Why is Native Advertising Controversial?

If the dream is to ‘sell’ to people without them feeling sold to then how often does native advertising leave users feeling like they’ve been had?

The dream is to introduce target audiences to valuable content which genuinely engages them while raising awareness for the products and services promoted.

This is precisely what native advertising aims for

So, what’s the issue? There has been a lot of criticism lately around the fact that users read what they think is simple information, an article or blog post perhaps, only to discover it is, in fact, an advert. When done right, however, native advertising can be extremely satisfying for all parties involved.
Let’s dig a bit deeper and find out how…

What is Native Advertising?

Native Advertising is one of those things that you know it when you see it but can be a little challenging to define.
Some experts will explain native advertising as a form of communication so interconnected to its context that readers cannot tell it is advertising.

The Native Advertising Institute, on the other hand, states that “native advertising needs to be valuable content of a non-interruptive nature – which is typically not the case with in-stream advertising.”
The definition they provide is: “paid advertising where the ad matches the form, feel and function of the content of the media on which it appears.”

How Does Native Advertising Work?

The average consumer is exposed to up to 10,000 brand messages every day! This incredibly high figure would also explain the reason behind users tuning out of ads on a regular basis. People scroll past banner ads because they become a blur… just something that comes between them and the content they are trying to consume.

Experiencing ads in a relevant context

Native advertising, however, forms part of the experience and it involves users in a more engaging way- making the interaction more meaningful.

Native stats

Native Ads influence purchase decisions more subconsciously since the advertising message is woven into the content in a relevant context.

Specifically, native ads generally have:

2x more engagement than banner ads
18% higher purchase intent compared to banner ads
53% more chances of being viewed compared to than banner ads

Is Native Advertising Ethical?

If the content is clearly labelled as an advertisement, then the answer is ‘yes’.
Even though the ad may look like a regular article or video, if a native ad is properly presented as an ad with text that states “advertisement” or something along those lines, you’ll know that it has been placed in that context intentionally.

It’s easy to get started. We can help you achieve ads that are beautiful in a brand safe environment in less than 24 hours.
Don’t fall behind on the latest native & contextual news- check out our blog

Context is king: Is it time to rethink your KPIs?

After Covid, the three Cs of brand development: Customer, Company and Competitors will need to give way to Context, as brands redefine their KPIs to rise up to the challenge of the Pandemic by focusing on the strength of reputation.

For almost a year now, brands have been rethinking their strategy to cope with a new reality: from changing workspaces and policies to developing new directions to ensure a resilient approach in the face of the threat posed to their operations.

This has meant establishing what new KPIs may look like and in the midst of all the changes one thing has emerged as a consistent certainty: context.

Achieve your key business objectives

Contextual advertising has been around for a while but with the recent focus on data and user privacy, it is becoming an increasingly important approach both as a standalone approach as well as running alongside other forms of marketing. The contextual field is one that is fertile with innovation and new technical solutions and it continues to evolve every day.

So, contextual advertising has finally made a comeback and is stronger than ever by taking even bigger leaps in the right direction when it comes to keyword blocking and URL blocklisting. More attention is being paid to making sure the ad matches with the webpage content and ensuring that the ads are contextually relevant for the target audience. It offers a mixture of privacy compliance and scale that, up until now, third-party cookie alternatives do not.

What is contextual relevance?

To be contextually relevant means prioritising the how individual words and phrases relate to each other, the demography of the audience they target and its geolocation. How the words can be used or interpreted will make or break the success of an advertising strategy.

What needs to be done to change your brand’s current marketing and communications?

The focus is on reputation and ensuring a brand safe inventory is a vital part of this strategy. Following on from this, publishers are also more than willing to put in efforts to qualify their content accurately because advertisers would be willing to pay premium CPMs for contextual friendly environments.

Needless to say, this process is constantly evolving and will continue to do so as we witness increasingly AI based technologies emerging to help increase the success of contextual advertising.

The exit of third-party cookies and the focus on brand safety have put contextual advertising in prime position. With more advertisers looking for audience targeting options, rather than behavioural targeting, context will continue to play a strong role in the future of digital advertising.

How much could a cyber attack cost your business?

