4 Mistakes Marketers Commit with Native Advertising

Programmatic native advertising supports content marketing. That means, in order to use in-feed native ads to promote a brand or product, a brand must have a solid content and distribution strategy. We’ve observed mistakes some marketers commit seemingly stemming from a misunderstanding of how in-feed native works.  The good news is, they're fixable! But first let's acknowledge what goes wrong.

Four major mistakes as follows:

1. Absence of Content Marketing Strategy. If a brand doesn’t have a strong grasp around the importance of defining buyer personas, creating a calendar of content specific to different stages of the buyer’s journey, or thinks that a content marketing strategy starts and ends within search and social channels, a native advertising campaign can’t succeed. Native absolutely requires thoughtful, strategic content; and display ad landing pages don’t count.
2. Lack of Valuable Content. Ideally, in-feed native ads drive a targeted audience to content valuable to that particular audience. If the brand hasn’t thoroughly researched their buyer persona’s challenges, considered their stage in the funnel, crafted content especially for them, and constructed the destination page to move them towards their desired end-goal, then the campaign won’t deliver.
3. The Bait & Switch. By definition, native advertising matches the form and function of the site on which it resides, thereby serving as a politer way to engage consumers, as well as directing them to useful content—that’s why it’s successful. If a brand uses an attractive photo and enticing headline and then drops them off on an unrelated or annoying product page or lead form, the audience not only loses interest, but loses faith in the brand.
4. Disregard for Contextual Relevancy. Brands—and often the DSPs that serve their ads—blatantly disregard the editorial content on the publisher’s website. Again, the idea is to grab the attention of the target audience where they’re already consuming related content and therefore likely to click on a native ad to find thoughtful, entertaining, engaging content around a similar theme…to inspire them to convert (i.e. sign up, download, purchase, etc.). Native ads executed well not only fit the look and feel of the site, but they’re relevant to the editorial context of the placement.

These points may seem obvious or elementary, but we continue to see brands struggle, and they are fundamental to the success of native ad campaigns. A few tweaks and native advertising will deliver conversions and clear ROI.

To learn more about The Do's and Don'ts of Native Advertising, download our eBook, Go Native: Effective Content Promotion and Customer Engagement.

Storygize is more than a platform; we're a strategic partner that empowers growth. Our team is happy to help brands create a strategy that aligns with brand objectives and then execute in an iterative, evolving approach to ensure exposure to targeted audiences where they consume relevant content.