The world of PPC is a constantly shifting landscape and with the likes of Google, Microsoft and Facebook taking the direction in which automation is becoming more and more prominent. Requiring skills in analysis, design and copywriting, the role of a PPC specialist is becoming increasingly diverse. That’s where Photoshop training comes in.
Part of this role’s expanding diversity now includes the need to offer creative services. Now it’s no secret that there are currently options for automated creative being offered up by platforms such as Google Ads in the form of Responsive Display Ads. However, these are often limited in terms of truly representing a company’s brand and messaging across the cookie-cutter templates.
As a result, we decided to roll out Photoshop training across our Global Search Marketing PPC team to ensure that we are able to fulfil the growing quota for creative assets.
5 things to consider when using Adobe Photoshop for PPC
With the Adobe Creative Suite being the renowned industry standard when it comes to creative and design, we took a deep dive into the Photoshop software and how this versatile tool can be utilised for our various creative projects. Most people know how Photoshop is a behemoth in terms of functions and capabilities, so just some of the topics we covered include:
1. Sizing & Resolution
The likes of Google Ads are very particular when it comes to the sizes of the Display Network creative that is uploaded to their system. They have strict limits on the dimensions and file sizes and so the Global Search Marketing team became familiar with creating Photoshop files of any size and aspect ratio, whilst remembering that a file resolution of 72ppi is perfect for digital screens.
2. Layers & Masking
One of the more confusing concepts; our Photoshop training covered the basics of layers and how to properly organise and prioritise layers within a PSD (Photoshop Document) file. We then touched on ‘masking’ layers to add different overlapping effects for a variety of different image ad examples.
3. Text Tool
With typography and fonts being one of the pillars of company’s branding, the Global Search Marketing team now have an understanding of the importance of the Photoshop Text Tool for manipulating various elements of text to achieve any desired effect or look.
4. Raster, Vectors & Smart Objects
Image and photo assets are often supplied to us from clients and these can come in any format. Our training covered how you can edit and manipulate different file types – with vectors and smart objects (often company logos) being able to expand and warp to fit size variations with a lot more ease than raster graphics.
5. Static images Vs. GIFs
The Global Search Marketing team are now able to create both static and moving images to develop Google & Facebook ads. Using Photoshop’s ‘Timeline’ window, our PPC specialists can now combine multiple PSD files to generate a more engaging set of image creatives that can be used across numerous advertising networks.
Whilst automation and machine learning may be slowly shaping the PPC and Digital Marketing industry, an argument could be made that there will always be a need for organic creativity that cannot be replaced by algorithms. The successful Photoshop training day has added yet another string to the bows of the our PPC specialists and wider Global Search Marketing team.
Want to know how our creative expertise could benefit your business? Get in touch