27.07.2023 – 12:19

BLOGPOST: How to use native advertising in your public relations: explanation, advantages and examples

More than ever, companies are looking at where and how to reach their target groups. Here, professional communication and public relations are of particular importance. A company’s content and values should be communicated to the outside world with the appropriate message picked up at the right place to convince target groups. Visibility, brand loyalty and reputation building are often the primary goals. In today’s world, native advertising is becoming increasingly important. We show what native ads are and how to use them best to communicate.

Contents

Strengthen your communications with native advertising

One of the most important public relations tools available are press releases. They convey targeted information to either specific target groups or the general public. A press release also allows editors and the media to report on your own company, multiplying your reach and visibility. Nevertheless, there are certain requirements when using this tool.

Press releases are often sent out through distribution portals, published on press portals or sent directly to editorial offices. Media professionals now decide whether a release is newsworthy, to what extent and ultimately whether it will be covered at all. While professional preparation and exciting content let companies and organisations lay a good foundation, journalists always decide in the end whether the medium is going to pick up the message.

Modern communication tools like native advertising are becoming increasingly significant as they blur the boundary between advertising and editorial content. To a certain extent, what is being communicated gets detached from dependence on media creators. Ideally, formats like native advertising complement and flank traditional press release mailings. This is because advertisements can never obtain the value of independent reporting and replace the trust gained therefrom. It is exactly in the combination of both formats and how they complement each other where the opportunity for long-term reach and visibility lies.

What is native advertising?

The name says it all. Native means “as found in nature”. Advertising content is placed in the editorial environment such as a newspaper’s website and adapted to the design, style and content of the platform, yet it is marked as an advertisement or something similar. Native media formats approach the editorial environment visually, stylistically and in terms of content so there is no break for readers between editorials and labelled advertising.

In contrast to banners and classic ads, native advertising looks to readers hardly like commercial advertising. Ideally, it should appear as if it were an editorial contribution. There is no disturbance in the flow of reading and the advertisement does not impose itself. The fluid transition between editorial contribution, advertising and the content of the media driver is what makes native advertising special. Yet here, too, the focus remains always on who is reading it. Companies have the opportunity to place their content on a product, their brand or on a major news story with great reach and visibility.

However, they should make sure to meet the needs of their readers or target groups. Clicking on a native ad, they enter an editorial environment such as the online presence of a newspaper. Therefore, the next step they expect is a high editorial standard. The promotional content should definitely do justice here to ensure credibility and long-term loyalty for the company or organisation.

Native advertising offers public relations and communication managers a good opportunity to increase the visibility of content like a press release. It guarantees the placement of native ads to supplement a classically dispatched press release, for example on the pages of upscale online media. Findability in search engines also plays a major role. For instance, if native advertising ads are indexed, search engines such as Google will rate the content positively, increasing search engine findability.

Definitions: Native advertising, native ads and advertorials

Native advertising is the overarching term for communicating paid advertising where the content is integrated in an editorial medium. There is a distinction to be made between native ads and advertorials.

Native Ads

In most cases, native ads combine text and image (or video, if applicable) adapted to the style of the medium in which it will appear. Native ads can be found on the homepage or in a specific section on a page of an online newspaper. They do not look like a classic advertisement, but rather another editorial from the media provider. Clicking on a native ad takes the reader to displayed content like a press release.

Advertorials

Advertorials are another format visually and stylistically adaptable to a medium’s environment and, as such, can be considered a form of native advertising. The word is a portmanteau of advertisement and editorial. Compared to native ads, the focus found in advertorials especially tends to be something different. Promotional aspects are built into the content of the editorial and mixed with useful information for the group it is targeting. Thus, advertorials are often much longer than native ads and quite text-heavy. Yet advertorials are marked as advertising, just like native ads.

Advantages of native advertising

Native advertising offers companies an optimal match both in content marketing and especially for professional public relations and communications work. Content can be played out in a scalable, authentic way in the editorial environment of a publisher’s pages.

An important aspect here is improved reach in search engines. Besides the press release sent through an email distribution list or press portal, your message gets even more independently carried by journals and editorial offices directly to the outside world. Thus, native advertising plays an important role in the modern communication mix. Take a glance below at the advantages native advertising brings.

More visibility and greater reach

Using Native ads in your public relations can increase a message’s reach enormously, chiefly because of the guaranteed playout of content published on high-end media sites. Working with a partner like news aktuell, it can appear on the pages of sites like Süddeutsche Zeitung or Hamburger Abendblatt. Playout on established media pages increases findability and visibility, especially with search engines like Google.

Placement of PR content on high-profile media websites guaranteed

Classic public relations and press releases depend largely on information prepared for journalists and editors to pick it up and disseminate it. Yet the media professionals decide themselves whether a report is newsworthy and has sufficient news value. Companies and organisations can do a lot toward getting their messages noticed (through exciting and well-prepared content or use of multimedia material).

But despite all this, the final decision on whether journalists seize upon the story rests not in their hands. Native ads offer a contemporary alternative. The target groups decide for themselves whether the content is relevant to them and worth reading. Guaranteed placement on major mediapages is both an important point and a prerequisite in such decisions.

Google indexing for a search engine boost and long-term visibility

Search engines play such a major role in public relations because, no matter if you are a consumer, potential customer or a journalist, your research of topics and news stories starts at the search box. People are more inclined to click on Google hits whose origin they consider trustworthy. Getting placed on upmarket media pages creates precisely this trust since Google rates content on premium sites like an online newspaper higher.

If your target group is searching Google for the topic of your press release, the search results are going to display native ads on a high-quality medium prominently. However, many of them can only be found online for a limited time, reducing their potential reach and visibility especially in search engines. Because the target group might still be interested in this content long after it has been published, native ads from news aktuell are made to be findable over the long term.

