10 Top Tips for Native Advertising Success from Native Advertising DAYS 2017

By Tim Cain 
Founder of Digital First Media
UK
Connect

We’ve just had the 3rd annual Native Advertising Days Conference in Berlin, where the world’s best thinkers and practitioners of Native Advertising came together to share their insight into delivering effective branded content marketing solutions that have real traction with audiences.

How do we develop Native Advertising further to show its real value.

At Native Advertising Days 2017 it felt overall like we’ve moved on now to a new phase, the position of Native Advertising being established as an intrinsic component of consumer marketing and publisher to consumer communications, so how do we develop Native Advertising further to show its real value?

The latest studies by Native Advertising Institute show that expectations for growth of Native Advertising revenues from publishers of news and magazine based sites are expected to double by 2020. Native is more than a revenue stream it’s becoming THE preferred brand to consumer communications source.

10 top tips to act on to ensure Native Advertising delivers the best results for brands.

Out of the insight from these presentations came some real pearls of wisdom that illustrate how to take Native Advertising forward and deliver demonstrable success from the medium.

I’ve taken a number of these key thoughts to create the 10 top tips to act on to ensure Native Advertising delivers the best results for brands.

So here they are, in no particular order, along with their originators!

1. Be customer centric

Understand the people you want to reach, be customer-centric, remember how you make customers feel, you need empathy for good customer experience.

- Johannes Ceh, Journalist, Content Strategist and Consultant @johannesceh

2. Create interest not interruption

Successful marketing is telling stories that customers can relate to, we need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and BE what people are interested in.
- Mickael Ferreira, Quantum CEO and Co-Founder @mickae1ferreira

Remember with native you’re paying to interest people not interrupt them.
- Alexander Erlmeier, Managing Director Central Europe of Outbrain @AlexErlmeier

3. Seek an emotional connection

A good brand story needs a sticking point, a surprise for the consumer.
- Yvonne Beister, Head of BILD Brand Studio Editorial @yvonne_BILDde

4. Targeting needs to combine people, content & environment

Content is currency but you need relevant targeting, curate the audience and the offering, and consider, it’s all about the feed.
- Dale Lovell, Chief Digital Officer at Adyoulike @DaleL_NativeAds

5. Good content doesn't have to be short

Long-form content has real value and a place in every content strategy.
- Jason Miller, Global Content Marketing Leader at LinkedIn @JasonMillerCA

6. Invest in the whole process from creation to delivery

Ad spend is only part of the cost (perhaps less than half)  – invest in strategy, project management, design, copywriting and tracking results.
- Joie Healy, Senior Manager of Social Media Communications at Cisco @JoieHealy

7. Follow the rules

Remember the 5 rules of engagement to make your stories matter – transport the reader, be original, get personal, broaden your audience, join the zeitgeist.
- Annie Granatstein, Head of WP BrandStudio at the Washington Post @anniegranat

8. Always consider the Why

Understand why branded content works – users prefer content, publisher produced native content performs best, content is more memorable, content drives higher purchase intent and brand favourability.
- Lauren Reddy, Director of Audience Development and Insights at the Advertising team at The New York Times @MissReddy

9. Remember the importance of truth

The acronym for success is TRUTH – timely, reputable unique, tension, human connection.
- Melanie Deziel, Content Strategist and Founder of The Overlap League @mdeziel

10. Create an action plan

What’s your action plan? Listen and understand, know your audience, build great content, adapt it, distribute it to the right place, listen to the feedback, learn and repeat.
- Brandon Keenen, Senior Digital Commercial Director at CNN International Commercial (CNNIC) @bkeenen

DOWNLOAD: Native Advertising Trends 2017 - The Magazine Industry