Figures show fewer companies are using security tools to identify abnormal activity, meaning firms are less aware than before of the breaches and attacks businesses are facing. The average cost of a cyber attack on a business is £8,460. This figure rises to £13,400 for medium and large businesses.

Why are businesses failing to protect themselves against cyber attacks?

The pandemic has meant that digital transformation has become vital to the UK economy and with so many more people relying on technology and digital services, cyber criminals have upped their game with a variety of ransomware and malware attacks.

Nearly half of businesses (47 per cent) are allowing employees to use personal devices for work, could this be contributing to the rise in breaches?

Figures show fewer businesses are taking recommended cyber security measures

A new report released by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) suggests the cyber risk to organisations is heightened because of the pandemic.

Two in five businesses (39 per cent) report having cyber security breaches and attacks over the last 12 months.

The increase in employees working from home has meant a greater cyber risk to companies …

And phishing remains the most common threat followed by instances of others impersonating their organisation online, viruses or other malware including ransomware.

Digital Infrastructure Minister Matt Warman stated last month that the government is investing £1.9 billion in cyber security to make the UK the safest place to live and work online.

The government believe a new era of digital growth is at risk …

And it is urging organisations to follow expert guidance to boost their online resilience.

The Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021 report shows that the pandemic has made businesses more vulnerable to attack as organisational resources are directed towards facilitating remote working for employees.

Here are useful guides on secure measures for:

Video Conferencing

Secure working from home

Moving your business from physical to digital

How can a small business with no digital experience get started?

Now that digital has replaced physical, how can a small business with no digital experience get started?

Women running a small business in the digital era

With everyone racing to the top of the digital mountain you’ve got to stand out across media to be seen. Brand awareness gets maximum results!

No matter what your budget is, digital marketing is accessible for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Have you recently started a business? Or maybe you have a small business that you’re trying to get off the ground and running.
Here are …tips to get you off the ground and running.

1-Optimize your content for search engines

The visitors you need are the ones actively searching for the services you offer online. It is easy to convert these visitors because they are highly targeted.
What are the first steps to get started with SEO?

Keyword research-> this will allow you to improve your search engine visibility.
You will find the words your future customers are using on search engines through keyword analysis. You may use a tool such as @Semrush to start your keyword search to help. It’s easier to target long-tail keywords as a new enterprise (three or more words).

These long-tail keywords have three big advantages:

They have clear intent.
They have low competition (and therefore it’s easier to get those top spots).
They account for a large portion of searches.
Half of all search queries are long-tail keywords.

If your keyword/user intent strategy isn’t targeting these terms, you’re missing about half of your audience and half of your potential leads.

2-If you run a local business, optimize your business for local search.

Upload your business details to the local listings
Collect reviews from your customers

Once you’re ready to start with paid advertising your up and running SEO will mean quicker results as you target the best keywords that match your business.

3-A Blog that’s up to date!

Content is what is going to guide your potential customers. Customers read before they buy. The average person consumes 11.4 pieces of content before making a purchasing decision, according to Forrester.

Top tips:

Create posts that solve problems for your audience
Guest blog on other industry websites to reach a wider audience
Generate inbound links that lead back to your own website as this will boost your website’s SEO.

To keep up to date with what to publish consistently. To help, you can create an editorial calendar so that you can publish new content consistently on your blog.

What are the benefits of updating your blog regularly?

It helps you rank for more keywords which means more leads.
HubSpot found that companies that published 16 blog posts monthly got 4.5 times more leads than those with zero to four posts.

4-Personalised emails

Top tips:

Personalised subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened.
Invest in a provider of email services that support automatic emails. This way, based on their preferences, you can send emails to your subscribers and make sure that your emails are always customised, automatically.

Now, you need to send personalized emails to your subscribers to get them to open your emails and click-through to your website.

5-Invest in native and contextual advertising.

-> Content distribution to a relevant audience

Repurpose content to connect with your audience.
Use visuals like images and videos as they attract higher engagement.
Share relevant industry content with users who are already interested.
When you consider that consumers look at native ads 53 percent more frequently than other ads then you know you need to take it seriously.

With the right strategy, the right mindset, you’ll be much better equipped to stand out and generate real results from digital platforms.

Makeover 2021: How to Whip Your Digital Marketing into Shape

….And also what happened to Primark?

When the facts change, I change my mind is an oft-quoted phrase, and have facts ever changed as quickly as they have in the past 12 months?

