Native Advertising is a new word for text based advertising that looks like content, but may or may not really be just advertising for the newest, coolest product. They are another form of advertorial, but this time they are more interesting, more profitable and a lot more creative.
One of the best things about Native Advertising is that it’s non-intrusive, unlike infomercials, and aren’t “in the way” like pop-ups. However, they get the message across and are highly effective and highly profitable. Here are a few things you need to know:
1. Native is Everywhere.
Almost all the publishers are trying Native Advertising, one way or another on their websites. We’ve already had companies like CNN do it forever, but this year New York Times, Conde Nast and others looked at Native as the way to increase revenue fast.
Everything in theory is “Native.” When a promoted article just seems like a promote article that people might be interested in, it’s not always going to register as advertising to consumers. Being so closely integrated with the website, consumers often can’t tell what they are being sold, or even if they are being sold.
2.Content is King (Again)
Content is completely mainstream now, and publishers are way cool about using it on their websites without fear of users rejecting Native. By using meta-data to recommend content that users are actually interested in, we are able now to present information that they really want to know about. This is awesome for everyone as it allows advertisers to have an effective method to amplify their message.
Revcontent is one company that is taking over the content space by using content recommendation widgets that are easy to install on any platform. They are doing something like 200 Billion Content Recommendations a month now.
3. Programmatic Buying is Huge
Now that everyone realizes that Native Advertising is just another word for “making a lot of money,” technology companies are quickly looking to get into the game. This means that programmic companies are entering the space fast and introducing automatic promoted listings that will show everywhere. Already Google’s DoubleClick Ad Exchange is heavily testing the waters with amazing success.
Google partnered with the New York Times to make Mobile Flex, a native advertising product for mobile. According to AdAge: “Frame Flex, introduced last year, is a suite of natively styled ads that increased click-through rates by 40% to 50% over standard 300×250 in-line units, according to the Times. But expanding the ad format beyond mobile proved challenging for the Times, which had to code and compile renditions of each ad for review by the advertiser.”
4. Consumers Are Ready
I wouldn’t go as far as some commentators who seem to promote that consumers love it, but they definitely like it more than more annoying forms of promotions. This is a great transition from being interrupted and being spammed every few minutes, but instead is less “in-the-face” marketing methods.
Native Advertising blends high-quality content into an organic experience of the platform that the user trusts. Native is everywhere, and one can make the argument that Google advertising, with promoted search results is one of the first forms of “native.”
5. Native Advertising Works
In a recent study conducted by Tapestry Research that compared native and traditional ads, native was found to be move informative, more interesting, and more helpful than banner advertising. Native ads just look better than traditional banner ads. They flow nicely with the content, which can make the ads more appealing in general.
It’s easy to see how native advertising can be a powerful and highly effective format for businesses to use to get their potential prospects’ attention. In today’s world of nearly non-stop media, most of us are accustomed to seeing advertisements everywhere we look. This can create “ad blindness,” a problem that’s plagued marketers for years.
Native advertising enables businesses to essentially integrate their marketing messages with the surrounding content so that they’ll appear less jarring or intrusive, reducing the risk of turning viewers off before getting a chance to reach them.
6. (And Yes, #6) There are Tons of Legal Issues
Just because it’s popular and everyone is doing it, doesn’t mean that everyone is doing it legally. More and more companies are getting in trouble for violating native advertising rules. To help marketers take advantage of this type of advertising without violating consumer’s rights, the FTC has just released some guidelines for this specific type of marketing practice. They released a document called, “Native Advertising: A Guide for Business” which is designed to help companies to learn about the laws related to this type of marketing and remain in compliance with them.
