There is a lot of information noise around us, so it becomes more and more difficult to advertise products in the usual ways. Advertisers are constantly inventing new methods, but there remains one, the traditional one, which does not lose its relevance in all this flow. We are talking about native advertising.
In this article I will talk about what it is, “what it is eaten with” and give some successful examples of its use.
Defining native ads
Native advertising is an unobtrusive presentation of a product or service. Its main feature is action in the context of the site. This is not an ordinary display of a sales proposal – such ads are not always recognized as advertising, they show the value of the product, not its features, thereby not causing rejection from people.
By using this type of content, you can get around “banner blindness”. This is a phenomenon that is caused by an excessive abundance of conventional advertisements and information noise. With it, visitors or customers do not notice or perceive ad units.
Pros of native advertising
This type of advertising is quite effective, and, of course, it has a lot of advantages, among which I would especially like to highlight the following:
- The impossibility of blocking using special programs or extensions. This is because ad blockers do not accept such ads.
- No getting into the zone of “banner blindness”.
- Great combination with the context of the site.
- Reflecting audience expectations.
- Absence of invasion into a person’s personal space, obsession and elements of persuasion.
- Showing the process of consuming a product.
- Creating a positive attitude towards the advertiser brand.
- Matching the tone and style of the site where the content is being posted.
Problems
Still, there are reasons why many people do not like native ads. But the most compelling one is misleading, i.e. when such an ad is made incorrectly, that is, it has no transparency and reveals the advertiser. People just sit on the Internet and, bumping into such details, understand that they are in front of an advertisement. They feel cheated.
And here are some more examples of problems that can be found in this type of ad:
- Imitation of experience and emotion. It turns out that the one who advertises allegedly used the product earlier and therefore decided to tell his audience about it. It doesn’t always look convincing. By the way, this error is often found in the Instagram feed, haven’t you noticed?
- Weak involvement in the topic. Here everything also proceeds from the fact that the person was not particularly interested in the product and did not have experience in using it. As a result, he talks about a product or service superficially and cannot convince the audience.
- Sloppy integration. Also found on Instagram. You’ve probably seen the texts where bloggers “shove” a bunch of links into the post. Or they simply do not describe their own experience convincingly enough and at the end they just start talking about the object of advertising.
- Incorrect placement. Do not forget that the main feature of the native is unobtrusiveness. If you show your product large and in the center, try to fully show the label or appearance, then it will no longer be native.
- Lack of context. In this case, there is no preparation for the description of the product, because the representative has no experience and knowledge on the topic. He just goes right off the bat and tries to disguise the ad content to the needs of the audience.
- Excessive context. And here the opposite happens – when the eyeliner is too long, the context is stretched too much, and the material is drawn out.
Native ad formats
There are several types of such ads, and they differ in the format of placement.
- Publication in the news feed. Such ads are placed on the social media feeds Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc. It looks like a regular post, only it is marked with a special label “Advertising”. For a person, when viewing a feed, such posts usually do not cause irritation.
- Block with recommendations. This is a kind of sponsored material posted in the “Recommendations” section on different sites. Branded content is located among the content and responds to human requests.
- Sponsored material. This can be a commercial article that matches the style of the site and contains hidden advertising elements in text, photos, videos, infographics, and so on. It is also marked with a special label such as “Advertising” or “Advertising Rights”.
- Special projects. Recently, this format is very common, especially on some information portals or educational sites. It can be a regular longread in its standard design, but completely dedicated to the product. These materials are often labeled as “Sponsored”, “Spetsproekt”, “Promo” and so on.
Examples of native ads
Making high-quality native ads is a real skill. It is advisable to approach the creation process creatively and not to forget about the golden rule – no obsession. Namely, do not overdo it with the presence of the brand in context and do not try to show your brand “in full growth”, but only in passing. Let’s take a look at examples of native ads that can inspire great masterpieces.
Tinkoff magazine does a lot of integrations with brands and creates various games together with them. For example, a taxi simulator created in conjunction with Citymobil. Excellent interactive, where you can play and compete for gifts.
There was also an excellent project in the form of a test together with VkusVill. A funny thing, in which, although there is a mention of the brand, there is no direct advertising.
General Electrics has done very well with its “The Message” podcast series. A kind of sci-fi series for 8 weeks, where the participants studied some “messages from deep space.” He even won the 2016 Webby Native Ad Usage Award.
The legendary “father of advertising” David Ogilvy also had a good example of a native called the “Oyster Guide” (in fact, it was an advertisement for Guinness beer). A little later, a Guide to Cheese was released in a similar format.
Native advertising is an effective and unobtrusive tool that focuses on consumer values. If you use it correctly, you can significantly increase the audience and its trust in you. Experiment!