How To Tell A Native Advertising Story

Practice What You Preach

We preach the benefits of Native Advertising, but what exactly does it bring us?Here's an example from our databases that hints at the success in this practice.

With local escape game company A/Maze, we've driven roughly 7 thousand clicks back to the company's official website in one sponsored article push, booked them solid that month, and managed to hold the momentum and buzz for more than 45 days after initial publication. When the content is tried and true, the results are undeniable and sometimes even shocking when you receive the feedback report from your client.

The tease of successful Native Advertising is both pleasantly alluring, and difficult to achieve - at times, feeling as if you're striving toward an end that will never come. The efforts made by marketers are constant and endless, with objectives always in sight and always slightly beyond reach until you get up and actively strive towards Native Advertising.

Creating Native Advertising

To create successful native content your articles must do three things:

1. Present sympathetic social scenarios for the products. This means relating directly to your audience through popular social issues and common habits rather than pushing the traditional “this is why I'm best fit for the job” product pitch based on benefits. This content is far from sales-oriented; in fact, it's not even discretely sales-oriented - though admittedly, this often depends on the level of subtlety the company can afford/allow.
2. Possess (local) cultural substance, keeping up with the Joneses (or should we say the Kardashians). With current trends in mind, and a natural knack for popular culture, you will find yourself hitting the mark more often than not.
3. Capture the attention of the audience and hold it – for 15 seconds. Keep it short and sweet. You've got to publish content that can be digested quickly. The key is to get the reader reading and captivate them within those precious 15 seconds above-the-fold. Short attention spans are not to be criticized, but embraced and fed.

Read A Guide To Native Advertising: Flirting to see an example on how to attract your users online.

In collaboration with Matthew Orsini, Synden Hope-Johnston

Photo credit: A/Maze