Native advertising is among the most widely used marketing tools not only in gambling but in many other verticals. According to daily business news and articles, this type of advertising can be really effective and bring many benefits to a company.
So, if you consider the launch of native ads for your gambling business, read this article and find complete information about them.
Native advertising definition for beginners
If you are a newcomer to the world of advertising and aren’t well aware of ads’ peculiarities, the first thing to do is to find out what a native ad is.
To make a long story short, it is a paid advert, which doesn’t look like an ad indeed. It is naturally implemented into a website’s page. Usually, it includes attractive image and text. Its main aim is to make a user click the ad, but it shouldn’t feel like an enforced action. Such adverts should evoke users’ interest but make it gently. That is why native advertising should be as simple as possible. At the same time, its nature isn’t that simple as it may seem. Various strategies and approaches stand behind elementary but catchy ads.
So, what are the main features and peculiarities of native ads? Look at the list below.
- Very often, a native advert is represented on a website page as a form of recommended content. For example, such words as “recommended” or “suggested” can be used for them.
- Such ads also include special icons, which indicate that it is a paid advertising.
- Native ads can be marked as “Sponsored”.
Only these peculiar features help users to identify a native ad. In most cases, it is skillfully blended into a website’s content, making it quite difficult for inattentive users to distinguish it among other articles and images.
The name of such advertising speaks for itself. It natively fits into the content and doesn’t include aggressive call-to-action, which can be found in Yahoo advertising.
Reasons to use native ads
There are many reasons to use native advertising for promoting your gambling business. Let’s consider them in more detail.
- Proved efficiency. You will find many successful cases, proving that native adverts really catch consumers’ attention and lead to their further interaction with the promoted content.
- Native ads aren’t annoying. Advertising often annoys users and makes them do actions, which go in contrary to an advertiser’s intentions. The majority of people want to skip ads or hide them and usually don’t have a desire to click an ad. In the case of native advertising, this problem disappears – skilfully created ads look attractive to users. That is why the level of engagement with such content will be much higher in comparison with other methods. The only thing advertisers need is to establish an emotional connection between an ad and an audience. This is done through eye-catching visuals and text.
- Smooth consumer experience. Continuing the previous item, the main aim of a native ad is to ensure as smooth user experience as possible.
- Higher CTR. It has been also proved that native adverts usually have a higher click-through rate than standard ads.
A recent survey shows that forty percent of companies already use native advertising. Ninety percent of webmasters have the intention to implement such campaigns, 3 out of 4 webmasters already offer this opportunity. Moreover, seventy percent of consumers are tired of standard advertising and have a more positive attitude to native ads, which don’t seem excessively obtrusive to them.
Disadvantages of native advertising
Although native ads have lots of advantages, they have several weak spots as well. Find out about them to decide whether your company needs them or not.
- Not that easy to measure effectiveness. Unlike other types of ads, the native adverts ROI isn’t an easy rate to assess. It means that advertisers won’t be able to get detailed statistics on the success of their campaigns.
- Much effort. The creation of such an ad is a real challenge as it has more requirements in comparison to standard advertising. Every word in the text and its message should be thought well. Specialists who create native ads usually need much time and effort to develop something worthy of attention.
- The balance between the truth and marketing gimmicks. Although native ads should be a well-thought-out strategy, they shouldn’t provide information, which can deceive Internet users.
Native advertising in gambling
Every vertical has its marketing and promotional peculiarities, that is why not all advertising types will meet the needs of a certain industry. In the case of native ads usage in the gambling industry, they can be helpful.
iGaming is gaining popularity in the modern world with more and more people interested in online entertainment. Native advertising allows B2C companies to get new customers within a small period. Casino services providers can work with networks under various conditions – they can agree on a fixed budget or consider and discuss a new budget every month.
According to recent studies, gaming is one of the most favorable verticals for the usage of native ads. The statistics for this type of advertising show that users click the entertainment content on weekends most of all. During these days, they often search for new games. It has also been found out that players from such countries as Spain, Italy, and Greece engage with native ads most of all.
So, is it worth spending money on native advertising for iGaming products? The answer is obviously yes. Using creative texts and images for adverts, specialists make great progress.
How to launch a native ad?
The development and launch of native adverts are an art. At the same time, almost everybody can try this. The only thing to do is to follow several steps.
Registration in the native ads network
The first step is to register in the network where advertisers can partner with webmasters. There is a broad choice of platforms, which provide such services. Among them are Taboola, MGID, Adcash, etc. It won’t be a great problem to find a network that will suit your purposes and budget.