From temporary lockdowns to permanent shutdowns, it is still unclear exactly what the new ‘facts’ of living in a post-Covid world will look like.

With that in mind, now is a good time for businesses of all sizes to re-examine their direction of travel. Will film studios now skip the cinemas for streaming? And is the high street now truly dead?

If so, then e-commerce will have finally won the battle it has been dominating for the past decade-or-so. And that means businesses need to start taking e-marketing seriously….

Look at Primark. Great shop, fantastic brand, loyal customer base. But the company’s online strategy? Stuck in the past. And not even the recent pre-Covid past.

Though things will return to a reality closer to the one before 2020, it will never be exactly the same. Try to plan ahead and work out what this will mean for you in terms of a strategy that can work.

1- Consider E-commerce as an integral part of your business.

Primark lost £430m of sales during lockdown with 11 stores open 24 hours, at the end of last year, to try to make up for the loss and is now shut again. Often questioned for not having plans to sell online or have an e-commerce site retail consultant Graham Soult pre-Covid had stated: “While the high-street business is thriving and growing, Primark can make a convincing case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Well, it now undoubtedly ‘broke’ so this could be a good time to change things. Even if we were to go back to in-store shopping, undoubtedly e-commerce will never lose its grip again so it’s worth investing in this side of your business if you haven’t already.

2- Plan your social media posts

Plan your social media posts now so that you can advertise your product and hit the ground running for when sales increase. What tools are you tempted to try out?

3- Consider contextual forms of advertising

Consider contextual forms of advertising that appear as a natural continuation of your customer’s journey. Our proprietary technology offers the insight necessary for you to know when your audience is searching for something aligned to your product, even geolocation wise making the search more productive for all…check it out -> www.vertismedia.com

4-Create engaging content

The first step to getting content right is to ask yourself:

What do you spend the most time doing online?
How long do you think typical users spend online every day?

Recent studies show that on average consumers spend 8 hours or more a day engaging with digital content. Content is EVERYWHERE…it’s at the heart of every internet journey.

What does online content mean to you?
How many of these would you included in your content strategy?

• text
• audio
• video
• photos
• images
• graphics
• animations

5-Think about integrating 3D/ AR elements to your strategy.

According to global augmented reality statistics, there will be about 1.96 billion mobile AR users by 2021 and 2.4 billion users by 2023. A BRP report showed that nearly 50% of consumers were more likely to buy products from retailers that were also providers of AR experiences. When customers experience advertised products in context, by placing three-dimensional (3D) holograms of the products in their physical surroundings this AR-enabled product reduces the effort required to create purchase-related imagery. Where customers are increasingly distant when it comes to the purchasing context, AR makes it easier to imagine the product.

Which of these 5 points have you already integrated in your strategy?

We’d love to know.

Image from The Times.

2020 Wrapped Up!

5 points it could be useful to bear in mind when it comes to your digital advertising strategy next year.

1) Videos are shared more than text and links combined.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that compelling video content is one of the most effective advertising tools. Why? Because people remember videos for longer and share them more often than other forms of media.

2) 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business.

That’s a staggeringly high percentage, right? Also, customer reviews influence 67.3% of purchasing decisions. Sounds like people trust them just as much as personal recommendations which makes sense as the borders between people in real life and people we interact with online are blurring a tad more during lockdown life. This makes reviews an incredibly important resource for businesses especially at a local level.

3) Ad spending is on the up for 2021

eMarketer’s Global Digital Ad Spending Update Q2 2020 predicts that spending will achieve a moderate 2.4% growth this year but it is expected to bounce back with a growth of 17% in 2021.

4) Over 70% of YouTube watch time comes from viewers on mobile devices.

The number one gateway to internet access? Mobile phones. It follows that they have also become the most popular devices for watching video content. Nearly a quarter of the world’s population will watch a video on a phone this year.

5) 88% of consumers who search for a local business on their mobile call or visit that business within a day.

This staggering statistic shows the importance of making a good first impression on customers. What’s more, 18% of all local searches lead to a sale within 24 hours. It’s important to cater to your local clientele, as 72% of people who visit a physical shop choose one within five miles of their location.

