With the ever-changing nature of the marketing world, it is vital that the ways we communicate are innovative, data-driven, and successful. Digital advertising is a relevant strategy brands are leveraging to convey their messaging in a cost-effective, digestible way.
Exposure to digital advertising is basically unavoidable if you have a mobile device, laptop computer, access to the internet, or any connection to the digital world. While it is true that a business’s advertisements need to be online and specially targeted in order to reach the intended audience, even then a typical display banner or video isn’t always enough. An overly branded, disruptive advertisement can create a distrust and annoyance with the consumer. This is where native advertising comes in – to combat that effect.
Native advertising matches the look, feel, and function of the website in which it appears by jiving with the editorial flow of the page and containing an eye-catching image, headline, and text. Native advertising allows a brand to maintain a high level of trustworthiness, which also avoids the obtrusive nature that can be associated with digital advertising.
There are several ways to maximize effectiveness of a native advertising campaign. First, the creative can be either static or video, with the ability to A/B test between headlines, primary text, and said creatives to ensure that the most impactful combination of assets is being served to the strongest resonating audience.
Next, and perhaps even more importantly, is the ability to target and reach the consumer during their normal web or app browsing experience. An ad is only as effective as the audience who sees it and responds to it, which is why using granular targeting tactics such as global location (zip codes, states, countries, DMAs, geo-fencing), demographic, behavioral, B2B, predicative, contextual, domain (allow and blocklists), CRM, retargeting, and more are successful in this effort. The perfect customer can fall in many different buckets, so split testing various audience efforts creates a more effective marketing funnel.
When a consumer is served a native ad, it reaches them where they are. Whether they are browsing CNN for the latest news update or just scrolling through their favorite app, granular targeting puts a brand’s ad in front of the person most likely to respond. When someone clicks on the ad being served to them, it can either link to a specialized URL (an article, petition, homepage, etc.) or it can stay within the original publication and click into a sponsored article that also matches the look and feel of the website surrounding it.
Whether a business is new to the digital advertising world, or needing to introduce a fresh, timely tactic to avoid getting stale, native advertising is a cost-effective, digestible way to achieve measurable success.
To speak to our team about how native advertising can work for your organization or brand, please reach out to hello@4media-group.com.