What is Native Advertising?

As content marketers, we struggle daily with the public’s ever  growing ability to ignore our brilliant creations. With the average CTR  now at a teeny tiny 0.1%, according to DoubleClick research, the impetus  to come up with something new is dire. Then up pops native advertising  and suddenly response to content is improving.

The chances are  quite high that you’ve already been exposed to native advertising, but  you might not have recognized it for what it is.

Defining Native Advertising

Small Biz Trends  defines native advertising as online advertising that mimics the form  and function of the platform where the ad appears. It blends in with the  content around it because it is formatted to appear that way. Even  though the native ad is labeled as ‘sponsored’ or ‘branded’ it fits  seamlessly into its surroundings, deflecting the negativity most readers  feel about advertising.

Native advertising can take several forms:

Sponsored Content  – These can be articles or videos seen on large publishing sites such  as BuzzFeed. Like an advertorial, it is an ad that provides useful  information about a topic related to the brand. As an example of sponsored content, Purina might create and place an article on canine nutrition.

Promoted Listings – Usually found on e-commerce sites, these are lists that feature sponsored products.

Paid Search Ads – Found at the top of search results, these ads look like the search results.

Recommendation Widgets – These are lists of products found at the end of articles or products, that say something like, ‘You might also like’.

Pros & Cons of Native Advertising

Some believe native advertising is a bit sketchy. Their point of view is that it is an ad trying to hide from being an ad.

Experienced  readers are aware of the difference between content and advertising  content, but there is the opportunity to have readers feel deceived when  native advertising is poorly disclosed.

The lessons to learn here  are to make sure your native advertising is properly labeled and to  provide real value in your content. It’s hard for someone to feel  disappointed when they’ve just learned something useful or important.  One benefit to the reader is that it doesn’t disrupt the user experience  the way banner ads and pop-ups do.

Forbes  reported on a study conducted by Sharethrough and IPG Media Lab in  which 4,770 consumers revealed that they were 25% were more likely to  look at a native ad than a banner ad, and they exhibited 18% more  purchase intent after viewing native ads.

From a content marketing point of view, native advertising is worth considering for these reasons:

• It’s not overbearing for the audience, which benefits both advertiser and publisher
• Native ads have a higher click-through rate
• Consumers are more likely to share native advertising when it contains valuable and relevant information
• Increased engagement and sharing creates the opportunity for advertisers to build a relationship with consumers
• Native ads are extremely popular with mobile users

We are now living in a content-driven world.  As a subset of content marketing, native advertising offers brands a  way to reach prospects and customers with valuable information that is  not negatively perceived the way digital ads are.

Although more  costly, native ads offer the opportunity to bring in better results for  building engagement and a greater chance that the trust consumers have  in the publisher will transfer to the native advertiser.