Native advertising is a content marketing strategy that pays to post content that appears organically sourced to readers. Thus increasing user engagement. Therefore, in this article, we will review the concepts of this type of advertising and how it differs from content marketing. As well as seven steps to developing a successful native advertising strategy.

Difference between content marketing and native advertising

Native advertising is the use of paid or third-party advertising that supports a brand and its goals. In this type of advertising, the content matches the form and function of the medium in which it appears. On the other hand, content marketing is the strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable and relevant content. What is done on a constant basis is to attract and retain a well-defined audience.

Where is Native Advertising found?

Native advertising is most often found on social media platforms in the form of paid ad placements. In a way that mirrors the look and feel of regular content on those platforms. Therefore, it does not appear to be advertising at first glance. Additionally, critics of native ads claim that it is a way to trick users into thinking that the content they see is not advertised.

However, when done right, native advertising is not disruptive and misleading at the same time. Digital Marketers prefer native advertising to more traditional forms of social media advertising. Because it doesn't drive readers away from your online activity.

Benefits of Native Advertising

  • They increase brand awareness and recognition of those brands.
  • Reach the target audience
  • They educate the market about the products and services your brand offers.
  • They are invaluable for acquiring new customers.

What makes a good native advertising strategy?

Native advertising is now a more effective lead-generation tool for businesses than traditional advertising. In fact, the United States is projected to spend $44 billion on native advertising campaigns in 2019 alone. So when thinking about your native advertising strategy, consider:

Who is your audience

  • What you want to achieve, such as increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or achieving sales
  • What content will help achieve your goals? To do this, think of something interesting, valuable, and relevant, instead of forcefully selling it.
  • Which platforms you will run your native ad campaigns on. Be it on publisher sites or social media.
  • What kind of native ad campaigns you will run. Such as content discovery, embedded ads, recommendation widgets, video campaigns, paid search, and more.

How will you measure success?

7 steps to a successful native advertising strategy

Trying out a new marketing strategy is sometimes daunting, especially if you've established your current focus. But it's easy to get started with native ad campaigns. So you won't have to burn a hole in your budget to do so. Here are some steps you need to follow.

1. Set campaign goals

Like all marketing, creating a native advertising strategy starts with setting goals. Therefore, be clear about what you want to achieve with your native ad campaigns. Typical goals for this include:

  • Generation of leads
  • Getting more sales
  • Acquire newsletter subscribers or site members
  • Boost website traffic
  • Increased brand visibility

You can also think of your goals as performance goals that use content to drive conversions or awareness goals. Which, analyze how many people see your content and how much time they spend doing it.

2. Define your target audience

The next step is to define the audience you want to target. You may have an idea of the people you want to reach, based on their buyer personas. Therefore, this is a good starting point. But native ads can also show content to people who have never heard of your brand. However, they are open to reading useful information related to it.

It is also advisable to keep the orientation minimal at the beginning. If you don't prejudge the result, you can see who is responding to your ads. As your native advertising strategy progresses, you can target ads by age, gender, interests, location, device usage, buyer intent, and more. This ensures you are targeting the right people, with the right content, devices, places, and times.

3. Select the right publishers

Platforms like Taboola give you access to thousands of publisher websites running native ad campaigns. As part of your native advertising strategy, you can choose to work with traditional or new media publishers, or a combination of both. The important thing is that they fit well with your native ad campaigns.

To establish this, look at reach as the size of the audience that could potentially view your content. Also look at relevancy, if the site's content and audience demographics match the people you want to reach. What's more, there are filters available for publisher sites that determine where you'll show your native ads.

4. Identify valuable content

Content is at the core of any native advertising strategy, but you need to change your mindset. Instead of thinking like an advertiser, think like a reader and consider what appeals to your target audience. Actually, if you are looking for informative, relevant, and valuable content, you are on the right track. But if you don't have the right content, create it and make your native ad strategy more effective.

Content to consider includes:

Useful content to educate and inform people and help them learn about your brand.

Aimed at generating leads for particular products or services. But still informative.

Content to drive sales.

5. Create engaging creative

Once you've identified your campaign content, it's time to create your ads. Titles and thumbnails are key. In fact, they're your only chance to grab readers' attention and get them to click.

It's worth experimenting with different combinations in your native advertising until you figure out which one works best for your target audience. The same URL may need a different title or thumbnail image, for example, depending on your audience or location.

6. Allocate campaign spending

CPC, or cost per click, is the amount you spend each time someone clicks on your campaign elements. So start by identifying your ideal CPC and spending limit. As well as how much you want to spend overall.

You can get useful traffic for spending between $50 and $100 per day. But at the beginning of your native advertising campaign, it is advisable to go for a high CPC. This puts your content in front of more people and gives you more data to work with when you're ready to optimize your campaigns.

7. Follow up, test, and adjust

Whether you run a native advertising agency or go it alone, creating an effective native advertising strategy isn't "set it and forget it." For this, it is essential to monitor your native advertising campaigns to ensure that they are achieving their goals.

Check the data daily, especially in the beginning so you can experiment if things don't work out the way you want. You can also A/B test headlines and images to get the most effective combination for each campaign.