While it’s arguable that native advertising has been around now for several decades, its mainstream use has certainly taken off in the last few years. Programmatic advertising, on the other hand, is a new innovation, which, like Native ads, is transforming the way we advertise content. Most industry leaders are predicting improved ROI for content marketing campaigns, as well as improvement in affiliate channels.
To understand how native advertising and programmatic technology can be used in tandem, it’s important to have a clear understanding of how each works and what they involve.
How Can Programmatic And Native Advertising work together?
Native advertising involves merging your ad with the content you would naturally find on a particular site. The idea is for the consumer not to notice that they are looking at an ad, so that they are more open to engage with its content. A good example would be finding a comical video ad on a site that already hosts funny video content.
So what is Programmatic? Well, Programmatic is a way of buying ad space online. Normally, or at least more traditionally, advertisers would negotiate which ads they would buy, how much they would pay, and so on. This process of placing insertion orders is, by its very nature, slow. When a brand markets using a programmatic buying approach, they set their audience attributes, budget and targets for the campaign, and from there the algorithm that underpins the technology determines where and when an ad is placed, to whom it is shown, and the frequency with which it is served.
It isn’t difficult to realise the potential of native advertising if it were delivered in the right context, to the right audience, in the most relevant moments, and on the most effective devices. Well, that is essentially the benefit of running your native advertising programmatically.
What are the advantages of doing Native Advertising programmatically?
Native advertising means your ads don’t look like ads, so running these through a programmatic engine means they are automatically placed on websites that target your audience. Native advertising is constantly improving in its ability to blend in with its surroundings. At the same time, programmatic buying is allowing advertisers to cut out much of the administrative work and speculation that has traditionally impeded the process of buying media.
Theoretically, this is a great idea. Imagine a native ad about flights to the US that pops up beside someone’s Facebook album showing images of a recent holiday to Miami. While native advertising has been shown to drive strong ROI, there is always the risk that Native Advertising will miss the mark or will not be sufficiently scalable.
An important metric in measuring the success (or failure) of any programmatic campaign is the level and type of user engagement with the ads. Not everyone clicks on an ad, and for those that do, many are not your target audience or in a buying state. By providing alternative means of engagement aside from clicking an ad, advertisers have the ability to reach a wider audience, and know that their ads are being viewed.
What does Affiliate Marketing achieve?
So how will the ability to track engagement with native ads that are served programmatically impact a brand’s affiliate marketing?
First of all, by broadening your affiliate marketing network, you can improve the scalability of your native advertising campaign, and connect with the most relevant segments of your audience.
Advertisers who leverage affiliate networks will also be more likely to improve their click-through rate (CTR) when running campaigns centred on content. Tracking engagement on native ads with metrics such as dwell-time helps advertisers understand the effectiveness of each piece of content within the target audience. Beyond this, using these metrics, advertisers can reward their affiliates accurately and optimise their investment to the best performing channels.
Next steps…
It is important to remember that an integrated campaign always performs better than segmented and stand-alone channels. These techniques are not only beneficial for advertisers, but also make the online experience more enjoyable and more relevant to consumers.
If you want to kick-start your Native Programmatic campaign with Benchmarketing, get in touch with our specialists today on 1300 049 498. We’re here to help!
