• Native ads have overtaken display ads as the most popular form of advertising
•  Learn how to make one or both strategies work for your advertising campaign
•  Find out how to create a native ad for your small business

It has been 27 years since the first display ad was placed on the Internet. It’s been an interesting journey for display ads, however, they are still around despite all the latest innovations in online marketing. The reason for this is very simple. They are fantastic for awareness and brand recall. In contrast, native advertising was first used in 2011. They have been a formidable competitor for display ads. It is estimated that in 2022 over 70% of advertising in the US alone will be native advertising. Before we delve into the debate of native vs display advertising, we should discuss what exactly display and native advertising are.

What Is Display Advertising? 

Display ads are an advertising strategy that attracts your online audience to your services or product using social media advertising, banners, websites and other electronic mediums to your chosen demographics. You will have probably seen these many times in your daily web browsing habits from banners to dark posts on websites and social media. There are many standard formats and sizes your ads have to be and a clear, interesting copy with a call to action. 

What is Native Advertising? 

Native advertising is when your ads appear in the natural flow of the website you are on and can appear to look like a part of the website. The strategy is different from native advertising as a more of a ‘soft sell’ approach. These ads can also appear as sponsored ads in a social media feed or on search engines such as Google or Bing. If you’ve ever seen beneath an article something labelled ‘recommended content’ that’s native advertising. The aim is to sell content, services or products without the customer feeling the hard sell of traditional advertising. 

Native ads are more suited to mobile devices because of their highly engaging format. The click-through rate (CTR) on a native ad is higher than a display ad. It is estimated that the CTR can be as high as almost 0.40%. On a desktop native ads fare worse, however. However, still more than display ads. When reading this you may wonder why display ads are still in use. We will explain why a bit later.  

Why are native ads so successful?  

The public is tired of constantly being exposed to the hard-selling tactics of the traditional advertising industry. In this fast-paced online world, many users are wary of being ‘sold’ items that don’t live up to their promises. Just the word ‘pop-up ad’ makes many people quite irritated as they remember dismal viewing experiences because of poorly designed and placed pop-up ads. Enter native ads that are elegantly and smoothly inserted into your natural online reading habits. Many ads on social media look like a friend’s post rather than an advertisement for a clothing company. The result is far less frustrating for the consumer, many times they may not even know they are viewing an ad. The small words ‘sponsored’ within the ad are usually the only way that they reveal it as an ad. Or on a search engine, the result that has popped up will appear exactly the same as an organic search with the brief words ‘ad’ next to it. This soft selling tactic has been wildly successful and will continue to be for some time. 

When should I decide to use a display ad campaign over a native ad campaign? 

A display ad is fantastic for a visual campaign. For instance, if you are promoting a new product and upon market research, you find yours is the only packaging that has the distinctive blue packaging your company has decided on. This is a crucial element of your campaign and all of your visual elements push the distinction between your brand and the competition. This is perfect for a display ad campaign as you want your blue packaging to be synonymous with your brand. When customers see your product on shelves, they will know straight away what the product is and who makes it, because of your extensive display ad campaign. It’s also a fantastic medium for other visual strategies such as brand endorsements. If you have a famous face promoting your product and you want to get your product associated with the product, a display ad is the quickest way to achieve this. These are just some of the visual strategies that can be employed with display marketing. 

When should I decide to use a native ad campaign over a display ad campaign?  

Native ads are more niche in their approach. By targeting an existing demographic or interest group you are more likely to have successful campaigns. This is true for many campaigns not just native. But where the difference lies with native advertising is the consumer doesn’t feel like they are being sold to. This type of campaign is successful in social media. Many forms of native ads look just like the content you read every day. For instance, if you want to sell your product or content through social media sites such as Buzzfeed or other sites, you will want to create an article that looks exactly like an article written by these sites. The user will be more likely to read your article if they engage with similar content. However, to be successful at this medium you must understand the niches within the platform itself. For example, if you wrote an article about professional growth and development and targeted Buzzfeed or Instagram you might get a modest response. However, if you targeted LinkedIn or other B2B sites, then your campaign would be far more successful with the right audience viewing your article and product. Some market research is always best when you aren’t sure what demographics or niches are best to target. Once you know exactly where to target, you are more likely to resonate with your desired audience. 

Can you have a display and native campaign running at the same time? 

Yes. In fact, these two strategies work very well together. However, consider having stages of your campaign to avoid an over-saturation of your product. For example, if you are launching a new product, a combination approach would be optimal. Here, your first approach would be to employ your display ad in the key demographics of your target market. This is to ensure your customers are familiar with your brand and product. They will know the size and shape of your product before they buy the product or read about it. This is important with new products or services as consumers would not have heard of your product before. As your display ad is nearing the end of its advertising cycle, you can implement the native aspects of your campaign. For instance, if you want to advertise your new beauty product to a demographic that reads beauty articles regularly, you would write an article that would be ‘10 ways to achieve Glowing skin’. Obviously, you will need to mention your product and any companion products. You then need to target those ad spaces in the beauty industry. You have just entered your product into consumers’ heads in two different ways. This will significantly increase brand recall and they will associate your products with positive words such as ‘glowing skin’. 

The world of online advertising is very complex and is growing every day. New innovations and strategies are being created all the time. However, by having the basics of display and native advertising down pat you have a great opportunity to grow your business and online presence. There are many products and services to help you get started in the exciting world of digital marketing.