Welcome to part 2 on how to execute your native advertising campaign. Here you’ll get a better understanding of the different ends of the funnel in the optimization process, and which metrics to use to make a better assessment of your campaigns performance.
Optimization is Key
In some respects, native advertising is no different to other marketing channels, insofar as maximising the optimization at both ends of the funnel to drive stronger results.
Top of the funnel
To amplify optimization and improve performance in your native advertising campaign, it is critical to know your average conversion rates for any and all the campaigns you run. To establish what is and isn’t working in a particular campaign, you’ll need to be aware of certain metrics and how they affect the measure the success of your native advertising campaign. To make the right adjustments to an under-performing campaign, use the following metrics as indicators of the overall strength of your headline, article and landing page:
Headline – Unique views and total impressions
Views and impressions will indicate the effectiveness of a headline. If your publisher is producing the content, make sure that the publisher goes with a headline that is catchy and targeted to get the best results.
Article – Total clicks and unique views
Your number of clicks and views will indicate the quality of your content. If the results were not where you’d like them to be, communicate this concern with the publisher to get feedback on how it could be tweaked to improve results.
Landing page – Total leads and clicks
If a lead comes through to your landing page and still doesn’t convert, it’s time to do some A/B testing to see what can be changed to improve your conversion rate. Is the copy succinct, yet compelling? Is the lead form sufficiently prominent? Could certain design aspects of the landing page such as colour scheme and layout be modified or improved? Much of what is required to improve your landing page conversion rate comes down to trial and error, so start testing!
When assessing your metrics, be sure to compare them against your own data, as industry averages often rely on too many variables and so won’t be as useful.
Middle of the Funnel
Although these metrics provide insightful data to better optimize your campaign, the main aim of the game in any marketing campaign, be it native advertising or otherwise, is lead generation. Ask yourself: How many sales opportunities are these leads generating?
The quality of a lead has a huge impact on the quality of the sales opportunity. Publishers can see what traffic is being driven to the article, so it makes sense for them to be held accountable for only delivering qualified leads. When negotiating the terms of your native advertising contract, make sure the publisher is only delivering leads that are within the CPL that you have both agreed to, and that a certain percentage of these leads are MQLs.
As you approach the end of your native advertising campaign, it’s time to crunch the numbers and evaluate the overall performance of the publisher/editorial team. At the end of the day, not all publications will be suited to the promotion of your product, so be prepared to do a few test campaigns until you find the right fit at the right CPL.
Campaign conclusions
As demand for native advertising as a marketing channel become more popular, it can be expected that publishers will offer less flexible offerings. The saying “you get what you pay for” will not always ring true in native advertising. Don’t limit yourself to one publication and be willing to run multiple campaigns. Make sure to ask questions and assess the tools and resources in each publisher’s media kit. Know the offer inside out before committing your limited marketing budget.
What next?
Running a successful native advertising campaign requires trial and error, and flexibility. Be patient but not complacent. Know what the publisher has control over and what you can do on your end to improve results. Every offer will vary slightly, so test out several and compare the results.
If you’re considering running a native advertising campaign through a publisher and would like to know more about what this involves, get in touch with the team at Benchmarketing on 1300 049 498 and shoot us an email at [email protected].
