Tag Archive for: native advertising

Native Ads: Are They Worth The Hype?

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Advertising in general has become so second nature to anyone browsing the web that they almost block out anything that could be considered an ad. This means that your ad either needs to stand out enough to somehow be memorable or annoyingly shoved in a potential customer’s face. Both options are not ideal, and may potentially irritate your audience more than intrigue them.

Enter Native ads: a fairly simple yet powerful tool, and a true master in the art of camouflage. The whole purpose of native advertising is to blend in with other website content so your audience doesn’t necessarily recognize it as an advertisement.

But of course the main question is: do they work?

Answer: Yes, but it really depends on your goals and your industry.

What does a native ad look like?

Here is an example from Yahoo News of an advertisement for a SmartWatch disguised to blend in as a news article.

native ad example

Native ads can show up in several different places, and can be optimized for desktop or mobile. News sites are the most common as it’s common to blend in with other news articles.

Why are they growing in popularity every year?

Outbrain, one of the most popular native advertisement platforms, has several reasons listed.

Reason #1 is fairly straightforward, the data.

Native advertising works. Consumers look at native ads 53% more than display ads. Native ads create an 18% increase in purchase intent, and the visual engagement with native ads is the same, and even slightly higher, than the original editorial content.

Another reason for booming success is native ads combat ad fatigue. Is the frequency on your ads through the roof and your clickthrough rate shrinking by the minute? Native ads are brand exposure nestled in with editorial content, so they don’t exhaust your audience. As long as the content you provide is relevant and engaging, you will see native advertising engages the audience.

Why should you use them?

If your ads are constantly being blocked by ad blockers, native advertising will be a great place to start. A lot of advertisers are also seeing an increase in brand awareness and engagement as a result of using native ads compared to banner ads.

 

Why shouldn’t you use them?

It depends on the product, service, and industry on occasion, and it may also be the case that you shouldn’t go for native ads. It may be the case that targeting options from native ad platforms are too broad for your industry. It could also be your target audience may engage more with an advertisement truly presented as an ad and not intentionally camouflaged into a news page.

At the end of the day a native ad is a native ad. We sometimes click them if the ad creative and headline is promising enough. But at the end of the day, it’s no secret. We all know it’s an ad and we’re okay with it. We highly recommend running a pilot with a native advertising platform and testing your performance. After all, the data will drive your strategy decisions in the long run!

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4 Digital Marketing Trends to Follow

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The world of digital marketing is ever-changing. Constant updates, innovations, emerging technology, it all makes it a bit difficult to keep up. Here is a quick highlight of current trends to pay attention to within the coming months.

Best Advertising Platforms

It comes as no surprise that Google is the premier digital advertising channel. A report by Craig Smith states that Google earns 77% of total search revenue generated in the United States. This is not to mention the other ad variations that can be created on Google’s AdWords platform.

The second largest advertiser in command is Facebook. The social media platform recently boasted its audience of 2 billion users. This immense amount of people creates the perfect kind of market for nearly any and every business. The Facebook Ads Manager also allows for very precise targeting, which only appeals to advertisers even more. Low conversion costs and high ROIs combine with these aforementioned factors to create the ultimate advertising experience.

Benefits of Native Advertising

These two strategies are limitless in their potential. Consumers have become a bit blind when it comes to obvious banner ads. However, when an ad appears to be part of the site itself, users are much more likely to engage with it. In fact, HubSpot records that these native ads are viewed 53% more than traditional banner ads.

A lot of this has to do with the fact that users don’t trust banner ads because they typically view them as possible spam tactics. Simply put, the more natural your ad looks, the better.

The Age of Mobile

Your ads are in serious trouble if they are not optimized for mobile devices. More searches are being conducted on mobile than on desktop, which includes both browsing and actual purchases. A seamless user experience is key. Without it, 53% of these users will abandon their search, according to DoubleClick by Google.

Various platforms are changing to integrate their processes into one easy action. Facebook now allows you to generate a form within your ad that will never even take the consumer off site to complete. This is exactly the kind of interaction that individuals are looking for as they make the shift toward mobile.

Influence of Social Media

If you can get a consumer to stop and take a look at your product, they are much more likely to convert. This means pulling out all the stops. In general, it is better to create content that contains an image or gif if possible. It also helps to use hashtags or mention other noteworthy people or brands in your posts to seem more legitimate and trustworthy.

The other major component to social media marketing is reviews. Consumers trust what others have to say about a product or services. These opinions weigh in heavily on the buyer’s decision making process. A trustworthy review translates to affect 84% of consumers, according to a survey by BrightLocal. This makes it imperative to include reviews in your social media.