Though these are just a few stats they point to the fact that this industry is in a state of rapid flux. As digital marketers get to grips with all the rapid technological advancements, an incredible wealth of opportunity has opened up. In this highly competitive landscape are you at the top of your game when it comes to standing out from the crowd?

So what’s next?
Context is the new focus for 2021. But not all environments are brand suitable and safe. Vertis Media offers personalised, brand-specific expertise that works to optimise and get the most from the heart and soul of a page in order to accurately gage the content.
As marketers we know that getting to the heart of the context of content is the number one route to connecting with the ideal audience. Head to our site to contact us and let us know what the project you are focusing on now is and how we can help you get the best results www.vertismedia.com.

What does 2021 hold for digital marketing?

The sectors that came out winning from 2020 were media streaming businesses, mobile gaming and e-commerce propelled forward by peoples’ increased confinement for long periods of time.

As we creep towards 2021, however, our hopes are also tentatively gearing towards normality returning so let’s see what we think the two main trends for brands are:

Creativity: In order to build unique and engaging experiences the future of native includes, without a doubt, the increasing integration of creative features and assets. Brands were already demonstrating more involvement in how its messages were being marketed but with Covid this process has accelerated, with brands using their in-house resources to develop new ideas when it comes to promoting what they have to offer.
Flexibility: Given the historical moment we are currently experiencing, flexibility is everything. As distributors of digital campaigns Vertis Media are having to adapt extremely quickly in order to react to the changes that are occurring, sometimes on a daily basis, with the brands we work with. In a world in which things are changing at a faster pace than we could have ever imagined before (and that’s pretty fast because we basically lived on-the-go before anyway!) monumental changes are taking place which will affect how people behave. As a company we are supporting clients through a process that needs to reflect and adapt to the change in order to continue supplying users with the necessary support.

There are two important messages that we as a company assisting in the distribution of brand messages need to be sending out right now:

Reassurance: brands need to let their consumers and audience know that they aren’t just still up and running but that they are, even more so than before, here for the long haul. Brands need to show that they are still able to provide the products, services and offers as they have done before…even in a situation of drastic change as with Covid.
Innovation: ensuring that how the company is adapting to the current change is being made known to people as this is a demonstration of flexibility and strength at a time when many of our certainties are crumbling.

At this stage, it is impossible to predict what will happen and what our new normal will be. One thing is for sure: gone are the days when companies and brands were able to plan their marketing strategies months in advance.

It is of the utmost importance, therefore, to adopt a strategy that has within it the potential of adapting rapidly to changing messages that reflect the rapid change of the unpredictable times we are living in.

So how do you get started with native and contextual advertising? It’s easier than you think.

With 10 years’ experience, we’re experts in taking ideas, injecting creativity and distributing your branded content to the right audiences with your marketing objective in mind. To get things rolling contact us.

Are you doing these 5 things to look after your customers?

If there is anything you can do to make your digital marketing customers happy then now is the time to ‘do a Nike’ and JUST DO IT.

Is it time to shift the focus from making completely new customers to instead investing energy in those “casual customers”?
Who are casual customers? They are those new visitors that have already purchased something the one time and are just one step away from making that valuable second purchase.

Consider this likelihood of success:
Selling to an existing customer 60-70% vs selling to a new prospect 5-20%. Now is the time to build a solid relationship, company to customer, by interacting with them with informative content during each phase of their journey.

Here are some of our tips on how to turn one-time buyers into loyal customers:

Use special occasions to promote your products. Is it New Year? Xmas? An anniversary or 5 years since you launched your business? Celebrate this! It’s an occasion to talk about your brand by reminding customers when they first bought your product or send them wishes on their birthdays. These a great way of reminding them that you are there. Even if they don’t take you up on your offer of a discount they will appreciate that you remembered their birthday!
Let your customers know about price changes. If your customer was one step away from making a purchase then some additional information on the price can really influence them when it comes to making that transaction. What’s important here is conveying a sense of urgency when it comes to them adding the product to their basket. These messages with purchase updates create more engagement and promote stronger ties with the brand.
Send a top-up reminder. Has the customer already bought a product that could be running low now? Ink, water filters, copy paper? Now is the time to send a reminder that they should reorder and this will encourage repeat purchases and make sure they don’t go to a competitor for the same product.
Reward Loyalty. Make sure you make the customers who stay loyal to your brand feel that you appreciate their support. Either premium content or exclusive early access to a sale, for instance, encourages commitment to your business.
Reviews. Has your customer made a purchase? Following it up with a request for a review will make sure that your company gains visibility in the eyes of other customers- especially if it’s positive!

