Two of the more recent innovations to come along in online advertising, native ads and programmatic platforms, are changing the content advertising landscape. Industry experts believe that both are likely to drive a surge in the ROI on content ad campaigns while boosting the affiliate channel.
First, let’s step back and clarify what we mean by native advertising and programmatic platforms and how they work together in an engagement centric campaign.
Native Ads and Programmatic Platforms: It’s Not An Either/Or Option
It’s Not An Either/Or Option Essentially, native ads blend with the content on the site. In fact, many consumers aren’t aware that they’re viewing a native
ad at first because it complements the tone and copy on the site. For example, websites that are humorous in nature will have funny, native ads such as comedy videos.
Moving on to programmatic buying, this refers to an automated alternative to the traditional approaches to buying media such as negotiations and insertion orders. Using a programmatic platform, a marketer defines the audience, budget, attribution, and other goals and from there, the data and algorithms take over in terms of placement.
Moving on to programmatic buying, this refers to an automated alternative to the traditional approaches to buying media such as negotiations and insertion orders. Using a programmatic platform, a marketer defines the audience, budget, attribution, and other goals and from there, the data and algorithms take over in terms of placement.
You can well imagine the benefits of bringing together highly targeted native ads that are automatically delivered at the right time to the right customer on the right device and speak specifically to the content that currently appears on the site.
Engaging Native Ads on Programmatic Platforms
We can all pretty much agree that these capabilities – having contextually relevant ads automatically and seamlessly woven into a website – has been the goal of online advertising for quite some time. Yet the difference between what came before and what we’re seeing now with native advertising is that the
ads are more closely woven into the content that appears on the site. Meanwhile, programmatic platforms are reducing a lot of the administration and educated guesswork associated with media buying.
In theory, this sounds great. Picture a native ad for a ski resort that automatically appears alongside a Facebook user’s photo album of their latest trip to Park City. However, on the flip side of this scenario is the risk associated with any technology aiming to hone in too closely on the specific interests of a
target audience. While highly specific ads may deliver phenomenal ROI, the campaigns don’t necessarily scale. Then there’s always the chance that the native ad is wildly off target.
This is where engagement will play a critical role in accelerating the adoption of these nascent technologies. When it comes to engagement, we’re referring to a user’s interaction with an ad, video or image.
Giving consumers the option to interact with the ad in ways besides click through creates a venue for engaging consumers who don’t click on ads – and we all know that not all clickers are buyers and not all buyers are clickers. This empowers advertisers to influence a bigger audience, and gives them a way
to know their ads were seen.
The Impact on Affiliate Marketing
Yet how will engagement in native ads delivered through programmatic platforms affect an advertiser’s affiliate marketing program?
For one, affiliates can help an advertiser scale campaigns and reach more targeted audiences, which we know is one of the oft-cited drawbacks of native advertising.
Another likely benefit to advertisers with affiliate programs is that they’ll be able to boost the CTR on content campaigns. This, in turn, addresses the issues of affiliate credit, because in-ad actions prove the extent to which the ads were seen and the level of interest among a specific demographic. Taking this
a step further, online advertisers can consider increasing the incentives given to those affiliates that drive traffic, engagement, and conversions.
As native advertising and programmatic platforms evolve, let’s not keep all of these highly complementary approaches in silos. We can anticipate that these innovations in online advertising will increase the demand for engaging ad content that will benefit consumers, advertisers and affiliates.