Introduction
Nowadays people have adapted to annoying advertising and stopped noticing it. On the Internet, this protective mechanism has expressed itself in the phenomenon of banner blindness – when browsing websites, we do not pay attention to advertising.
A similar situation occurred with print media, advertising signs on the street and television. We even buy premium subscriptions without advertising, and if there is no such possibility, we act as we are used to when watching television.
Therefore, advertisers have found a new way to convey information about a product, service or brand to us. Advertising has acquired a natural or native character.
What is native advertising?
Native advertising is a way to design advertising on any site (website, platform) in such a way that it does not differ in any way from the usual formats of useful information used on this site.
To make it clearer, let’s talk about content. In the context of our topic, it can be editorial or branded. The editorial format fully complies with the general rules for preparing information in a particular publication. It is designed within the framework of these rules – in terms of content, style, tonality, design. The branded format is aimed at solving the advertising tasks of a certain brand. Its goal is to increase sales, increase awareness and loyalty, improve image, etc.
In native advertising, branded content is served in the form of editorial content. It is open and commercial, but at the same time retains practical benefits for the target audience of the site.
The psychological effect of acceptance works here. Due to the natural embeddedness of branded information in attractive content, the probability of its positive evaluation by the user increases. On a subconscious level, there is a general improvement in the attitude towards the brand.
What are the features of native advertising
The way advertising information is presented makes the native format different from all others. Natural advertising is endowed with three unique distinctive features. They must be present in native materials.
Characteristic features of native advertising:
- Native content is perceived as a full-fledged part of the site, channel, publication. It answers the user’s questions in the same way as other materials of the resource. Native advertising takes into account all the features of the site on which it is placed – format, content, design, structure, tonality.
- Native advertising does not contain standard advertising signs – aggressiveness, obsession, calls to action, etc.
- The native format, in addition to information about the advertised product, service or brand, contains a significant amount of useful information, for which the user came.
Efficiency of native advertising
The efficiency of native advertising lies in the fact that it:
- – is not blocked with the help of special programs and extensions;
- – does not fall under the banner blindness;
- – does not irritate due to the absence of aggressiveness, obsession, persuasion and calls to action;
- – benefits and meets the expectations of the audience;
- transfers the positive attitude on a subconscious level.
An important condition for the successful use of native advertising is that the advertised product, service or brand must more or less correspond to the general theme of the site, not contradict its values and goals.
Why is native advertising needed?
The purpose of native advertising is to create a natural and unobtrusive advertising appeal to solve standard marketing tasks – increase sales / clicks / targeted actions, improve image, increase loyalty. A big advantage of the natural format is the absence of direct or indirect calls to make a purchase.
Given such specifics of the presentation of advertising information, a reasonable question arises – is its use justified everywhere? The answer is yes. Even without a direct call to action, native advertising can persuade a user to purchase, subscribe, or other targeted reaction.
Native advertising is also good as a preparatory stage before launching a new product. First, the audience develops a positive attitude towards the brand through a series of native videos or articles. The product itself is not mentioned. When all the materials are released, a new stage of the campaign begins – a new product of this brand is launched. Moreover, the novelty can be served by traditional, aggressive advertising methods. The readiness and loyalty of the consumer, formed due to native formats, greatly increases the probability of success of launching a new product on the market.
Native advertising embedded in useful content fades into the background, but at the same time it increases the overall efficiency of the campaign in the long run.
What types of native advertising do exist?
Since the native format is adapted for use wherever advertising is placed, it is highly variable.
Native advertising is divided into three main types
- In Feed / In Content – placement of native blocks in the news feed, among the usual content of the site. Such blocks in the feed lead the user to the internal pages of the publisher or to the external resource of the brand that ordered the placement.
- Content Recommendation Ads – placement of recommendations on the site that lead to other pages of the site or third-party resources marked “similar materials”, “it will be useful”, “you may also like it”.
- Branded / Native Content – is placed in the same format as full-fledged editorial materials on the site. Branded content is developed by the publisher’s editorial office on behalf of the brand or in cooperation with it.
Conclusion
The main problem of native advertising is its recognizability. If the natural format is no different from ordinary materials, then the user does not always understand what is being offered to him – useful information or veiled advertising of a product, service or brand.
To avoid the complexity of identification, native advertising is usually marked with a special open label that shows the user that it is an advertisement.
But even here, not everything is so clear:
- – native content is not always marked as advertising;
- – more vague formulations are often used – “branded content”, “sponsored content”, “article created with participation”, etc.;
- – notes about the advertising nature of materials are deliberately made small, with placement in areas where the user will not always notice them.
Proper native advertising does not hide its commercial orientation. The user should always understand that he is reading the paid material.