Strengthening your Brand in a Time of Crisis

Is it time to think about what type of content is likely gain consumer trust?

One of the many consequences of the Pandemic in consumer spending has been the increased awareness customers have on how best to spend their money. People everywhere are becoming more switched on when it comes to how best to spend their money.

Let’s be honest, it’s just not the best time for people to splash out or try new things. They will for sure go for brands they trust and that provide the continuity that the outside world cannot right now.

This makes brand values and how money is spent more relevant than ever and that must be the focus for marketers that want to engender trust and survive in a new market.

Why is it important to know what your ideal customer looks like?

The lockdown has meant spending more time in front of computers with increased online activities which includes, of course, online purchases. Of course online shopping was already a thing but from being a mix of both face to face and online, stats show that 90% of consumers admit to avoiding physical shops as much as possible and this change has consequently meant how consumers interact with brands has also changed.

Engagement with the increased digital communication on behalf on brands has increased notably but understanding what your ideal customer looks like and needs is important, now more than ever.

How can you create interesting content that inspires loyalty?

So, what helps build this picture of your brand’s ideal consumer? How can you give your customer, the customer who will invest and remain loyal to your brand, a face?

In this increased pandemic digitalized scenario, tracking what customers are really interested in has become possible through a type of advertising that sits within relevant content accessed by those customers. In addition to being relevant it is also content that, because it seeks not to disrupt the flow of the general context, tends to engage on an emotional level with your shopper creating engagement and a longer lasting impression.

In short, this is content aligned with that customer’s personality engendering success as a consequence. Both liked and trusted, your brand is now situated in prime position to achieve the best results. How? Through engaging content.

This Reuter’s survey states that 75% of consumers admit that if the content is interesting to them, it is guaranteed they will somehow interact with it.

Taking Ikea as an example, with whom we work with all year round on the Italian market, you can see how their brand message adapted to these turbulent times through native advertising.

Following changes in their communication, ecommerce went up by 60%. Why was that? Is it just because people are on their laptops, tablets and smart phones more? Perhaps. But crucially, native advertising makes sure the right eyeballs are seeing the right content.

Think of the office worker who has been asked to work from home: they’ll most likely do some research on how to improve their home office – or perhaps how to assemble one from scratch. They search for an article detailing this… and there is Ikea. Offering solutions to a problem the person is researching, within the very article that the person is reading. Not a generic banner ad at the top of an irrelevant website, but targeted to the very people who need to see it at the very time they are searching for it. The right place at the right time.

Speed was of the essence for these campaigns at the start of lockdown and the great thing is here that you can repurpose content you already have, and can you imagine…Ikea has tons of it…Ikea’s messaging resonated with people because it still reflected its values: adapting to what your situation is and making the best of it, promoting a type of space that can allow a sense of togetherness even through difficult times.

Do you think your brand is worth it try a type of advertising which can get you the results that will carry you through these difficult times? I’d love to hear from you on how you plan to boost your brand for 2021!

What are the differences between Classified advertisement and Display advertisement?

Classified Display Advertisement is a method of advertising that is found in newspaper online and any form of online advertising. These periodicals may be sold or distributed for free and are very short.

Classified advertisements mostly placed by private individuals with single items they wish to sell or buy. Free classified advertisements buy and sell items, cars, properties and find or offer jobs publications printing news or other information after have sections of classified advertisements there are also publications which contain only advertisements.

An increasing number of sites and companies have started providing classified marketplaces online for the niche market services. Sometimes these specialized ads provide more targeted search capabilities than general search engines.

Display Advertisement is a type of advertising that typically contains text, logos, photographs or other images, location maps, and similar items. In periodicals, display advertising can appear either on the same page as or on the page next to the general editorial content. Whereas, classified advertising generally appears in a different section, which was traditionally only used for text.

Display advertisements are not required to contain images, audio or video. Textual advertisements are also used where text can be more efficient, for example: messages of a commercial nature sent to mobile device users, or email. One common example of display advertising are billboards. Posters or fliers are examples of display advertising.