Here are the average TitTok education creatives. This is a short video network, so we will demonstrate some screenshots.
TikTok advertisers lean heavily towards entertaining and personalized content, making any topic engaging and as viral as possible to get traction on the platform. TikTok does not allow direct links, but it is possible to share a link in the profile description that would usually take visitors to a personal page of the tutor or an online school.
Native advertising for personal blogs and mailing lists
If you are running your own website or a blog, it’s difficult to prevent yourself from posting any ads you wish. But there are some guidelines to white-hat creatives as well:
- check that the advertiser is trustworthy, so you would not deceive your audience;
- provide the audience with transparent and up-to-date information;
- do not use misleading tactics;
- use high-quality pictures that reflect the product/service you are promoting;
- check that the claim on your creatives corresponds to that on the landing page and the offer page;
- do not exaggerate the features of the product in the picture.
Here is an example of a blog page on the energy economy that presents users with a chance to calculate the cost of going solar or to get a free consultation.
What makes a good creative
Making creatives is a skill you will never regret learning. It mostly comes with experience from seeing what performs well in your campaigns and what doesn’t. But there are some general tips that may come in handy. Aside from these tips, you will also benefit from searching for inspirational examples in the Facebook Ad Library or the ones you can find with spy tools.
Video creatives work best if they are:
- short
- vertical or square
- contain text
- impactful at first sight
Below, you can see a screenshot from such a video.
Static creatives will show better performance with:
- a catchy title
- dynamic parameters in the title (city, region, etc.)
- happy customers with the product
Here are some examples of such creatives.
Advertorials are closer to a real article than to an advertisement. Hence, they engage more with the audience, especially if they:
- have a catchy headline
- have quality content
- have medium length (not a long read)
- have pictures
- have CTA buttons
And here we have a sample of an advertorial-style landing page that includes an article:
a call-to-action:
and a lead form below:
Using white-hat creatives does not mean being boring and losing the wow-effect. You have to be really innovative and use all the tools available to you, then run split-tests, and finally apply audience segmentation to reach good results. Let’s recap the upsides of white-hat creatives for lead generation.
- WH offers need WH creatives so they can keep being effective in the long run. Do not risk your revenue using unsuitable approaches for white-hat offers. Your reputation as an affiliate is worth more than an instant profit you can leverage with GH or BH sensationalized creatives.
- Easier moderation and fewer issues with traffic sources. It’s simple, you abide by the rules and do not get banned, your campaigns are launched faster and do not get suspended because of suspicious activity.
- You get traffic of higher quality because you attract fewer “just curious” clicks, and this is crucial for lead generation campaigns, as the key objective is to finalize the sale. The quality leads may also get you a higher payout rate from the advertiser. On the contrary, if the leads are of low quality you will earn an immediate ban from the affiliate network.
Reflex Affiliates team is always ready to assist affiliates with promotional materials. We can provide sample creatives that will best suit your campaign, or give the best advice on approaches and angles. Join the light side of affiliate marketing with us.