Native Ads — less is more for your consumers, and you.

Marketers have known of the importance of content for years, but not until now have brands and agencies really paid attention to it. And gave it a name that makes it feel familiar: native advertising. This form of advertising has been around for quite a while now. Years ago, Edward Bernays, considered the father of public relations, would pay women to smoke during Easter Sundays in New York. He did so in order to shake the taboo of smoking in public, and, therefore, get more women smoking. He would hire good-looking women and photographers to take pictures and then publish them around the world.

Today, this technique would be described as native advertising. And it seems to be working. According to research from IPG Media Lab, native ads are viewed for the same amount of time as editorial content and is much more likely to be shared than a banner ad (32% versus 19% of respondents said they would do so). We know that very few people click on ads nowadays and even though this technique gives marketers a more natural alternative to reach out to consumers.This tool, however, should entice marketers to look at branding differently. Less branding in their content means more when it comes to today’s discriminating reader. It is calculated that a single mention of your brand can cause readers to trust you less than 29 %. Because of this, marketers should seek to create content with a purpose. This content should seek to help the reader, plain and simple. A certain loyalty arises from putting them first because eventually they will want to do the same for you. Marketers should view native advertising as content with a purpose.