In this article, we are profitable to talk about what native advertising is, analyze in detail the most common formats in which it remains present, and see the benefits for your brand. If you want to reveal all its secrets, keep reading!

Also read: What is Content Curation?And Its Five Essential Tools?

What is Native Advertising?

We can define native advertising or native advertising as “a form of advertising in paid media that adapts in form and functionality to the environment in which it appears, allowing it to impact the user in a less intrusive way than with traditional advertising.”

An essential element of this advertising type is that it is not perceived as advertising since it is 100% integrated into its environment. For example, when it remains located in an online medium, we will see that it fully respects the editorial style format.

Still, for ethical reasons, we must always clearly show that this remains promoted content.

Native advertising depends on the quality of the content.  It must not be excessively promotional and must always provide value to the user, whether in the form of information, entertainment, or, better yet, both at the same time!

We must first discuss the user’s problems and concerns, and only then can we present our product or service as a possible solution.

Another key is that it must remain fully adapted to the different devices and platforms that we can find on the Internet, either through texts, images, videos, or interactive content. The user can dialogue.

Why does Native Advertising Work?

According to Online Publishers Association (OPA) surveys, 53% of users are more attracted to native advertising than to other traditional formats. To understand this success, you have to put yourself in the user’s shoes and understand their browsing experience.

Generally, when we visit a web page, we can see a large number of banner ads. As users have become “desensitized” in front of them, they have become more and more visible, more intrusive, and more annoying to try to get attention. The result is that the experience of reading or consuming the content is affected and, instead of being attracted to the brand, the user perceives the ads as a nuisance. So much so that the use of ad-blocking programs has increased by 92% since 2014.

Instead, native advertising is seamlessly integrated into the user’s browsing experience, for example, to offer them content similar to what they have just read and that may therefore interest them. In this way, it not only allows you to bypass ad blockers but is also much more attractive.

For users, native advertising has many advantages. Instead of invading him to claim his attention, he offers him something that interests him and that he wants to consume. Although it remains labeled as advertising, it does not generate a reaction of rejection and avoidance because it tells you things you want to know. And for publicists, it is a chance to have the attention of potential customers to develop the brand’s story in a much more extensive way than with traditional banners. As the Anglo-Saxons say, it’s a win-win!

Benefits of Native Advertising

More new traffic.  Native advertising allows us to reach users who no longer respond to traditional advertising, representing an exciting traffic source. Besides, this traffic usually has a low cost per click.

More visibility.  Users are “trained” to ignore advertising when reading articles online. But being integrated, native ads overcome these defenses and be 53% more visible than classic banners.

Better browsing experience.  Since we are not interrupting users’ reading, the browsing experience is much more pleasant with native advertising, and consequently, our brand reputation improves. The result is that users receive this advertising better and are more willing to share it, especially in content ads.  32% of users would share advertising through their social networks if it provided them with reasonable value. Therefore, we see that the chances of triggering a viral response are much greater than in the case of traditional advertising.

We are learning about the interests of the target.  The analysis of the reactions to the content that we disseminate will allow us to modulate and adapt our communication strategy to be increasingly effective.

Native advertising is not aimed at direct sales but attracting users in the early stages of interest through engaging content. Therefore, it is an excellent way to create audiences for retargeting campaigns and guide them little by little on the path to becoming a loyal customer of the brand.

Native Advertising Formats

There are numerous native advertising formats, as well as different classifications of them. For this article, we will focus on the three that we consider most relevant today: branded content, native display ads, and content ads.

1) Branded content

Branded content consists of content created and published by third parties and sponsored by the brand. The most common example is the sponsored posts of influencers, who reach agreements with brands to promote them through their social networks. This type of content is trendy on Instagram.

Another example of branded content is editorial articles published in the media that talk about a brand’s products and services, such as gift suggestions for occasions such as Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day.

It is essential to note that the creation of the content corresponds entirely to the influencer or the medium in these cases. Hence, there is no such rigid control as in traditional advertising. It is about a more open dialogue between the brand, the influencer, and their audience.

The great secret of branded content is that it generates trust in the audience. Since the brand remains recommended by a user or a medium that users follow and trust. As always in advertising, it is essential to have solid ethical principles. So that this relationship works and the user’s trust remains not betrayed.

2) Native display ads

Native display ads are promotional advertising 100% adapted to your environment. They remain displayed through a network of publishers, such as search engines, apps, or blogs.

These contents remain identified as advertising; the most common is that they carry the label of “sponsored content” or similar. Still, as they do not hinder the reading experience, the user does not perceive them as intrusive. They are received much differently than traditional banner advertising, and the proof is that they receive higher click-through rates. According to some studies, CTR can be double and brand recall four times higher.

When creating native display ads, we can opt for a more promotional approach or direct the user to a content site.

3) Content ads

We can define content ads as content sponsored by the brand displayed as suggested reading in editorial media and blogs. We seek to attract traffic to our site through high-value, non-commercial content, which focuses on the topics of interest to the user. Therefore, this type of native advertising integrates into its environment at a functional and aesthetic level and in the background.

The content sponsored through content ads will always be related to the brand; for example, in a tourism brand, we can talk about travel destinations. But it is not intended to sell, or the user is required to convert since we understand that it is still in the early stages of the conversion funnel.

For this type of advertising to be effective. We must attract the user to continue browsing our website, subscribe. Or perform other actions (always not related to the sale). In this way, we can continue to nurture our relationship with him through a lead nurturing strategy.

These ads are usually displayed at the end of a news story, suggesting that they read an article. Or watch a video related to the content they just consumed. This relationship must remain well established so that the user is interested in the content we are going to offer. Suggestions remain usually presented in a  block or widget with various related content, all integrated into the communication medium’s design.

When the user clicks on the headline and image displayed in the widget. We redirect them to a web page or an article on our blog with the promised content. With this, we are offering you high-value information and focusing on forming a long-term bond.

Conclusions on Native Advertising

Native advertising is booming and, for most brands, is an essential part of their marketing plans. If you want to succeed with yours, dare to jump right in! to the pool and keep these final recommendations in mind  :

Clearly define your goals. As in any other marketing tool, before launching into native advertising. We must be very clear about what we are looking to achieve. As we have seen, this type of advertising works very well to attract users in the early stages of the conversion funnel. So we must look for ways to retain them to become part of our database or our audiences for remarketing.

Take utmost care of the quality of the content. It has to adapt to your audience’s tastes fully and interests, meet their expectations (or even exceed them). And have the best technical quality you can offer. The more value you provide to users, the easier it will be for your content to end up going viral.

Look for integration. Of course, native ads should be similar to their environment at the design level, but the proper integration goes further. Think about the places where your ads will remain shown, the editorial line. And the type of audience you are looking for.

Promote in its fair measure. Content ads must represent your brand and values. But you must be very cautious when introducing promotions, offers. Or other promotional content. Think of them as the first few kilometers of a long-distance race to reach the conversion goal.

Identify your native advertising. Finally, remember that we seek to offer a smooth browsing and reading experience. But the content promoted by a brand must remain indicated as such. If they add value, this fact should not generate rejection in the user.

Also read: 5 Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing