New to Native Advertising? Here are a Few Tips to Get you Started

Let’s face it: there’s a lot of noise on- and offline.

Although online users have access to a whole new world of information compared to just a few decades ago, they’re also bombarded with all the noise that comes with going online: banners, video ads, and annoying pop-ups that compel them to turn on ad blockers. 

As potential customers find ways to dodge these disruptive ads, marketers and businesses have to get creative to reach new users, and are increasingly turning to native advertising.

So what is native advertising? 

Native ads are paid pieces of content created in the look and feel of the publication that they live on. As they blend into the website they live on, the goal of native ads is to improve the user experience by making the advertisements more cohesive and unobtrusive. 

If you're new to the world of native advertising, here are some powerful tips to help you get started.

1. Define your audience.

One of the smartest ways to begin is to determine who you would like to reach with your native advertisements.

Defining your audience helps to determine the best ways to go about crafting your content, picking the platforms to use when distributing your ad placements, and determining where exactly your content should live to successfully reach those most interested in what you have to offer.

For example, if you know your target audience lives mainly in the San Francisco Bay Area, it makes sense to promote your brand or business on popular and trusted regional publications such as the San Francisco Chronicle or SFGATE. By partnering with the Hearst StoryStudio, our advertising partners are able to not only have their content live on the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGATE, but also are able to distribute it through native placements on both sites. 

2. Hone your message.

You must next make sure you’re conveying a clearly defined message. Ask yourself these questions: What are you trying to accomplish with this advertisement? What will you provide the reader? Why should they click on your ad placement and how will your content provide value to them?

Clearly outlining your goals for the campaign will help you stay on track when crafting copy for both your ad headlines and the landing page. Ad headlines need to be short and attention-grabbing to quickly intrigue the viewer and capture their attention.

3. Say something meaningful.

Don’t create content just for the sake of creating content.

It's imperative that your message is not only relevant to a specific goal you have, but is meaningful to the reader. This will not only result in less noise added to the content atmosphere, but also amplify the impact of your advertisements and result in better ROI.

Add value to your ads, and you will add value to your brand. 

4. Tell a compelling story.

As Astro Teller, director of Google X, said at Cannes Lions in 2013, "It’s not the technology but the story that matters. The story you pick changes everything.” Advertising is about telling a story to connect with audiences and get results. If you successfully tell a story within the context of a given site or platform, the user also becomes part of the story. They may even talk about or share your brand story with others.

5. Include interactive elements.

Traditional ads have done nothing more than interrupt consumers. But with the addition of social feeds,  live polls, and booking modules among other types of embeddable content, readers can find everything they need in one place and will have a better experience.

Allow for richer, deeper levels of engagement between consumers and your brand to get the most out of your native advertisements. 

As digital marketing evolves, stay ahead of the curve with native advertising. You won’t regret it. As a full-service content marketing agency, The StoryStudio provides turnkey solutions to brands and businesses to tell their unique stories. 

Learn more about how the StoryStudio will help you get started with native advertising here.