Native Advertising: A Must-Know Concept for Online Businesses

Welcome to the world of native advertising, a concept that is reshaping the digital marketing landscape. In this blog, we will delve into the ins and outs of native advertising, providing valuable insights for digital marketers and advertisers. This article will empower you with the knowledge to navigate native advertising effectively.

Native advertising is a way of getting a brand’s message across to its target audiences, which involves placing paid advertising with the same format and style as the non-paid content. How do you spot a native ad? It is distinguishable by a label; otherwise, it looks similar to other organic posts. 

Native ads can be found in various formats and platforms. As an advertiser, it is important to consider the user’s experience when it comes to advertisements by making them seamlessly fit into the page rather than be an intrusion or distraction. Making the ad look similar to organic content helps counter ad fatigue, which happens when the audience no longer pays attention to ads. 

In this article, we will cover the basics of what native advertising is, how it differs from traditional advertising, the types of native advertising, and its benefits and challenges.

What is Native Advertising?

Native advertising is a marketing strategy that seamlessly integrates promotional content with the surrounding editorial or organic content. It has evolved from traditional advertising by prioritising a non-disruptive, user-centric approach.

Native advertising has been gaining traction because of ad practices that affect the user browsing experience such as clickbaiting and pop-up ads, and the use of ad blockers.

What makes native advertising different from traditional advertising?

Native ads are different from the intrusive pop-ups or banner ads that users have learned to ignore. Instead, they appear as a natural part of the platform, blending harmoniously with the content. This non-disruptive approach fosters a more engaging user experience. However, like traditional advertising, it is important for native ads to have an indicator stating that it is paid content.

Types of Native Advertising

Most native ads are integrated into the site to appear as content that the users will find interesting since they are related to or similar to the content they are already consuming. Native ads can come in various formats, from short- and long-form articles to images and videos that captivate and inform their audience. Here are the common types of native advertising:

In-feed Ads

These ads appear within a platform’s content feed, mimicking the surrounding content’s look and feel. They are commonly found on social media and news websites.

Sponsored Content

Sponsored content is one of the most common types of content. Sponsored content entails creating valuable, informative, or entertaining content relevant to your target audience. It is then promoted as an article, video, or infographic.

Recommendation Ads

These ads are displayed along with editorial content, usually under a recommendations heading. They suggest related content or products based on a user’s browsing habits. You often see them at the end of articles or the lower portion of e-commerce sites.

Promoted Listings

Frequently found on e-commerce platforms, promoted listings highlight specific products or services to drive conversions and sales.

Social Media Ads

Social media platforms offer native advertising options, such as sponsored posts, stories, and carousel ads. This is one of the most popular types of native advertising since the algorithms on social media platforms make it easier for advertisers to target and reach their desired audiences. It is also easier for users to share the native ads, especially if the content is engaging.

Advantages of Native Advertising

Native advertising encompasses various formats, each with unique benefits. Here are some common types:

Enhances user engagement and experience

Native ads seamlessly blend with content, resulting in higher user engagement and a more enjoyable browsing experience.

Improves click-through-rates (CTRs) and conversion rates

Studies show that native ads often outperform traditional banner ads and paid ads, leading to increased click-through and conversion rates. Users who click on native ads tend to have stronger buying intent, hence they are more likely to convert.

Builds trust and credibility

When done right, native advertising builds trust with your audience, as it feels less like advertising and more like valuable content.

Seamlessly blends into the existing content

Native ads fit organically within the platform’s content, making them less disruptive and more effective. Since they look and feel similar, their engagement is usually on par with regular organic content.

Gains access to ad-blocking audiences

As more users install ad-blockers, native advertising offers a way to reach those who have tuned out traditional ads. They are less intrusive and are, therefore, less likely to annoy users and disrupt the user experience.

Native Advertising Challenges and Considerations

While native advertising offers numerous benefits, it is not without its challenges:

Advertising ethics and transparency

Maintaining transparency is vital to retaining trust with your audience. Ensure your native ads are clearly labelled to avoid any concerns that readers are being deceived into consuming paid content without their knowledge.

Striking the right balance between content and advertising

Native ads must provide value without being overly promotional. Finding this balance is essential. Having an authentic voice and approach when creating your content is one way to achieve this. On the other hand, it is important to use appropriate tone, wording, and images according to the platform, so that your content inspires trust and engages your audience.

Measuring the effectiveness of native ads

Quantifying the success of native advertising campaigns can be tricky. To measure the success of your campaign, keep an eye on the ad’s CTR, which will let you know how interesting or relevant it is, as well as engagement and interaction through clicks, comments, and shares. 

To determine your native ad’s performance, you can track the average cost per click, or the amount paid for every click on the ad, and the average cost per acquisition or the amount paid for every conversion from the ad. You can then measure the return on investment by looking at how much sales or revenue the ad generated versus how much it cost to run.

Avoiding common pitfalls in native advertising campaigns

Learn from the mistakes of others by avoiding common pitfalls, such as clickbait headlines or irrelevant content.

How to Implement Native Advertising?

Ready to dive into native advertising? Here is a step-by-step guide to creating a successful campaign:

Step 1: Choosing the right platform and format

Select the platforms and ad formats that align with your target audience and goals. What is a native advertising platform? It is a medium that enables publishers and advertisers to create and promote native ads.

Step 2: Crafting compelling and relevant content

Create high-quality, valuable content that resonates with your audience. This is an important aspect of native advertising that you need to have in order to get the best results.

Step 3: Targeting the right audience

Leverage audience targeting options to ensure your native ads reach the most relevant users and optimise their performance.

Step 4: Budgeting and monitoring the campaign

Allocate your budget wisely and closely monitor the campaign’s performance to make necessary adjustments and ensure efficient ad spending.

Native Advertising and Content Marketing

In the digital marketing realm, native advertising and content marketing often go hand in hand. Native advertising helps content marketers to execute their marketing strategies by positioning native ads alongside relevant content that their audience is already engaging with. By adopting a similar format and style as the organic content, the native ads are non-intrusive, complementing and enhancing the user experience. 

Content marketing’s aim is to build brand trust and authority by producing and making high-quality, relevant content available to your target audience mainly on your own website, through a variety of strategies such as improved search rankings and clickability. A content marketer can utilise native advertising as a means to place content in front of audiences they would not be able to reach using traditional advertising. 

The main difference between content marketing and native advertising is that while the former prefers owned media and platforms, the latter leverages third-party platforms, such as other publishers, to reach a wider audience. To complement your content marketing strategy, native ads must be more educational than promotional and impart something of value to your audience. Native ads must contain valuable information your audience is interested in knowing rather than just telling them what you want.

Conclusion

In conclusion, native advertising is a must-know concept for online businesses looking to thrive in the digital age. Their less intrusive nature makes them less annoying than traditional ads and provides a better user experience for those experiencing ad fatigue. This can result in better engagement, higher retention, and improved conversion. 

As you move forward in your marketing journey, remember that native advertising offers a unique opportunity to connect with your audience in a meaningful way. In this day and age of highly dynamic and increasingly competitive digital marketing, it is essential to adapt to changes in user behaviour and needs to stay relevant and ahead of the competition.

If you are interested in exploring native advertising further and need expert guidance, reach out to Primal Digital Agency. We are a leading digital agency dedicated to helping businesses excel online and beyond. Contact us today to discuss your marketing needs with your team of experts and discover how native advertising can work for you!