By Christopher Klosowski, the president of Simple digital downloadsa leading platform that makes selling digital products a breeze.
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Native advertising gradually changes people’s perception of advertisements. It’s an advertising strategy I see companies around the world using to gain traction and generate quality leads.
Since I’ve never been a fan of in-your-face ads, native ads have always been a go-to option for me to maximize my business’ reach and connect with a relevant audience.
The beauty of native ads is that they go well with organic content. This distinguishes them from other paid advertising formats, which somehow affect the user experience.
So if you haven’t yet considered running native ad campaigns, here are a few reasons why I’d encourage you to do so.
1. User Experience
This had to be at the top of the list because it literally sets native advertising apart from other advertising strategies.
Businesses like to use platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to run paid advertising campaigns. And no matter how well thought out the ad placement is, these ads tend to affect the overall user experience.
On the other hand, native ads convey a message that is cleverly embedded in organic content. You can use them to generate awareness and to present a suitable solution to the intended target group.
2. Budget
Native ads generally don’t always require a huge financial investment. Since there are many ad formats to choose from, it may be easier for you to adapt your advertising strategy to budget constraints. This makes native advertising a strategy growing companies should consider, regardless of their scale.
3. Customization
With native ads, you can take custom targeting to a whole new level. As I said before, there are many forms of native ads to consider. You should use this fact as an opportunity to personalize your ad campaigns to match the characteristics of your audience. Consider whether partnerships, in-feed ads or content recommendations are the best fit for your audience and fine-tune a targeting strategy.
4. Lead Generation
To get the best results from a native ad campaign, you need to integrate it with the content that best matches the interests and preferences of your target audience. Technically, you kill two birds with one stone: generate awareness through personalized content and promote your brand.
Since native ads are combined with relevant content, there is a good chance that your message will reach the right audience. So people who click on the call-to-action are probably genuinely interested in what you offer.
5. Public Acceptance
A few years ago, it seemed like it was completely normal for people to make impulsive purchasing decisions. And that’s the kind of environment where paid marketing really thrives.
Over time, many people have learned that it’s not a good idea to make purchasing decisions in the heat of the moment because chances are you’ll end up buying something you don’t really need.
So people have become research oriented and started to find the right solutions to meet their needs. And this change in behavior can make people less receptive to ads. According to Google/Ipsos research from 2017-2018 53% of customers always research before making purchasing decisions. So to gain traction and attract a relevant audience, you need to help people find the most suitable solutions for them.
And since native advertising uses content to educate people and offers appropriate solutions in a subtle way, the campaigns can be more accepted by audiences representing different niches.
6. Click-through rate
Click-through rate (CTR) is a very important metric that companies use to gauge the effectiveness of their respective advertising campaigns. It represents the percentage of people who saw an ad and actually clicked on it.
As the day goes by, it seems to become more challenging for companies to increase the click-through rate of their respective ad campaigns. A majority of businesses rely heavily on advertising to promote their products or services. However, they don’t realize that excessive use of ads can lead to ad fatigue. That’s when people can become indifferent to your ads, which can cause a drop in CTR.
However, native advertising is different from other paid marketing strategies. Here you don’t put your profit above the user experience. And that’s one of the reasons why I think native ads have the potential to outperform conventional ad campaigns. According to a study by ShareThrough/IPG Media, native ads register a 18% higher purchase intent compared to standard banner ads.
That’s about it: the six reasons for growing businesses to consider native ads. If you haven’t run a native ad yet, try it the next time you design a paid marketing campaign.
There are several native ad formats you can try, such as in-feed ads, article recommendations, promoted listings, and so on. You need to select the best format for your business by looking at the audience profile and intent of your ads. But trial and error is often the best way to see what works for you and produces optimal results.
Remember that the main purpose of serving native ads is to ensure an uninterrupted user experience. So be as subtle as possible when conveying your message.
