The digital media landscape is completely transforming. Consumers are bombarded with content and the marketer’s quest to be heard among the noise can be an overwhelming challenge.
NB: This is an analysis by Tenni Theurer (senior director for product Management at Yahoo Commerce) and Melissa Bahadur (senior manager for strategic research and insights at Yahoo).
As a solution, publishers are integrating advertising into media content with native ad units to grab the attention of consumers who are desensitized to standard display advertising online.
Native advertising formats simplify a crowded and desensitized environment and brings various opportunities offering a seamless, disruption-free digital experience with in-stream ads, branded content and more.
For consumers, original branded content becomes part of their natural discovery habits. For brands and ad agencies, new premium positioning is available to attract attention, engagement, and message syndication.
This form of advertising is quickly becoming the ad unit of choice because it provides a fully integrated site experience for deep consumer engagement.
Content marketing, a broader strategy beyond the standard ad format, is centered on storytelling through consumer passion points with the lines between content and advertising slightly blurred.
Native ads are providing an effective new way to drive brand attribute without directly selling and it is content that is meant to be shared socially.
Publishers today are driving native advertising usage, with more than 60% offering native ads.
Advertising 3.0
In this crowded marketplace, travel brands are looking for new ways to increase brand engagement.
While hotel brands have been doing content marketing for years, many other travel brands are now meeting this challenge by embracing content marketing.
And, it isn’t just travel brands; two thirds of US marketers and agencies are likely to spend dollars on native advertising in the next six months.
They are beginning to shift their focus from impressions to attention, as engagement becomes one of the core key performance indicators that now allows marketers to better understand how audiences are responding to their content.
As more brands become content creators they are able to distribute stories in more rich and engaging ways that bring more value to their audiences than ever before.
Content marketing is essential to any integrated strategy. It provides more relevant messaging, increases consumer engagement, generates awareness or buzz, creates word of mouth, and combats "banner blindness".
A stunningly designed native ad is as engaging as the content and images surrounding it, and engages readers in new ways.
Content marketing works. From a recent travel advertiser study conducted on Yahoo Travel we learned that the more users are engaged with content marketing there is an increased likelihood of visiting the advertised city in the next year.
We also found that higher engagement with content marketing also drives booking intent.
If your brand is ready to jump in the pool of content marketing, here are a few tips for building a successful campaign:
1. Be native, not deceptive
Make sure that your native content is clearly labeled as sponsored in order to be fully transparent with your audience and ensure that the great content gets associated with your brand.
2. Deliver on emotion…and know humor rules
Leverage the native experience with assets that drive emotion - imagery, video, and a catchy headline.
3. Act like the locals
Leverage all different formats – video, images, gifs, text – to follow the rules of the platform or site.
4. Help users succeed and discover
Provide how-tos and toolkits that help your audience achieve their goals, or offer a behind-the-scenes or in-depth perspective on a topic they want to learn about.
5. Define your target audience
Be mindful of who you are trying to reach with your message.
6. Write something unique or new
Make sure you are delivering content that users will want to share.
NB: This is an analysis by Tenni Theurer (senior director for product Management at Yahoo Commerce) and Melissa Bahadur (senior manager for strategic research and insights at Yahoo). It appears here as part of Tnooz’s sponsored content initiative.
NB2: View the exclusive Tnooz-Yahoo webinar: VIDEO – New research and digital solutions to drive travel bookings