The previous article in the Smart Strategy blog introduced native ads and 7 Steps To Creating Successful Native Ads campaign. Familiarity with the principles of native ads is essential to create a successful campaign, which we will explain in this article on the smart strategy blog. Use the following ad writing dos and don’ts to increase the effectiveness of your Native Ads campaign.
1st principle of native ads: Use clear labels.
Transparency helps readers distinguish between paid and genuine content, which is critical to maintaining a positive relationship with consumers. Some believe that native ads should blend seamlessly with their surrounding content, but a 2017 study by a content marketing platform found that disclosing a sponsor doesn’t hurt ad performance. Clearly labeling your native ads helps customers recognize the brand behind the ad. This is logical because an effective native advertising campaign should help improve the viewer’s feeling and perception of the brand.
According to a study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 43 percent of newspaper readers in the United States felt cheated or disappointed after learning that they had read “sponsored content.”
2nd principle of native ads: Don’t talk too much.
When writing a native ad, brevity is your best friend. This is true for headlines and ad text because readers usually skim web content and don’t read it carefully. Long texts bore readers. Additionally, thousands of similar but shorter articles are trying to grab your audience’s attention. Also, the additional words of the titles are not fully displayed in the widgets. (Widgets are programs that are displayed on the home screen of a mobile phone or tablet, and we don’t need to open the program to see their information.) Therefore, your ad should be concise and accurate. Focus on providing the most value to the reader by removing redundant or unimportant content.
When planning your native ad campaign, instead of thinking about what your audience will do for you, determine what you will offer your audience. At least until the end, your brand’s name should not be in the content. You can’t prove anything by saying, “Our products are great.” You can only convince the audience that you are a great business by presenting and displaying high-quality and attractive content. If you give your audience valuable advice, they may buy from you in return.
3rd principle of native ads: Include a clear call to action (CTA) in the ad
Without a clear call to action in your ad, readers won’t feel compelled to take action. In the native ads campaign, the ad text on landing pages and articles should invite the reader to take a specific action, making the ad seem valuable and relevant to the reader.
By using a clear CTA, you can direct readers to the desired next step. This next step could be signing up for a newsletter, sharing a post on Instagram, or completing a purchase. The call to action should be visible to the readers. So put it front and center and clarify the rest of the ad content. Consider the following example of having a call to action.
4th principle of native ads: Don’t use indefinite verbs
Minimize the use of unknown verbs in the native ad text. Of course, using infinite verbs is not technically wrong, but definite sentences make your text more captivating and attractive. For example, pay attention to the following advertising slogans and imagine how weak (and unnatural) making these slogans appear with indefinite verbs:
- McDonald: “I love it!” (Known) → “It is loved!” (anonymous)
- Red Bull energy drink: “Gives you wings to fly!” → “You will be given wings to fly!” (anonymous)
- The use of known sentences gives life and soul to your native advertising campaign, and in addition, it increases the conversion rate of visitors to customers (Conversion Rate).
5th principle of native ads: use specific research and examples
Using a catchy headline will attract the audience to read your ad. However, to convert visitors into customers, the text of your native ad campaign must be persuasive. Make your content more convincing and credible by using statistics, figures, and detailed examples of why your product or service is worth buying. Ambiguous sentences confuse readers but backing up your claims with evidence increases credibility and makes for a more persuasive sell.
6th principle of native ads: Don’t forget to proofread and check for spelling mistakes
Usually, this critical point is ignored. Be sure to edit your ad text or ask someone else to review your ad because an ad full of misspellings and grammatical errors does not reflect well on your brand.
In a research conducted by the Global Lingo, 59% of people participating in the survey said that they would reconsider buying from a website whose text has errors and mistakes. Some people think that these are minor mistakes, but spelling and grammar mistakes make customers not have a good impression of your quality and professionalism.
7th principle of native ads: write the ad text according to the ad format
There is no one-size-fits-all structure and form in native ads. The six main types of native advertising formats are:
- Suggestions and recommendations based on content (Content Recommendation);
- In-feed Ads;
- Advertising using search engines (Paid Search Units);
- Search and Promoted Listings;
- Native internal ads (In-ad with Native Element Units) that are contextually related to the ad topic.
- Custom ads that do not belong to any of the previous categories.
Therefore, the ad should be written according to the ad format of your campaign. For example, editorials that act as interstitials have more word counts, while ads using search engines (such as Google Ads) have less space to work with and can use fewer words.
Considering this issue, the way of writing the ad should follow the format of your ad. Where you are limited in the number of characters, focus on getting your message straight, but in advertorials, use stories and examples, orders, and recommendations. , quotes from experts and other materials, and be creative to engage your audience more.
8th principle of native ads: Don’t use exaggerated or misleading titles.
Have you ever read an article that had a catchy title but did not satisfy you with the content presented in the text? Indeed, exaggerated headlines (Clickbait, content on the web whose primary purpose is to trick the user into clicking and directing them to a specific web page or video) are eye-catching but do more harm by presenting a bad image of the content of the page. This includes overly sentimental headlines like “The Top Secret to Preventing Wrinkles.”
conclusion on the principles of native ads
A poor ad text will bore readers and make it harder for them to associate your advertising message in their minds. Instead, strengthen your ad message by following the dos and don’ts in this article to meet your audience’s needs better and guide them through your marketing funnel. A clear and attractive ad is the foundation of any native advertising campaign and will help you convert more visitors into customers in the long run.
If you have any questions in this regard, please contact us to have a consultation with the Smart Strategy PPC services strategist.
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