By the time the year 2022 rolled around, native ads were becoming increasingly popular. As you may have noticed, they continue to capture the interest of advertisers in 2023 also. But, how did native advertising perform in 2022? And, what are the prospects for 2023? Read ahead for more detailed information that you’re sure to find helpful.
Native Ads Have Several Advantages Over Conventional Advertising
The underlying aspect of native advertising is that the ad features don’t look like promotional pieces. Unlike Facebook ads or Google ads, the target audience for native ads is entirely unaware that they’re consuming a promotional feature. This audience could be potential consumers, leads, or store clients and not even know that they clicked on an ad. Let’s say; for example, a reader is watching Instagram stories posted by her friends. The ad could be advertising a usable product with great features. But if the reader is not really interested, the ad could have a negative effect on the brand.
Native Advertising Campaigns Work in Three Steps
Step One – Target Audiences Voluntarily Consume Ads
With native ads, site visitors are typically in reading mode. Each time they read through an article and scroll down to the end of the page, they want more. They may come across a new piece with exciting headlines and an eye-catching image and want to explore it further. By voluntarily clicking, they commit to the topic without feeling pushed into reading it. The prospect reads the ad organically without noticing that they are targets of a promotional piece.
Let’s try an example. You do a random study on the street and ask a bunch of people if they like ads. Invariably 10 out of 10 people will say that they hate ads and want to get rid of them. No user wants their screens inundated with ad features. But with native ads, the audience voluntarily clicks on the ad to read topics that interest them.
Step Two – You Design Advertorials that Look Like Interesting Landing Pages
Then you have the advertorial or landing page. These pages closely resemble new blogs or credible sources of valuable information. Again, the reader does not know they’re visiting a landing page or a paid advertorial. That’s because, the ad looks and comes across as an organic, informative article if you can use some slick designing. It actually looks similar to a new blog. You can leverage skills like exceptional copywriting, psychological profiling, and innovative marketing to infuse specific words and terms. This language can potentially convert the prospect into an actual buying client or a hot lead.
Step Three – Lead Generation is Streamlined and Organic
Lead generation with native advertising works in a smooth, streamlined process. Having consumed the information in the advertorial, readers come to the offer page or type the form. Here, they quickly add their credit card information and personal details to place orders at the eCommerce store. As an advertiser, whether you’re looking to generate leads or get actual conversions for your products and store, it’s doable. With native advertising.
You’ll See a Marked Difference with Other Ad Campaigns
As you continue to dive into native advertising, you’ll see that these campaigns are very different from conventional ads. Take, for example, paid marketing Facebook, Google, or TikTok ads. The advertisers here openly present user-generated content to market a product or service and ask users to purchase it. The target audience is aware that what they’re looking at is an ad with, maybe, a video and a feed. They can click on it to arrive at the offer page, where they can place orders to purchase the product. The ad does not attempt to conceal its purpose and is a legit marketing strategy. Chances are high that the product is extremely useful for the prospect. They are open to purchasing it, without a doubt.
With native ads, readers can consciously decide to read the advertorial and finalize the purchase. Or sign up as a lead. This is why native advertising has been highly successful in 2022, and will likely continue to rule in 2023.
Native Advertising is a Broad Term
Native advertising is essentially a broad term similar to PPC ads or online marketing. This means you don’t have a specific platform for native ads. Instead, you have traffic sources like Taboola, Outbrain, RevContent, Yahoo Gemini, and various others. Aside from these giants, you’ll also find an array of smaller platforms, each highly effective at what they do. So, essentially, there isn’t just a single source of traffic.
That’s unlike conventional platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, or YouTube. You can’t really rely on them because any issues with the company or brand could result in the traffic dropping to nil within a few days. A similar situation is unlikely to arise with native advertising. That’s because, you won’t reach only a specific section of online traffic. Instead, you’ll reach the entire web world.
Let’s Try a Hypothetical Situation
Let’s say Facebook does not survive the next 10 years. If you start to explore this idea, it will seem highly improbable that the platform does not survive. Facebook has millions of users and an excellent KPI. However, there are several big brands out there that failed. Consider names like Nokia, that was once a top brand in the 90s but is virtually unknown today. What if FB faces similar issues? In that case, all the traffic from the platform also goes away. If you think about it, the iOS14 update that gives users the option to disallow tracking, has already shaken up things.
Native advertising is resistant to such changing algorithms. That’s because you’ll tap into multiple traffic sources, both big brands and smaller feeds. Unless you shut down the entire internet, native ads are not going anywhere. From the brand owner or marketing manager’s perspective, this is a far more sustainable strategy. Running native ad campaigns and scaling through multiple platforms like Taboola, Outbrain, and RevContent ensures long-term success. If you have issues with, say, Taboola, you can always switch to other sources without losing traffic. And, consequently, sales, business, and profitability.
Native Advertising is Untouched Blue Ocean Marketing
From the marketing perspective, untouched blue ocean marketing is an unexploited and uncontested market space with exceptional potential. Billions of websites expand annually into traffic sources like Taboola and Outbrain. However, say you compare with other sources like YouTube, Google, Alphabet, and Facebook ads, you’ll find that they’ve covered only a small section of the blue ocean market. Experts estimate that paid marketing, PPC marketing, and online marketing areas are switching to other arenas.
Advertisers on Facebook noted the significant advantage of UCG or User Generated Content. That’s because the content does not resemble a high glossy ad similar to native ads. Advertorials and native ads may not be super stylish or high-profile. But they are effective in getting conversions, leads, and sales. In other words, they are conversion-optimized or performance-based. This is why native advertising is more sustainable and likely to survive the next decade.
It’s Time to Experiment with Native Advertising
If you haven’t experimented with native ads in 2021 or 2022, 2023 is, undoubtedly, the right time to get started. However, it is never advisable to dabble in this marketing strategy without professional help. That’s because, without the right expertise, you risk burning a lot of money without results to show for it. If you wish to scale your business, you can’t ignore native ads as a sustainable traffic source. You might also see results within a couple of months since it is performance-based.
Ready to explore how it’s done? You’ve come to the right place. At Purple Black, we are a native-only advertising company accredited by the Forbes Agency Council. We have perfected the art of native ads and would love to share our expertise. We welcome you to click on this link and schedule a free consultation. Let’s talk about how we can make native ads works for your business in 2023.