Here are some recommendations for choosing a reliable network. Pay attention to the following aspects.
- Access to performance rates to see whether the campaign is effective or not.
- Targeting opportunities. Find out about the variety of audiences the company works with.
- Platform’s quality. Offers from the leading providers are usually better because they partner with high-quality websites.
Setting a campaign
It is always a priority to find a good specialist for setting a campaign, whether you launch Snapchat ads or native adverts. This process includes standard settings – show time, budget, the number of users who clicked the ad.
However, in addition to common settings, you need to do some prework. It consists of determining your audience and making everything possible to target it. Content is also extremely important for this task as it sets the style of your ad and influences its future success.
After registering and adding a new campaign, a media buyer cooperates with website owners who post ads on their platforms.
Top strategies and tips for native advertisers
Now, when everything is clear with the reasons to use native ads and their effect on iGaming businesses, it’s high time to speak about top strategies and tips. They will help native advertisers to obtain the maximum result and guarantee high CTR.
From where to start?
Planning will always be the best start for your advertising campaign. It is important to set goals at the beginning. For the majority of iGaming websites, the goal will be to generate as many leads as possible. The more specific your purposes are, the more chances that you will achieve the desired effect.
The target audience requires the same attention. Experts don’t recommend beginning with unspecific targeting. Test your potential audience, and you will see who clicks your ads. This will allow you to run future campaigns based on specific facts and metrics, such as gender, age, interest, etc. This will bring you valuable information about your average customer.
Content is the core of your campaign
Content is important in all types of ads, but it is even more important for native advertising. Every aspect plays a crucial role: provided information, tone of the text, font, visuals, placement. Make sure that every part of your ad is a deliberate decision.
Read below the content tips that every advertiser should know.
- Write the texts, which will have value for users. Provided information should serve readers’ interests. Useful content can not only bring some value but can satisfy curiosity.
- Choose the right tone for your texts – keep them natural. In addition to this, don’t forget that the right message is always personal. Readers should feel that you are speaking to them.
- Avoid aggressive call-to-action. None of us wants to feel used and deceived. That is why it won’t be a good idea to ask users to do some great things on your website. Start with requests, which will be beneficial for readers and won’t require much time, effort, or money from them.
- Make your content trusted. To do this, it is necessary to add statistics, ranking, links, etc. from reliable sources.
- Focus on creatives. Creative materials should draw readers’ attention. You can get inspiration from successful cases.
- Don’t use stock images. Of course, getting a stock image for an advert is the possible easiest way, however, marketing specialists recommend avoiding it. The major reason for this is that you won’t be the only person who uses it. The best solution is to hire a web designer who will create a perfect image suiting your brand, goals, and will be attractive to consumers.
- Simplicity is the key. Keeping in mind the fact that you promote iGaming services, your target audience is looking for entertainment, which isn’t associated with the information difficult for understanding. Use simple language, divide your text logically, and don’t include abstruse phrases or sentences.
- If your company is a big and well-known brand, use its name. However, the mention of not well-recognized brands will also be beneficial. Users may see it several times before they will click your adverts, but it will seem more familiar to them, which will make them interact with your content.
Native ad placement makes the difference
Think about the format of your native advertising in terms of its placement on the web page. The placement usually depends on a page. For example, if it is the website’s main page, its top or middle, you can get a high CTR. Your ad will be connected with the major content, which will influence your brand’s reputation positively. Another opportunity is to place the advert in the middle of an article.
Test everything
Of course, advertisers want to see positive results immediately after the launch of their native ads. Nevertheless, it is almost impossible. To understand what works the best for you, try several variants of creative materials, texts, channels, etc. This requires constant monitoring of your campaign and detailed analysis. Always look at your promotion materials from a user’s point of view. In addition to this, analyze native ads found on the web, which you consider the best examples. Single out the most interesting and eye-catching features and try to understand why this advert caught your attention.
Such an approach will allow you to save your money as you will see which creatives have better efficiency. This recommendation is especially important at the very beginning of your advertising journey.
Experts also recommend testing various combinations of texts, images, and headlines. By doing so, you will find out what adverts have the highest conversions.
Plan your budget beforehand
Native advertising isn’t the most money-saving marketing tool but if you have a set budget, it will help you to control your spendings on ads. After planning the budget, determine the desired CPC for your campaign. It is a good idea to use expensive CPC offers at the start – it will help you to reach out to a wider audience and, as a result, get a more successful campaign.
Read more: Top CPA networks