The space around us is so overloaded with advertising messengers and calls to buy at least something that we can only wonder how advertising, which is the very engine of progress, still manages to sell.
True, today not all advertising is effective, and such an unpleasant term for advertisers as “banner blindness” has densely entered the life of the average person. Specialists of the PRNEWS.IO online service for publishing publications in the media in the article talk about the intricacies of such a tool as native. And how to advertise yourself when traditional approaches “head-on” not only do not work, but also cause rejection of the audience.
Some facts and history
The main feature of native advertising is not only that it does not look like an advertisement (although it is also effective in sales). In fact, its highlight is that the advertising message is fully adapted to the format of the media on which it is published. The native does not offer to buy, but talks about the benefits of the product and politely presents the brand’s capabilities.
One of the iconic examples of “native” is the “Michelin Red Guide”. The French manufacturer of rubber tires from the usual free directory with the addresses of auto repair shops, gas stations, hotels and taverns has created a cult rating of restaurants, for the right to get into which the best French catering establishments are fighting. The guide can be called one of the first examples of a native, since its history began more than a century ago.
Native advertising also includes product placement in movies. One of the striking examples is Bondiana. Since the mid-60s, brands have been competing for the right to put a super spy behind the wheel of a particular car, wear a particular chronometer or suit, and so on. Of course, these ads are expensive for brands, but they work perfectly.
The native did not bypass the USSR either. Aeroflot, on whose planes they were afraid to fly in the early 70s, began to advertise flights with might and main in Russian films. The result exceeded all expectations – more than 100 million tickets sold already in 1976. And these are just domestic flights.
How native ads differ from other ads
The main difference is that it advertises implicitly, the promotion of a product or service is not striking. In addition to native advertising, there are two more types of hidden advertising (jeans and PR materials), so it’s worth figuring out how they differ.
Jeans, which, like native advertising, is adapted to the media format, is a more hidden and less ethical method. In such unnamed publications, the question remains open who pays for the placement of the material, but there may be negative attitudes towards competitors and simply untrue information.
Unlike jeans, native does not hide the name of the customer, does not denigrate competitors and does not emphasize the dignity of the advertised product. In addition, native content is always marked with the “sponsored material”, “Sponsored content”, “Promotion” and so on. This, according to market experts, does not in any way reduce the credibility of the content.
The main thing in PR materials – there is no need to pay for their publication. They are loyal to competitors, do not have advertising marks and are so high-quality and valuable to the audience that the media are happy to publish them for free.
To summarize:
- in PR materials there is no mark about advertising and they are published free of charge;
- in jeans there is no mark about advertising and it is placed for money;
- native ads are paid for and contain a tag about the ad.
In turn, native advertising can be divided into native format and native content.
Native format – this is:
- ad units disguised as non-advertising page content;
- search results (yes, sometimes not all answers to queries are a real reaction of a search engine, advertising can sneak in there);
- other expected page elements.
In media publications, the native format can be presented as a small information block at the end of the page. A link may be hidden in it.
Native content much more varied. It can be presented in the form of news or articles, as well as information cards, videos, podcasts and other formats. The main thing is that it is hosted on a paid basis.
By the way, in the research of the native advertising market it is said that the most popular type of native ad is precisely articles. They occupy about 80% of all publications.
Benefits of native advertising
In the past year, analysts have recorded a significant increase in native advertising. According to the report “Native Advertising in Europe in 2020” by Enders Analysis and Yahoo, native advertising in Europe grew by 156% over the year. IHS Technology learned that 63% of mobile content is native content.
There is nothing strange here, since the majority of users perceive native advertising positively. They don’t block it, they don’t complain about it, and there is no “banner blindness” in it. Products that are advertised natively are much more trusted.
Also, one of the indisputable advantages of native advertising is that it is informative, useful, has a high degree of engagement and helps to target content. It lives longer than usual advertising messages and continues to spread after publication, usually for free and in a natural way: it is actively shared on social networks, it is told about it to friends, etc.
Several native recipes
Despite the fact that native ads perform well, there are several ways through which its chances of catching the audience for a living will become even higher:
- Don’t be afraid to experiment with the format! Submit native advertising in the form of research, add statistics and infographics to it – feel free to take on the role of an expert, and also attract speakers, respondents, enrich the materials with comments from market leaders.
- Cute nonsense or entertain your readers… Lightweight materials are better perceived by the audience. The content can be diversified with high-quality images, funny gifs and memes. You can also run your own quiz, which will help collect additional information about users.
- Take a tour of the office, uncover secrets production of your products, tell us how the day of one of your employees is going. People are naturally curious, so the opportunity to peep through the keyhole will interest many.
- Open a museum… Organize an exposition of office equipment, your advertising products collected over the years of work, or arrange a retrospective of tools from your field (posters, press releases, printers, cameras, hole punches, etc.). The museum will be an excellent source of news feeds for a long time, the main thing is to pack and present your idea correctly.
- Apply Buzz-PR – competently launched rumors, gossip, reviews, user opinions can work well both for a small company and on the scale of an entire region or even a country.
Summarizing
Never skimp on native ads. In order for it to be effective and fit perfectly into the media format, the materials must be prepared by professionals.
Don’t write about anything. Stay in trend, prepare up-to-date native materials, track competitors’ activity and stay in the info field – and you will succeed!
Write for the benefit of your readers. Look for relevant audience needs, pain points and problems that you can solve with your expert material.