By Libby Esterle, Senior Account Executive

As a marketing and communications professional, most of my time is spent on work that ranges from drafting copy to proofing and editing team member’s work (always important to have a second set of eyes on things) and developing strategic marketing plans.

And while I love working with words, I also appreciate the variety that agency work provides. And sometimes that means I also have the opportunity to collaborate with awesome graphic designers on the creative side of things, like brainstorming fun and interesting themes for campaigns or coming up with catchy content and visuals for ads.

We recently presented two sets of ad concepts to two clients and, while their industries were pretty different from one another (healthcare and finance), here are some tried and true methods for presenting ad concepts that resonated for both:

• Use original photography when possible. However, iStock and other online photography/visual resources are great options to use when in the concept phase. This not only saves time and money up front, but also helps direct what kind of original photography should be used when the time comes to create ads specific to the client’s individual needs.
• Speaking of visuals, it’s always a good idea to present a few options, ideally 2-3, to show some variety but not overwhelm the client with too many choices, especially in the concept phase where things are likely to change.
• Show how the ad/campaign will appear in multiple applications such as outdoor/billboards/shelters, mobile, desktop, direct mail, etc. to give your client a better feel for how the ad’s size and treatment will be adapted and appear in different formats.
• Draft—and walk through—the thoughts behind the proposed ads. While this isn’t the actual copy that will appear on the ad itself, these notes introduce the main idea and describes the supporting copy that will later be edited for the actual ad(s).

Do you have tips or tricks that have worked well for you? Any ads or campaigns that stand out to you for different reasons? If so, please share!