10 Quick & Easy Ad Design Software Tools for Marketers

Doing your own marketing design can sometimes save time and money. Luckily that’s never been easier with plenty of easy-to-use DIY design software.

Good graphic design can seriously improve your digital marketing game, but a professional graphic design service might not fit into your budget.

Should marketers design their own ads? It depends. With the right preparation and understanding of your campaign goals and target audience, it’s quite possible to create great designs even if you have no design experience. Of course, what you will need, in this case, is powerful and easy-to-use graphic design software.

If you’re a marketer wanting to create ad design, here is the best free and paid software you can use, even if you have no graphic design knowledge.

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Graphics

Canva

If you’re a marketer, chances are you’ve already used this popular graphic design tool. There are many great things about Canva. One: it’s free. There is a paid version, of course, that offers more templates and functionalities (e.g. team collaboration), but in general, you can get a lot from the free version.

Since we’ve mentioned design templates, it’s safe to say that whatever your needs, Canva probably has you covered. From backgrounds to icons and complete templates for different types of ads, Canva has tons of truly beautiful and unique designs. That said, remember that many other people will be using the same templates, so try to customize them to match your brand identity better.

Finally, Canva scores really high for user-friendliness. With a drag and drop model, it will take minutes to get the hang of things and start designing!

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Pixlr

When we think of photo editing, most of us immediately think Photoshop is the one and only option. Luckily, for smaller tasks, there are plenty of good free alternatives, and Pixlr is one of them.

This web app allows you to edit photos you upload or simply add a photo URL. The free version offers more advanced options such as clone, blur, or liquify. It would help if you know a little bit about photo manipulation in the first place, but it’s still quite easy to use

Visme

If you want one solution suitable for a range of designs, Visme is a powerful tool to consider. From presentations to social media graphics and interactive content, there’s a lot you can do even if you have no design knowledge.

The free model allows you up to 5 designs with Visme branding, or you can switch to one of the paid plans starting at $25 per month (or $15 billed annually) and customize completely. It scores very high for usability and overall is one of the biggest competitors to Canva.

Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark is part of Adobe Creative Cloud, but unlike the other well-known programs (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), it’s also available in a free, web app version . It consists of three separate apps: Spark Page, Spark Posts, and Spark Video.

Adobe Spark allows you to create social media posts including stories, presentations, flyers, and even web pages. Although the search options aren’t as refined as you’d like them to be, there are plenty of great templates, so finding the perfect one might take some time.  

Adobe Spark is a great free option for marketers who have at least some basic understanding of design work. Its extensive customization options will allow you to do more advanced things like photo manipulation or background removal.

Creatopy

Previously known as Bannersnack, Creatopy is an online ad maker for banner ads, social media, video, and print ads. The free plan only allows you 3 designs, but again, it can be a great option to consider if you want to use it alongside other free tools.

You’ll notice that the design quality of these templates isn’t entirely on par with Canva.  However, they’re still professionally designed and can be a good match for businesses that don’t need something particularly hip or out there. Plus, you get many more templates with the paid plans that start at just $17 per month.

Another great feature of this tool is that even with the free plan you get unlimited viewers and editors which allows complete marketing teams to easily collaborate on projects.

Videos

Biteable

Another big name on the list, if you’ve ever attempted to make a video ad yourself, there’s a high chance you tried using Biteable.

Biteable offers a ton of professional video templates, which will help you create a stunning ad in no time. It's user-friendly and although, admittedly, video editing usually takes a little more time, Biteable is fairly easy to navigate and use.

The biggest downside of the forever free plan is that videos will have a Biteable watermark, which won’t reflect very well on your professional image. However, for as little as $16 per month, you can use your own watermarks and branding.

Animoto

Another popular video editing software, Animoto has a free-forever plan that can be a great opportunity for you to perfect your skills before switching to the affordable subscription options (that eliminate Animoto branding from your projects).

Animoto is very beginner-friendly and aside from video templates, you can access their library of stock photos and free music that can make your videos even more engaging. Plus, every video comes with an embed link so that you can easily include them on your website!

Weld

This software allows you to create animations and content that you can easily embed in your landing pages or web design. It has a 14 day free trial, but after that, the subscription costs $100 per month. However, it should be noted that Weld is much more than a content creation tool, since it also allows you to publish creations as a standalone website (i.e. it’s closer to website builders like Wix).

Specifically created for marketing teams, Weld allows easy integration with other popular apps such as MailChimp or Slack, which can be quite useful.

Infographics

Venngage

The point of inbound marketing is to attract people organically to your business by offering useful information or a solution to their problems. In that respect data visualization, such as graphs, charts, or infographics, can be a great way to engage potential customers with your brand.

Venngage is a great tool designed specifically for creating infographics. You can use different templates such as timeline infographics or diagrams to create engaging marketing materials.

The free plan only allows you 5 designs, but since it’s quite specific, you might need more than that anyway (plus, you can always sign up with a different email again should you need extra graphics).

Piktochart

Another great free infographic maker, Piktochart, will probably cover all your needs with its free plan (you’re allowed up to 5 active projects).With over 600 templates available you’re sure to find something that matches your style.

Whether you decide to use the program or not, I recommend you definitely check out Piktochart’s infographic template library, as it might give you some great ideas on how to present data in an engaging, visual way.

Need some design help?

Hopefully, our list will point you to a useful program or platform that will help you create a wide range of marketing assets easily.

However, designing your own materials can be quite time-consuming and oftentimes the results will either be unoriginal or won’t match your brand. If you want a team of professional designers to create all the designs you need for your business, make sure you check out ManyPixels!