Isn’t It Time You Thought about a Type of Ads Better than Banner Ads?
What is native advertising?
Well, you can be assured that native advertising is NOT any of the following.
Yeah, it’s true that these are the kinds of ads which you and I usually come across on the net, asking us to sign up for their newsletters, buy their products, shop on their website etc.
And what’s our usual response to such ads? DISMISSED (Ouch!)
Well, if you haven’t realized until now, aren’t these the type of ads that you’ve been using to promote you products and services too? (Ahem)
Well, may be now you realized why the click through rates (CTR) for these traditional banner and social ads have been so very pathetic? (Ouch! again!)
What’s the issue with the traditional forms of ads?
THESE ADS ARE ADS (What the hell? Aren’t ads supposed be ads?)! :O
It might have sounded funny but it is not. Well, I’m sorry to bring it up again, but the CTR for your traditional banner and social ads are proof of that.
What’s so special about native ads?
Do we like ads? Personally, I don’t.
Why? Because they’re ads, and I don’t like ads. Wherever I go, they follow me as if we’re destined for each other. Aaand it’s kind of annoying, well, a lot annoying.
Enough with melodrama. The bottom line is,
“people are preconceived that ‘ads are annoying’; the very fact that ‘an ad is an ad’ is enough for them to ignore ads.”
What makes native ads special and more preferable than the traditional ads is that they are not ads — at least they don’t look like ads.
Native ads are CAMOUFLAGED
Yep, ‘CAMOUFLAGE’ is the best way to understand what a native ad is.
The content of native ads matches the form and function or style of the platform upon which it appears.
And this quality of native ads make sure that they don’t appear like ads, but another content similar to/coherent with one which would appear on that platform.
EX: The videos which you can skip after 5 seconds on YouTube videos, promoted tweets on Twitter, suggested posts on Facebook, and recommended content on content discovery platforms.
The two crucial facts that these “ads” don’t appear like the usual ads and that they appear on places where we go in search of information (content that entertain and educate us) which BENEFITS us are what make native ads more effective in attracting the audience.
Think of it like this. There’s this person who hates the very sight of you, but if you approach him/her with a (fake?) smile and try talking nicely, would they turn their face away, or would they talk with you at least a few words? Tadaa!
This is more or less the logic behind native ads. And one heck of a logic it is! Just have a look at these stats.
- People view native ads 53% more than banner ads.
- Native advertising generates up to an 82% increase in brand lift.
- 70% of individuals want to learn about products through content rather than through traditional advertising.
- The average CTR for premium native ads on mobile devices were more than 4X higher than the average CTR of traditional, non-native display ads
So, would you stick to the traditional banner ads that generate pitiful CTR, or would you rather switch to native advertising which are much more promising?
If last year’s lead generation hasn’t been satisfactory, or if you want to increase lead generation of your business, native ads seem to do better than the traditional ones. Why not try it out?
Let me know what you think :)
