What Are Native Ads? How to Run Native Advertising Effectively

Native Ads is becoming one of the most important tools in online marketing today, and can even outperform traditional ads. In 2018 alone, this ad format drew billions of dollars in investment. So, what are Native Ads and why do they attract so much attention from businesses? Let's find out together with MONA Media in today's article.

What are Native Ads?

Native Ads is a form of paid advertising designed to look and read like regular content, so users find it hard to notice that it is an ad. It is a natural advertising approach that improves customer reach without being intrusive.

Native ads usually have these characteristics:

• It is paid advertising.
• It appears naturally.
• It is labeled as sponsored content (sponsored).

To picture this more easily, look at the example MONA has prepared below and see how cleverly Native Ads “take on the form” of the content around them:

In the example above, the native ad is designed to “blend in” perfectly with regular content without bothering the viewer, overcoming people's habit of ignoring ads. Instead of basic ads, native ads focus on giving readers useful, valuable information, which creates natural interaction and a better chance of being shared.

6 basic types of native ads

Native ads are integrated naturally, never awkwardly, into the main content of a website or app to create a smoother user experience. Accordingly, MONA has summarized the 6 basic and most common types of native ads that you can refer to:

• In-feed ads: Ads displayed between other articles on a website or app.
• Paid search: Ads displayed in search results as paid placements.
• Recommended articles: Widgets that suggest similar articles the user may be interested in.
• Promotion lists: Lists of sponsored products or services, advertised in prominent positions.
• In-ad with native element unit ads: Ads in standard IAB ad sizes that still carry natural content fitting the context.
• Custom content unit: Ad content created specifically for a defined audience group.

Although they come in many formats, native ads usually deliver steady, sustainable growth. It is estimated that native ads are expected to account for nearly three quarters of the US advertising market. So major brands will increasingly use native ads to strengthen their competitiveness and get better results in their marketing strategy.

How do Native Ads work?

Native Ads work on the principle of being “friendly” to users: they are designed to fit the context and content of every platform where they appear, to encourage interaction and make users feel comfortable.

Specifically, Native Ads work through these steps:

• Based on the context and content of the chosen platform, the advertiser creates matching native ad content.
• The Native Ads content is then submitted to the ad platform.
• The ad platform arranges and displays the Native Ads based on each user's interests, behavior and location.
• Users see the Native Ads and interact with them.

Finally, the advertiser receives the campaign results. The figures below show how well this method performs:

• 97% of mobile advertisers rate native ads highly, as a tool that helps them reach brand goals effectively.
• Native ads can also raise purchase intent in brand lift studies 18% higher than banner ads.
• 70% of users who took part in the study said they would rather learn about a product through engaging content than through traditional advertising.
• In addition, compared with display ads, native ads are viewed 53% more often and served and the click-through rate CTR is up to 60% higher.
• 32% of customers even say they are willing to share native ads with friends and family, which creates a ripple effect and extends the brand's influence.

Why run Native Ads?

What are Native Ads, and what benefits make businesses willing to invest in this format? Native Ads are not only an effective, low-cost advertising channel, they also bring clear advantages such as:

• Attracting potential customers: Because native ads blend naturally into content, they are hard to tell apart from the main content, which helps catch the audience's attention.
• Low cost: Compared with advertising on major online newspapers, Native Ads usually cost much less. This is especially useful for businesses with limited ad budgets.
• Little competition: While advertising on Google and Facebook is becoming more and more common, Native Ads still face little competition, which is a good opportunity for businesses.
• Wide network: Native Ads can appear on many different websites in the ad network, giving flexibility and broad reach to customers.

Why is native advertising so effective?

This is surely a question many marketers ask. There are several main reasons why native ads are becoming more popular and effective in marketing:

• Reaching the target audience: Native ads are designed to fit the platform users are on, helping advertisers deliver their message to the target audience more effectively.
• Not interrupting the user experience: As MONA mentioned above, unlike traditional ads, native ads blend into the natural content of a website or app, so they do not interrupt the user experience on any platform and make the ads more trustworthy.
• Hard to ignore: Because the ad content is not too obvious, native ads are hard for users to skip, which raises the chance of attention and interaction.
• Hard to block: Because they work like regular content, native ads are less affected by ad blockers, so brands can reach customers more effectively.
• Easy to access: With more than 75% of US news and blog sites take part in native ads, which makes this ad type very accessible to businesses, letting them reach a range of sizes, platforms and marketing channels to get the most from their campaigns.

