Where Marketers Find Ad Inspiration

A famous man named Steve Jobs once said, "Good artists borrow, great artists steal." No, no, WAIT, a renowned painter named Pablo Picasso said it first… or was there someone before him too.

The bottom line is that there is no shame in drawing your Inspiration from the work of others, as humans have been inspiring one another for as long as we can remember.

While we may secretly judge each other for our lack of individual creativity, the truth is that finding a starting point for creative output takes patience which is (to say the least) lacking in modern-day humans.

Table of contents

• TLDR
• Where do marketers find ad inspiration?
• Storing Ad Inspiration 🙏
• Have you heard of Yoink?
• If you answered yes to these, you need to get a free trial of Yoink!

TLDR

We can stumble across ad inspiration in many ways, both online and offline. However, consistently being able to find quality ad inspiration when you need it and safely storing it to use at a later date is even more challenging.

• A one-stop shop like Yoink for finding and storing ad inspiration is the solution.

Where do marketers find ad inspiration?

Swipe Files

You open Google and search "paid ad inspiration." The results page is full of websites with their own swipe file inspiration. For example:

• "10 paid ads you wish you made."

or

• "20 ad examples to inspire your next marketing campaign"

Swipe files that offer ad inspiration can be very helpful, and sometimes even share quick dos and don'ts in review format for the ads they share.

Downside of Swipe File Articles

Of course, with the good comes the bad:

👎 Swipe file articles rarely share a group of ads from one particular industry.

👎 Swipe file articles tend not to disclose whether website owners have been paid to list ads, which leaves you wondering whether they're actually "LinkedIns 10 best ads right now" 🤔.

💡 The time spent looking for Inspiration could be cut in half if there was a platform that provided Inspiration for your chosen industry AND across many digital platforms.

Marketing Resource Websites

Of course, the ad inspiration banks offered by Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok are all tremendously inspirational; however, if you're looking for email, landing page, or ad inspiration resources, then take a look at these websites:

Email Inspiration

MailCharts: https://www.mailcharts.com/email-examples

• "View curated email examples with beautiful design from our index and start planning your next campaign."

Milled: https://milled.com/

• "Milled is a search engine for email newsletters. Find sales, deals, coupons, and discount codes from 99k+ brands and retailers."

Really Good Emails: https://reallygoodemails.com/

• "The best showcase of email design and resources on the web."

Ad Inspiration

Moat: https://www.moat.com/

• Search Google display ads from brands across the web.

Unicorn Ads: https://www.unicornads.com/#ads

• "Unicorn Ads was built to help founders and marketers like you to run better e-commerce ads."

Ad Creative Bank: https://www.theadcreativebank.com/

• "Built to showcase examples of inspired, effective digital advertisements that perform."

Landing Page Inspiration

One Page Love: https://onepagelove.com/

• "One Page websites, templates, and resources. Get Inspiration, browse Templates, find Domains or learn from our Resources."

Landing Folio: https://landingfolio.com/

• "The Best Landing Page Design Inspiration, Templates and More."

Storing Ad Inspiration 🙏

Once you find your ad inspiration, you will need to store it so you can use it at a later date. Four storage methods used by marketers are:

1. Bookmarking web pages on Google.

• All internet users bookmark frequently used resources. However, only one person can access these bookmarks, and your favorites bar can quickly get messy if not organized.

2. Sharing to your #marketing-inspiration channel on Slack.

• If this isn't happening in your Slack already, you are almost guaranteed a virtual pat on the back when you introduce it. However, after you slack the 3rd or 4th ad promoting yet another competitor's webinar, don't be surprised if you find that your entire team has snoozed this channel's notifications.

3. Creating a work alias on social media.

• A work social media profile provides curated content for your business and is perfect for spying on competitors while collecting ad inspiration. Be warned; this GoEs AgAiNsT cOmMuNiTy StAnDaRdS.

4. In-platform saving of TikToks, Tweets, Facebook, IG, and LinkedIn posts!

• Saving is a common feature across social media platforms and is extremely useful for tracking ad inspiration. However, only account owners can save and access posts. In addition to this, saved folders can get backlogged and must be regularly maintained.

Have you heard of Yoink?

Part 1: Do you have a folder on your desktop to save ad screenshots or an alias social media account that you use to hoard ad inspiration?

Part 2: Do you lose ad inspiration screenshots on Slack or forget to bookmark/save inspiring posts/websites?

If you answered yes to these, you need to get a free trial of Yoink!