The art of native advertising for your business
July 11, 2024
Understanding native advertising lets your business leverage its unique advantages to reach and engage your target audience. Discover the secrets to creating successful native advertising campaigns with these best practices.
Understanding native advertising
Native advertising is a form of paid advertising that blends in with the content around it, making it less intrusive and more engaging. And while not new to marketing, the art of native advertising is a way for your business to connect with your audience in a meaningful way.
To maintain trust with your audience, you need to label native advertising as sponsored content for transparency. Native advertising statistics show that 75% of audiences trust editorial sites. Your audience is also 68% more likely to trust the native ads on editorial sites.
Native ads can take various formats, including articles, videos, social media posts and more. The goal is to create content that blends into the content of the site it is placed on and provides value.
Creating engaging native ad content
Creating engaging native ad content captures the attention of the audience and drives desired actions.
- Know your target audience: Research and understand your target audience’s interests, likes and behaviors. This knowledge will help you create content that appeals to them.
- Tailor the content to the news source: Every news source has its own unique style and format. Customize your native ad content to fit seamlessly with it.
- Provide value: Native ads should be relevant to your audience. It can be educational, entertaining or informative.
- Use compelling visuals: Visual elements can make your native ads eye-catching and engaging. Use high-quality images, videos or infographics to capture attention and effectively tell your story.
Choosing the right news source
Choosing the right news source for your native advertising campaign is important for success. Keep these best practices in mind:
- Understand your target audience’s preferred news source: Research where your target audience spends time and is the most engaged. Focus your efforts here to maximize your reach.
- Check news source demographics: Each attracts different demographics, so pick those that align with your target audience’s demographics and interests.
- Analyze news source performance: Look at their performance metrics, such as engagement rates, click-through rates and conversion rates. Choose those with a track record of delivering good results for native advertising.
- Consider compatibility: Check that the news source supports native advertising and has the tools and features to create and improve your native ad campaigns.
Optimizing for conversions
Optimize your native advertising campaign to get conversions and meet your marketing goals. Here are some tips:
- Define clear conversion goals: Determine what actions you want your audience to take from your native ads. Whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, buying something or downloading an app, make sure you know your conversion goals.
- Create compelling calls-to-action (CTAs): Use strong and easy-to-understand CTAs that encourage your audience to take the desired action.
- Watch campaign performance: Track campaigns and analyze key metrics such as click-through rates and conversion rates. Use this data to optimize your campaign for better results.
Measuring success
Use these key metrics to measure the success of your native advertising campaign and its impact on your business.
- Click-through rate (CTR): Measure the percentage of people who’ve clicked on your native ads. A higher CTR indicates your ads are working.
- The CTR for native ads is 0.16% on desktop and 0.38% on mobile, which is a significant feat compared to 0.11% for traditional banner ads.
- Conversion rate: Track the percentage of people who’ve taken the desired action after clicking on your native ads. This metric helps you test the effectiveness of your ad content and targeting.
- Cost per conversion: Calculate the cost incurred for each conversion by your native ads. This metric helps you assess the efficiency of your campaigns and optimize your budget.
- Return on investment (ROI): Determine the ROI for your native advertising campaigns. Compare the revenue or value generated against the cost of running the campaigns to assess its profitability.
- Engagement metrics: Look at engagement metrics like time spent on page, social shares and comments to measure how much engagement your native ads are getting.
Native advertising is an art. It needs careful planning to create content that blends in with the news source. But it must still promote your business. Focus on integration, relevancy, value and transparency for native ads that resonate with your audience.
Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter for more insights like these delivered straight to your inbox. And follow us on LinkedIn for more valuable advertising trends and tips.