Top 4 current Native Ads trends

Native ads are not a new trend; inserting ads into content has been around for a long time. But several new trends are now improving campaign results, so Native Ads are popular again. Here are the 4 most common native ad trends today, as MONA walks through them:

• Mobile advertising: In any advertising strategy, you should put mobile first, and native ads are no exception. Native ads on mobile are quickly becoming the most popular trend. In fact, in-app advertising is a smart choice, with 89% of users accessing through apps, and the view rate of native in-app ads is 3 times higher than banners in mobile browsers.
• Virtual reality (VR) advertising: 360-degree videos are not only engaging and more interactive, they also fit the natural character of native ads. VR has strong potential to push native advertising.
• User-generated content: User-generated content is far more trusted than content made by brands. To protect credibility and raise engagement, user-generated content is becoming more important in native ads.
• Native video: With high relevance and engagement, native video is an important part of modern native ad strategy.

How do you run native ads effectively?

Understanding the concept and how to run it is key to getting the best results from native ads. To run an effective native ads campaign, keep the following in mind:

Know your Native Ads audience well

Before running native advertising, researching your target audience thoroughly is an essential step. To do this, ask specific questions such as:

• Who is the campaign's target audience or customer? 
• What problems do they have, and what kind of content do they want? 

This lets you define the campaign's direction more clearly and create suitable ad content. To gather information about your target audience, you can use online data analytics tools such as Capsulink hay Goo.gl. With these tools you can collect data on the audience's interests and the websites they visit often, then build an effective ad strategy and optimize campaign results.

Create value, make an impression and delight readers

Creating valuable content that attracts readers is the top goal of any ad campaign. Engaging content does more than make readers stop to read; it encourages them to interact, which raises the conversion rate. This matters most in native ads, because the balance between the ad and natural writing is the key to catching readers' attention.

Just hint at the product

Many successful ad campaigns show you do not need to push your product or service. Rather than being direct, ads are woven subtly into media such as videos, TV series, blogs or websites, giving users a comfortable experience without annoyance. This technique is called product placement.

Meet the posting standards of your chosen platform

Although Native Ads are paid advertising, do not be complacent. The ad must keep a tone and style that matches the surrounding content while showing your brand's character on your website. This takes care and creativity in blending the ad into content, keeping the user experience smooth and not disturbing viewing.

Creative ideas

Not every business understands and uses native ads well, often because they do not use their full potential. Creativity is what makes you stand out in today's flood of ads. To get there, come up with fresh, bold ideas that break away from traditional strategies.

What should you keep in mind when running a Native Ads campaign?

When running a native ads campaign, understanding and following the basic principles is essential for a campaign to work. Many businesses still use Native Ads with poor results because they do not know the points below:

Choose the right platform for Native Ads

Choosing the right platform is an important factor for native marketing. This makes sure your content is shown to the right audience, which raises the chance of attention and interaction. But picking the right platform is not always easy. Consider factors such as browsing habits, how well your content fits, and the resources you have to produce suitable content.

For example, if a platform requires image ads, make sure you have the resources to make appealing images. If it is a text ad, pay attention to tone and content so you make an impression on your audience. For each platform, careful research and evaluation will help you decide well and optimize your native ads campaign.

Unique content made for the platform and its readers

To make native ads effective, content must be tailored to the specific platform and readers. Defining the target audience alone is not enough; a good native ad sample needs to:

• Care about the user: The content should share its message without force, be appealing to viewers and create real value for them.
• Fit the platform: Make sure native ad content matches the platform's style and format, so it catches readers' attention without being obvious or off-putting.

Only when native ad content is created the right way can you attract and keep readers effectively.

Invest in content quality

If you do not want your ads to be bland, investing in content is a must. An effective campaign must bring real value to readers. Analyzing your readers and their needs on the website carefully is the key to content that fits and gets attention. Investing in content quality will bring long-term results for your native ads campaign.

Eye-catching, mobile-friendly images and design

To impress readers, pay attention not only to content quality but also to visuals. If the ad design matches the website's look, it is easier to catch customers' attention. Make sure the experience works well on mobile because most people browse the web on their phones.

Limit brand mentions

Mentioning brand name too much can lead to fatigue and backfire with customers. Instead, focus on providing value in the content and avoid stressing the brand too much. However, there is no need to avoid the brand on purpose. Mention it subtly by linking the ad to a page with related content or adding a logo to the ad design to improve recognition. This helps customers recognize the brand more naturally without feeling overloaded.

Add a strong CTA

A professional CTA works best when it is short and focused on asking viewers to take a specific action, such as “Mua ngay“, “Sign up now", or "Free download”. Adding a CTA to native ads is not optional but a required step to raise the conversion rate. Some users may act without prompting, but for most, a strong CTA decides the matter when they hesitate.

Do not forget to test and optimize

Create several versions of your ads and test them in different ways. Adjust the campaign when needed to get the best results. Every small detail of an ad campaign, from headline and slogan to design and landing page, needs careful attention. Measuring each element and optimizing it will help you reach the results you want from native ads.

Above is a detailed answer to the question of what “What are Native Ads” and how they work. Native advertising has plenty of potential and delivers strong results when applied correctly and wisely. We hope the knowledge MONA has shared gives you the motivation and know-how to keep developing your native ads strategy effectively.