The Importance of Native Advertising for Marketing

Native advertising is a format of an advertising message that is integrated into valuable and engaging content for the user and is adapted to the form and requirements of the platform on which it is placed. 

In the context of "banner blindness," the audience-centric revolution, and the dislike among users for the abundance of direct advertising, the tool of natural, native advertising is becoming increasingly relevant. A great example of this you can see in online casinos for Indian Players and resources like that.

It does not cause a sense of rejection in the reader and appears where the brand's offer is likely to interest the target audience. When product information is logically "woven" into an article, video, website information, or application, users perceive it as applicable to themselves and even do not always see it as advertising. This way, the advertiser finds his audience on specific sites and builds trust. 

Advertising on the Internet is not noticed by 86% of people. However, marketers are being helped by native ads, which are perceived as part of the content. Let's find out how it works. 

What is native advertising?

Native advertising is a format of advertising that promotes a product but does not annoy the reader.

The key objective of native advertising is to adjust to the platform's format - a media site, social network, messenger, or print publication - and the target audience's expectations. As a result, users perceive it as part of the product or content rather than an intrusive offer. Often such ads contain helpful information or entertain the user.

Therefore, native ads help overcome banner blindness when people stop noticing ads and information in them, despite their size and brightness. It also creates brand loyalty.

Contently found that in 2021, 80% of U.S. residents have read, watched, or listened to at least some branded content. Moreover, 63% of respondents trust brands more than media companies and traditional news agencies. 

The insidious disadvantage of native advertising is a decrease in loyalty if the content in the ad is uninteresting. For example, a 2018 study showed that if users noticed a mention of a brand and the ad was helpful, brand loyalty increased by 30%. But if the content didn't spark interest, it decreased by 50%. Therefore, the creation of native advertising is a labor-intensive and expensive process.

Benefits of native advertising

Native advertising is, above all, about naturalness. It organically adapts to the form of the site on which it is placed and offers potential consumers a solution to their problem. In addition to the lack of pressure on the consumer and the annoying factor, this tool has many other advantages:

• Is placed where it will be seen;
• has a lasting effect due to the viral component of the content;
• the concept and features of the platform on which the publication will be placed are taken into account;
• Trust in the product and increased brand loyalty in general;
• variety of formats and a wide choice of platforms for placement;
• absence of competitors in the environment and the possibility of blocking.

The successful result of native advertising: pleasant associations with the brand, the image formed by the company in the eyes of the target audience, constant lead generation, targeted use of the budget, and, of course, sales growth. Native advertising even appears in VR, which is unsurprising because its main advantage is unobtrusive. It allows you to experiment with content formats and "weave" offerings into even the most unobvious placements. It means that you can gain the loyalty of any audience.

Types of native advertising

The tool ensures reader engagement and a high percentage of lead generation when the target user does not feel the content has advertising overtones but sees the benefit and the possibility of solving the problem. Native advertising can be implemented on any platform. However, it is essential to choose an organic format and delivery. It can be a banner, image, infographic, article, video, or social media post. Types of native advertising depend on the niche, the level of competition in it, and the goals of the campaign. 

Product placement

The most expensive type of such advertising is when fictional characters in a book, movie, picture, cartoon, or game use an actual existing product or order a service from a genuine company. For example, in Death Stranding, the main character replenishes his stamina with real-life Monster Energy.

Behind the characters in Avengers: Infinity War, the logo of the American company Snapple, which produces tea and juice drinks, is visible on the fridge.

Media outlets and bloggers post this kind of content on social media and blog platforms so that it can take many different forms. The key objective of such placements is to be organic to the venue and fit the target audience as much as possible.

Previously, these materials could be labeled "Sponsored material" or "Partner material. 

A study of native advertising in the media and their social networks shows that articles remain the most popular format. Themes account for 71.3% of materials in the studied media. Special projects rank second (15.8%), while tests rank third (6.3%). The most unpopular format is a video (0.3%).

Search Engine Advertising

Some marketers believe that ads on search engines are standard advertisements. However, all the signs of native advertising apply to them: they are similar to the usual links and are issued only at the user's request. In 2021, advertising on search engines had become the most helpful type of advertising.

How to make advertising native

If you want to make advertising more natural so that it sounds like a recommendation, then you can do it this way:

• Choose sites to advertise on. Research your target audience and compare it to your audience in the areas you want to promote. Choose resources where these target audiences are as similar as possible. For example, if advertising is aimed at 1-2 year students, place ads in social networking communities rather than business publications.
• Adjust the type of native advertising and pitch as much as possible to the chosen communication channel. For example, users will be alienated by a blogger who actively uses slang in his ad insert when all his other videos and texts are more neutral. In this case, it's better to give the terms of reference and the key messages the video should convey.
• Remember that in native advertising, the benefit or entertainment is primary, not the description of the product's benefits. There can also be a description in a truncated format or, for example, through a hyperlink at the end of the material.

Make sure that mentions of the product or brand do not interfere with the perception of the material. For example, studies show that when users see that the material has numerous awards of the brand, and logos and brand colors hang on all sides, they perceive what they see as an ordinary advertisement and lose interest in it.