Free creative tools are nothing new to the interwebs. They’re handy and don’t require a graphic designer to put together decent looking images. I have some basic Photoshop skills, but I am by no means a designer of any sort. (I’m sure that there’s a lot of PPC pros out there that are in the same boat with me there.) Sometimes design can be time consuming, even if I just need to make one tiny adjustment to an ad it can take a while for an in-house designer to get back with me. Sometimes, it can take more time to send an email outlining what is needing to be changed than it does to just fix the issue yourself. But what can you do?
I have found an answer to this problem: We recently started using Canva for Work and have developed a “creative buffet”. We’re using this awesome creative buffet in a way that may be useful to other PPC agencies (and even freelancers).
What is Canva for Work? 
If you haven’t used Canva for personal use before, the platform allows you to edit photos, design graphics and put together presentations with their pre-made templates. Canva for Work is an extension of Canva that allows you to design graphics, ads and marketing materials and share them easily online across multiple teams and workers. You’re able to save logos, fonts and other marketing pieces on Canva’s cloud for all of your creative needs – think more than just online ads. Canva has a simple drag-and-drop editor window, which makes it easy for even the most creatively-challenged.
A personal Canva account is free – with certain design elements costing $1 each if you choose to use any. (Side note: There’s plenty of free options that you can make many designs that are completely free.) Canva for Work costs $9.95/month/user when paid annually or $12.95/month/user when paid on a monthly basis. You can try it out for 30 days completely free.
How Can You Use It For PPC?
There can be a lot of back-and-forth when it comes to designing images ads for PPC. The process can be long and time-consuming no matter whether the client provides the ads or if the agency designs them. By using Canva for Work, you can store all of your logos, fonts, ad layouts and images in one place – all of your advertising elements in one place – therefore earning the name “creative buffet”.
Here’s how it works:
- A client-approved set of ad layouts are designed in Canva in every size you need. You can even organize the templates into folders to keep everything super organized. (See screenshot below).
- In addition, all client logos, fonts, colors and approved images are also stored in Canva.
- Handy things like buttons, frames for images, and other elements can also be designed and saved for future use.
- When new ads are needed, we can create ads with fresh copy and/or new images quickly without much hassle.
Why Is The Creative Buffet Awesome?
Instead of going back and forth with the client because sizes are off, the client doesn’t like the ads, etc., anyone on the team is able to hop into Canva and switch out a few basic parts of the ads to create useful, quality images. Not only is workflow improved, but time is saved on both sides.
Overall, Canva for Work has been great for helping us get quality PPC ads turned around at the intervals we need for testing with minimal effect on the client’s design team.
Have any tips on making the design process even smoother? We’d love to hear your favorites and suggestions in the comments!
