The world of digital marketing never sits still. It is always evolving at breakneck speed as marketers develop new tools, platforms, and techniques to outperform their opponents.
One recent example of this is the rise of native advertising. This game-changing approach to promotion offers a number of benefits that can elevate a brand's online presence. This article will define the new term and explore some of the benefits of a strong native advertising strategy.
What Is Native Advertising?
Traditional advertising stands out. A billboard on the side of the road, a commercial break, a pop-up—these are intrusive and conspicuous promotions. They insert themselves into the paths of consumers, demanding attention and interrupting their focus on their current activities.
Native advertising goes in the other direction. As native advertising platform Nativo explains, it seeks to place non-invasive advertisements that seamlessly blend with their content surroundings. In the words of the brand, "In essence, native advertising is intended to look and feel like it is a part of the platform's other content."
To better understand what this concept looks like in action, consider an ad on a website. Normally, this would emphasize a product or service. It might use salesy verbiage or push a specific sale or deal.
In contrast, a native ad would present information. Often, this would be a targeted message designed to benefit or interest an audience. It might even be a one-of-a-kind reveal or industry secret. What is essential is that an ad of this nature focuses on being relevant. It has clear utility for the end user rather than focusing on a promotional message of the brand itself.
5 Capabilities of a Strong Native Advertising Strategy
Understanding the difference between traditional and native advertising is one thing. But what are the benefits of the latter? Here are a few of the best capabilities that a strong native advertising strategy has to offer.
1. Greater Brand Credibility
One of the most obvious benefits of native advertising is the positive impact it has on a brand. When a company provides useful, relevant information to a potential customer, it fosters a positive image of the company. Add in the fact that you're quietly boosting brand awareness, and native advertising becomes a powerful way to cultivate customer loyalty—even before someone has made a purchase.
2. Greater Quality Marketing
Marketers design native ads for maximum positive impact. They provide unique, expertise-driven information with the explicit purpose of benefiting the target audience. To do this, the information must be highly targeted to the person interacting with the ad. This means native ad campaigns naturally have a more targeted reach, which refines its results and leads to higher-quality marketing.
3. Happier Consumers
Native ads set the stage for a more willing buy-in, either during the ad interaction or afterward. This is important. Memory recall in relation to advertising drops to 50% after 24 hours (according to Nielsen). Marketers want repeated exposure to their advertisements without creating resentment in their target audience. Native ads offer a seamless way to do just that.
4. More Engaged Consumers
Along with avoiding upsetting consumers with disruptive display ads, native advertising encourages greater engagement. Remember, the goal of a native ad is to offer user-targeted information. This higher degree of utility is more likely to spur individuals to take action in pursuit of a brand's more comprehensive solutions.
5. Seamless Content Integration
Content strategies are a major part of modern marketing. It also aligns well with native marketing. Content Marketing Institute defines the purpose of content marketing as "a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience—and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action." This purpose-driven, user-focused approach makes it easy to introduce complementary native ads into high-performing content without hurting user experience.
Native Ads: The Digital Marketing Movement of the Future
Traditional advertising rhythms subject consumers to an excessive amount of advertisements every day. (The total number of ads viewed per day can reach as high as 5,000 per person, according to the University of Southern California.)
Native ads provide a way to ease the congestion for consumers while still offering brands a way to effectively reach their target audiences. It is a movement that will only grow moving forward as marketers look for ways to navigate a cookieless, AI-driven future.
