When you’re searching for the most effective marketing strategies, the topmost options that come up include TikTok and native advertising. Whether posting content regularly on TikTok or running native advertising campaigns, your objective is certainly audience targeting and attracting maximum traffic. Rapid developments in the world of digital marketing have experts designing ads to target specific audiences. Instead of creating content and throwing it out there, marketers now create customized campaigns for viewers. They target people most likely to purchase their products. Next, they post them where the ads are likely to have the most impact. Let’s take a look at how social media platforms like TikTok perform against native ads.
Social Media Channels Seem to Have a Popularity Cycle
Let’s try an example. If you examine the traffic on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, you’ll note that they initially attracted the younger crowd. Eventually, as the older generations caught on, the younger audience moved on to Instagram. Teens wanting to look cool simply aren’t interested in being on the same platforms as their parents. However, TikTok seems to have broken the popularity cycle and, at present, boasts traffic from a multi-generational demographic. Though, most of the audience does belong to the below 30 age bracket. Native advertising, on the other hand, appeals to audiences of all ages and does not have a popularity cycle.
TikTok Ad Creation is Simple, Economical, and Effective

The most interesting factor about TikTok is that advertising on the platform comes across as very streamlined and natural. So is the ad creation process. All you need is a smartphone, and you can play around with the content to develop an engaging ad. All that in just a few minutes. Since TikTok is a relatively new channel, it is not flooded with ads that can disrupt and interrupt the viewer’s browsing experience. More importantly, it’s economical.
You won’t have to invest hundreds of dollars into the campaign-creation process. Or, develop a super professional-looking ad. But, since it is an influential audience targeting strategy, you’ll successfully connect with several age groups. And, yes. You have a high probability that the campaign will work and bring you the traffic you need.
Scalability Can Present a Problem
The biggest downside of TikTok is scalability. While you could reach a few thousand viewers across the country on a particular day, that’s about it. You can’t really expect to scale it to 50K to 60K per day, especially in smaller countries. If you’re looking for the next best thing, native advertising could be the ideal option. This audience targeting strategy uses platforms like Taboola, Outbrain, and Yahoo Gemini to develop ads. And it has an entirely different approach.
However, be mindful that native ads need some degree of professional expertise and experience. Before attempting to try it on your own, you must first understand how to create and post the content marketing campaigns. Or, you stand to get a limited return on investment in terms of the traffic you get. Relying on the experts is always advisable since you’ll create compelling editorials, track traffic, and determine your audience demographic.
Choose the Right Platform Per Your Audience Targeting Strategy

Typically, native advertising targets an age demographic ranging from 30 to 35 years right up to 60 to 65 years. And, sometimes, even 70 and above. Not only will you reach a wider audience, but they are also in the higher age group. So, if you intend to market a product designed for an older audience, native advertising is the way to go. For instance, real estate and property industry businesses would want to target older viewers who have the buying power to purchase homes.
However, if you sell a producs likely to appeal to the younger crowd, you’ll use TikTok to reach them. This is why, when you search TikTok, you’re more likely to spot ad campaigns for products that cost around $100. Since the viewers are possibly in the lower age group, that’s their spending power. On the other hand, since native advertising is a diverse audience targeting strategy, you can easily post ads for products of varying price ranges. And, you can do that without the need for retargeting.
Let’s Compare Cost Per Acquisition
When you’re ready to start an advertising campaign on TikTok, you’ll likely invest a thousand dollars or so. But, with native ads, you’ll need at least 10K per month to get started. This cost includes data compiling and identifying avenues to scale up your efforts profitably, quickly, and smoothly. You can expect to acquire traffic comparable to CPAs of $60K to $70K and more.
Even if you were to spend that kind of money on TikTok ads, you can’t hope for the same kind of traffic. This factor is particularly relevant in smaller countries. That’s because with that kind of spend, you’ll likely end up targeting the entire population in a single day. So, if you’re looking for scalability at economical costs, native advertising is the way to go.
Ad Fatigue is a Real Issue
The most critical aspect of any kind of marketing campaign is that you need to refresh it constantly. With TikTok, you’ll create new videos and ads and post them consistently to maintain continued audience interest and engagement. But the main issue is that you can’t be sure of how the new ad will be received, and if it will have the same impact as previous campaigns. Marketers must accept the element of risk with every new ad they post. With native advertising, this risk is entirely eliminated since you won’t need to change the ads. Your campaign is far more stable.
Determine Where Your Business is At
When choosing the optimum traffic source, you’ll factor in where your business is at and where you hope to see it going. If you have a limited marketing budget with a young viewer demographic, you could start off with TikTok ads. You’ll create simple campaigns with audience targeting and achieve the limited traffic that is perfect for your business scale. But, if you’re running a mature company, you’ll need more complex advertising ad products. Having invested in ad campaigns on platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, and more, you’re probably ready for the next step in your marketing efforts.
In that case, you’ll graduate to native advertising to scale up traffic from sources other than social media. Essentially, you’ll want to target audiences that are not using social media. What sets this promotional campaigns apart from other strategies is that native ads are incredibly subtle. They advertise your products and services naturally and achieve audience targeting without their being aware of it. That’s how native ads have the potential to scale up and get you much higher traffic.
And, There’s More!!

Many businesses also initiate native ad campaigns before Q4 to compile traffic data and prepare to scale their profits as the year draws to a close. In a nutshell, regardless of whether you run a small business or an eCommerce giant, you’ll source traffic from multiple sources. It’s the best way to stay ahead of the competition. You’ll start with low-key options like TikTok and when you’re ready to scale up, native advertising can get you there. An additional benefit of this marketing channel is that you won’t need to do any remarketing. Experts place an ad at the bottom of the page along with an editorial and compelling content. Clicking on it will lead readers to a page that mimics a landing page, but is essentially informational content.
This page will include all the integral elements of a product page. For instance, a Call to Action and terminology that creates a sense of urgency and the FOMO or fear of missing out. Readers get detailed information of the product, the problem it solves, and why it’s a viable investment. Instantly, they understand what the product is all about. And, they can make the final decision whether or not they’ll purchase it.
Ready for a Free Consultation?
Has your business reached that place where you need aggressive marketing campaigns to scale up operations, sales, and profitability quickly? Then, it’s time you added native advertising to your marketing portfolio. You can be assured of getting great traffic with the lowest CPA and targeting audiences with the desired purchasing power. Ready to know more? At Purple Black, we are the forerunners of this audience targeting strategy and accredited by the Forbes Agency Council. Contact us at [email protected] and schedule your free consultation today.