Native Advertising in Online Marketing
Native Advertising translates to “advertising in a familiar environment.” With Native Advertising, the advertisement adapts visually and stylistically to the surrounding content. The advertising message is packaged editorially. In print, this form of advertising has been known for a longer time as an Advertorial. Online, the term can also refer to viral marketing, search engine advertising, ads in Facebook feeds, or advertising strategies on Twitter and Instagram.
Native Advertising or Advertorial are often used synonymously, although in the online segment the term Native Advertising has prevailed.
Benefits of Native Advertising:
- Image Enhancement: Integrating into editorial content and showcasing expertise helps the Native Advertising offer to be perceived favorably by users. This can contribute to improving the brand image.
- More Attention: Classic Display Ads, particularly pop-ups or layovers, are often perceived as disruptive, annoy website users, and are quickly clicked away. Small display ads are often no longer noticed due to their frequency while reading. So-called ad-blockers, in the worst case, even prevent display ads from being shown. Native Advertising articles, integrated into the publisher’s content, are rarely perceived as disruptive and generate more attention, especially when they offer relevant content.
- Increased Purchase Willingness: Since advertisements are not necessarily perceived as such and provide high-quality content, Native Advertising articles gain more credibility, which can significantly increase the willingness to purchase the advertised product, brand, or service.
Labeling of Native Advertising
Even with Native Advertising, it is legally required to clearly separate the advertising from editorial contributions. A Native Advertising is therefore often marked with the addition “Advertisement” or “sponsored Link.”
Example of a Native Advertising Campaign:
You are a provider of a new innovative technical heating system and would like to advertise your product. However, the heating system is not yet established on the market. Therefore, you want to show your potential customers the energy savings possible in the long term and what government funding you can apply for – hence, you place Native Advertising articles through portals targeted at homeowners. Since these Native Advertising articles are linked to a specially created landing page on the topic, your potential new customer can get more information about the product and funding through your landing page. On your landing page, you embed a video about the product and can convince the interested parties of your expertise. Ideally, this leads directly to an order for your new heating system. However, since such an investment is not an ad-hoc decision and requires time for consideration, the interested party will likely not place an order immediately. To maintain contact with this potential buyer, you offer him the option to stay updated with news via your landing page, provided he leaves his contact details and gives consent for you to continue contacting him. Depending on the type of contact method he agrees to, you may then convince this valuable lead in the coming time about how worthwhile a heating system change could be for him. Since he voluntarily provided his address details, you can assume that his interest in a heating system change is very high.
Your Contact Person for Native Advertising:
Despite the many benefits, Native Advertising is also controversial and is often branded as stealth marketing. Critics believe that companies with incorrectly or insufficiently labeled advertisements risk losing the trust of potential customers. Supporters, on the other hand, see a lot of potential in Native Advertising as it appears less intrusive than classic advertising.
If you are interested in a test, speak with our online specialist Tanja Hensler (hensler@trebbau.com, Tel.: 0221/37646 – 330). She will gladly provide you with a non-binding offer and tell you what you need to consider when it comes to Native Advertising.