Native Marketing That Doesn’t Feel Like Marketing: A Guide to Getting It Right

What is Native Marketing?

Let me introduce you to the chameleon of digital marketing: native marketing. Native marketing is a type of paid advertising that blends in naturally with the content around it, matching the look, feel, and style of the platform where it appears. While you may not have noticed native ads, I can guarantee that you have encountered them. 

Native marketing has a long and proud history, dating back to print media as so-called ‘advertorials’. In this type of native ad, if the brand name is removed, the ad would blend in with any other piece of content in the newspaper. Done well, this is exactly the forte of native marketing– the ads blend in with the content on the site or platform and use a softer selling approach compared to other forms of advertising, to the extent that it can be mistaken for organic content. Because they are designed to blend in, they also don’t interrupt the reader’s flow or annoy the user

Native Marketing Examples 

Native ads can be used anywhere and take the form of articles, videos or images. Here are some examples of native ad formats:

Search Engine Result Ads

Sponsored Social Media Posts

Sponsored Snippets Next to an Article

These often show up in a column labelled “recommended from the web”, “sponsored content”, or something similar.

Advertorials That Feature a Full Article Related to Your Product or Service

Why Do Native Marketing?

Native marketing is rapidly growing in popularity and for good reason, as it is both effective and appealing.

If you’re wondering how effective native ads are compared to traditional display advertising, the stats speak for themselves.

• Native ads generate click-through rates (CTR) that are almost 9 times higher than display ads (Deloitte report).
• Native ads get 53% more views than display ads (Acquisio).
• Native ads get an 18% higher purchase intent and 9% higher brand affinity than display ads (Sharethrough).

Native ads are effective because they let you tap into content-driven advertising. The appeal lies in the fact that they are embedded in a medium your target audience already uses, and therefore appear more relevant. Native ads also allow you to tell a story about your product or business, which engages users, as 70% of consumers prefer to learn about products via content rather than advertising (Ignite Visibility).

Also, let’s face it: users are getting increasingly sick of ads. In fact, according to a Deloitte report, 80% of North Americans use some form of adblocking. Native ads are a way to reach users suffering from “ad fatigue”, and ad blockers will not hide most native ads.

Native Ads vs Display Ads

Now, let’s talk about how to use the right tool at the right time. What’s the difference between display ads and native ads? Which type of ad should you use for your business? Let’s break it down.

Display ads show up next to original content in the form of traditional banner ads, typically with the brand’s logo. While display ads aren’t as engaging as native ads, they are still a good way to build brand awareness and test and optimize for better performance. Here’s when you should use display ads:

• A display ad is your best option if you’re trying to reach multiple audiences at the same time that don’t behave the same way online and don’t consume content on the same publishing platforms, mediums, sites or apps. 
• Your target audience uses sites that lack a consistent format, content, and editorial style, making it tricky for a native ad placement to blend in seamlessly.
• You want to use ad networks to quickly and easily place ads on multiple websites.
• The primary goal of your campaign is remarketing, where you’re targeting ads only to people who have visited your site before.

If a display ads campaign is a good fit for your marketing needs, we have a handy guide on how to get started.

Native marketing ads are a great way of telling a story about your business or product. Here’s when using native ads is a good fit:

• Your target audience can be reached through a small number of similar sites with a consistent editorial style, format, and content type, allowing one native ad to reach all audience members.
• You want to invest in a clever and creative marketing campaign that is more likely to grab the attention of your target audience. 
• Your marketing strategy involves boosting brand loyalty.
• You want your target audience to share your content with their connections.

Native Marketing Platforms

Great! Now that we have the basics of native marketing down, let’s have a look at what native advertising platforms are available.

Search Engines

While search engines like Google aren’t inherently native advertising platforms, they do carry native ad formats. Search ads (particularly text ads that resemble organic search results) are often classified as a form of native advertising because they integrate into the search results page and match its format.

Social Media Platforms

Social platforms do qualify as native advertising platforms because their ad formats are fully integrated into the user experience. For instance:

• Sponsored posts on LinkedIn or Facebook
• Promoted tweets on X
• Sponsored videos on TikTok or Instagram Reels

These ads look like regular posts or stories, just labeled as “Sponsored.”

Ad Networks

Ad networks such as Taboola, Outbrain, and Nativo are third-party platforms that connect advertisers with publishers. Via these networks, you can place a native content ad across a wide range of publishers from BuzzFeed and The HuffPost to ESPN and Bloomberg.

How to Build a Native Ad

To create a native ad, here are a couple of steps to get you started. 

1. Ask yourself, who is your target audience? It’s important to have a good understanding of the specific demographic characteristics, including location, device, age, gender, and interests. Once you receive the initial results of your native ads campaign, assess your target audience profile and refine it even further. 
2. Based on your target audience and budget, determine which native advertising platform works best for your campaign.  
3. Determine your marketing goal and craft copy that aligns with the chosen platform and speaks to your audience’s interests.
4. Decide on your budget. The cost of native ads varies widely depending on the type of native ad, the platform, and your industry.

Native Marketing Best Practices

Finally, let’s review some best practices for creating a successful native marketing ad. 

• Include a clear call-to-action. Don’t leave your audience wondering what you’re trying to communicate.
• Match the style of the platform it’s viewed on. The content should appeal to and resonate with the platform’s users to be engaging. 
• Select effective images to go with your content. Taboola, one of the major native ads networks, conducted a thorough review of the efficiency of different image types and found that photos work 20% better than illustrations, outdoor shots perform 12% better, and black and white images are generally more engaging.
• Ensure your native ad is properly labelled (e.g., sponsored, promoted) for transparency. Although there are no rules regarding how publishers should label native ads, they should avoid breaching the trust between the publisher and their audience by being misleading or deceptive. 
• In addition to labeling, be clear in your copy that the native ad is sponsored by a brand. While native ads are designed to blend in with the rest of the content on the platform, you want to strike a balance between mimicking organic content and transparency. It’s a tricky balance to strike, as 48% of users have felt deceived upon realizing that the content is sponsored by a brand (Ignite Visibility)

Start Your Native Marketing Campaign… Now!

According to The Market Intelligence, the global native advertising market is expected to grow to $144.60 billion in 2025, seeing a 14.2% growth from the previous year. So, you should get in the game too! The best native ads are the MVPs of a company’s digital marketing strategy, and can really help you reach your marketing goals.

If you’re wondering what a native ad campaign would look like for your business or how to better manage your native ad campaign, let us help! Here at Konstruct, we have years of experience helping businesses of all types develop a digital marketing strategy that will deliver the results they’re looking for.