Thalamus, the largest research database of ad vendor data in the world, recently interviewed Storygize CEO David Osman about programmatic native and the future of automated buying. 

Check out the full Storygize interview originally posted on Thalamus' blog June 27, 2016. Highlights follow.

Images have always been a powerful tool in advertising, but strong imagery is even more essential in today’s competitive world of online advertising. The image needs to grab the attention of the visitor and entice them to click; this is especially important with Native Advertising, since the ads are meant to match the look and feel of the content around it.

As we mentioned in our previous post on writing a strong native ad headline, an effective native ad should stand out, inform, and encourage interaction. Along with a great headline, images are one of the first things to attract attention from a user. Whether the image is eye-catching or triggers an emotional response, you’ll want to create a reason for a user to not only pay attention to your ad, but to then click. In part two of our Native Advertising best practices series, we’ll help you choose a Native Ad image to not only stand out, but capture the right audience for your brand.

When it comes to creating an effective native ad campaign strategy, there’s a lot to take into account. Who is the target demographic? What headlines and creative elements will draw them in? Will the ad blend suitably with publisher content? It can be overwhelming.

But undoubtedly the most important element to consider is the content that the consumer will be directed to after clicking the native ad. Campaign strategies that prioritize strong, shareable content are by far the most successful. Not all content is suitable to achieve native advertising goals. It can’t be too dry, or a blatant sales pitch, or somehow unaligned with the brand’s image; the list goes on.

Sometimes a native ad can fall flat. It might be that it doesn’t fit into the surrounding page content, and comes across as contrived. Or, it could be published alongside content that consumers consider inappropriate or off-limits, such as news content that is expected to remain neutral. 

If you’re confused by the term “native advertising,” well, you’re not alone. But you’re probably more familiar with the concept than you think. In fact, chances are you’ve witnessed some form of native advertising today. Native advertising can be an in-feed ads, an image tile within a recommedation widget, a suggested post on Facebook, sponsored content on a news site, or a promoted tweet on Twitter. Besides a small disclaimer, these ads usually blend almost seamlessly with the regular site content.

In a world filled with SEO, content marketing, and display ads, it’s hard to keep up. We totally get it, but faster than you can say “Siri, what is Native Advertising?” we’ll get you an answer! Okay, maybe not that fast, but you catch our drift.

So what is native advertising?

The quick and dirty answer: Native Advertising is a form of paid advertising where the ad matches the form and function of the content on the platform on which it appears. Of course, how can you really get to know Native Advertising in just one sentence? It’s like a first date . . . You might need to dig a little deeper to get to know the person (or ad) behind the name. Second date, here we come!

The beauty of native advertising is that the ad matches the look and feel of the content around it, blending in. The tricky part about this form of advertising is that, well, the ads blend in. Because of this, brands must compete for the attention of the consumer—a consumer who likely has an attention span of less than 25 seconds—and the only way to do so is by creating something interesting, catchy and of course, relevant. That’s where the headline comes in.