Here Is Why You Should Be Running Native Ads…

There are multiple options when it comes to attracting customers online — promoted social media posts, pay-per-click ads and banner advertising are just a few options to throw your advertising budget at. While these are all very effective, there is another option that you should consider — native advertising.  

It’s a form of advertising that’s designed to match the look and feel of the website upon which it appears. Kyle Ryan, CEO of Earnify, a native advertising platform for both publishers and advertisers, sees first hand how effective this form of advertising can be for businesses. I recently spoke with Ryan at length about native advertising, and he explained why businesses should be using it in their marketing campaigns. 

Businesses of all sizes can benefit.

While native advertising is quite new to the digital advertising space, many brands, big and small, are starting to use it more. Banner ads on some of the larger websites, for example, will often require a large financial commitment, which eliminates the smaller businesses. Most native advertising platforms have very small financial buy-ins to get started, allowing even the smallest businesses to experience native advertising.

Related: 4 Reasons Your Company Should Use Native Advertising

We have run several split-test campaigns pairing traditional ads against native ads, and we have found that native ads consistently received nearly 25 percent more engagement. This is a significant number, especially at scale. 

Provides an overall lower cost-per-click.

Native ads provide excellent custom targeting, allowing you to create advertisements that prove to be more interesting to consumers when compared to traditional digital advertising. Cost-wise, native ads are more efficient. 

Overall, they are much cheaper because they are so targeted, which results in high click-through rates and a low cost-per-click. Native ads attract clicks because they are not intrusive, unlike in-your-face animated banners and pop-ups. 

Native ads attract more genuine interest.

Native ads perform exceptionally well because they don’t interrupt the use experience like other forms of advertising, which consumers appreciate. They are marked as advertisements, so it’s not a deceptive form of marketing, like some might assume.

Related: 3 Questions to Ask When Deciding Between Content Marketing and Native Advertising

Top performing native ads appear within relevant content, blending in to give a fluid and pleasant user experience to the website visitor. When someone views the ad and click on it you are attracting someone with genuine interest in what you are offering. Attracting a higher quality visitor to your landing page is going to ultimately result in a higher conversion rate. Leads generated via native ads are always going to be high quality because their level of interest is higher.

There is less resistance from the consumer.

In-feed native ads allow you to blend in and not stand out like a conspicuous banner ad. You experience more user engagement because they aren’t avoiding your ads like the plague — which is what happens to the banner ads that typically sit in a website’s header areas and right-hand sidebar area. 

Related: Native Advertising, a Boon for the Media, Can Help You Cut Through the Noise

Consumers are highly educated when it comes to online marketing — they have become almost immune to traditional advertisements and their locations. Now is the time to take advantage of the limited resistance and test the effectiveness of native ads for your business.

Ryan founded his native ad platform after being on the other side of the table — he understood what both the publisher and advertiser required in order to be successful. I have seen several of my consulting clients experience success with native ads and we have a native ad campaign set up for one of my newest companies, a teeth whitening kit, for the upcoming holiday season.