Unlike conventional native services, news aktuell guarantees Google indexing of the message. Indexing lets Google work like a “long-term archive”. The entire report is indexed, so it can be found either by searching individual terms or chains of terms. This is clearly added value for communication because the search engine can localise it for different topics and queries.

Reach and retain new target groups

Native ads let you tap into new target groups on established quality media while leveraging publishers’ reach and visibility. The unobtrusiveness of native ads makes them less disturbing, while they are informative with the product and message embedded in the reading flow. This is critical because if readers are led further only after clicking a native ad, they will also trust this environment.

So the benefit of native ads lies most of all in them reaching the widest possible target group in a way that takes the group’s interests into account, making long-term trust and brand loyalty much more likely.

Native ads generate leads

Native advertising gives advertisers and communication managers the space to present their product vividly to their target groups, creating for them images, graphics and editorial texts for added value. These have a demonstrably longer term and more sustainable effect than classic models such as banner advertising.

Editorially prepared content is therefore particularly suitable for generating leads. When talking about leads, these are potential customers basically looking for an offer or service. Generating leads means nothing more than acquiring new customers. An advantage of native advertising is that people previously unknown to the company contact it after having encountered content highly relevant to them. Bringing it all about is the targeted playout of native ads on the media pages they follow. This makes them more likely to consume the content and engage with the advertiser.

Scalability of native ads

A decisive advantage native ads enjoy is their scalability. They can be used in parallel on different media without creating duplicate content. This is when very similar or identical content appears on different websites. Google penalises websites for duplicate content under certain conditions. For example, there are websites almost invariably consisting of stolen or automatically rewritten content that offer no additional value.

None of news aktuell’s high-quality native ad partners explicitly engage in such practices, so our approach is even evaluated positively. Google is aware that news aktuell places its content on well-known and trusted media sites. For instance, you can distribute a single press release, which also plays out as native ads on many different media websites at the same time. On the other hand, forms of advertising such as advertorials can only appear on one website.

How to successfully design native ads

Native ads let you increase the reach and visibility of your public relations and communications work enormously. Yet there are a few things you should keep in mind to achieve the best results. It is crucial for your desired goals and objectives to be clearly defined ahead of time. What content or messages are you looking to push with native ads? What should be underpinning your communication strategy goals?

Make sure to choose the right content. Press releases are usually excellent for this purpose since they meet high editorial standards and are often sent with multimedia material. Converting content designed for classic display advertising or banner ads to native ads is less suitable. In direct contrast to classic advertisements such as displays, native ads are about emphasising content, not visual distinctions. They should fit editorially and not draw the most attention. The focus is on high-quality content.

There should be no thematic restrictions to native advertising. In principle, any content is suitable if it offers the target group added value and tells them about the product or service. Press releases about new products, services or marketing campaigns are examples of what native advertising can be.

Running successful native ads

A well-designed native advertising campaign is crucial to its success or failure. Critical issues about the target group, communication goals and the budget, not in the least, should be clarified before the next step is taken.

Once the objectives, target group and content are in place, the right platform or provider has to be found to distribute the native ad. Besides self-booking platforms, a number of PR service providers now also offer native advertising, and news aktuell has been supporting companies in this area for many years. In doing so, this subsidiary of dpa has relied on close cooperation with high-quality media partners. You have the choice of the two booking options below:

Native ads booked as an add-on to a distributed press release

A press release distributed by news aktuell can lead to guaranteed playout on such upscale media websites as Hamburger Abendblatt, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau. ots routes the message to the dpa news ticker and directly into the editorial systems of corresponding departments. In addition, the report is played out on Presseportal.de, Germany’s widest-reaching portal with an average 12.5 million users a month, and gets an SEO boost.

In addition to distribution through ots, you can also book a native ads campaign. Here you simply select the media for displaying the press release as native ads while setting it up. The rest is handled by news aktuell. The report, including attached multimedia material, appears on the selected media pages. Each ad generates a separate link in the editorial environment on the publisher’s page. The link is indexed, crucial for Google because it leads to a trusted media site. The report can also be found much later, almost indefinitely and without any click limit, because it is indexed in Google.

Simply booked as a native ad

An alternative option is to book your content individually as a native ad without having our ots distribute it. The report is not fed into editorial office news tickers, but is instead exclusively listed as a native ad on the pages of our high-profile media partners. This option is particularly suitable for content and messages somewhat further away from classical news values, such as content that can be quite promotional.

Your report will also be published on our press portal to give it even more coverage. Like when booking it as an add-on, Google indexes it and so the search engine can find it even a long time later.

Advantages news aktuell gives you

Guaranteed placement of your PR content on high-profile media sites
Increased brand awareness, user engagement and lead generation
Google indexing so your topics perform better in search queries
Long-term visibility and archiving of all messages online
Tracking with our analytics tool with online clippings viewable at any time in your personal company account
Flexible booking for distribution via ots
Favourable conditions from long-standing media partnerships
High-profile media partners such as Hamburger Abendblatt, Münchner Merkur, Süddeutsche Zeitung, RP Online, Focus, WAZ, Thüringer Allgemeine, Berliner Morgenpost, and Frankfurter Rundschau

Our Native Ads in Austria and Switzerland

In addition to the distribution of your ots report, we also offer placement with media partners outside of Germany, such as Aargauer Zeitung, NZZ, 20 Minuten or Tagblatt in Switzerland or with DerStandard, Die Presse or Puls.24. in Austria.

With news aktuell, you benefit from a large number of attractive media partners.

This article was originally posted in our blog: https://www.newsaktuell.com/blog/how-to-use-native-advertising-in-your-public-relations-explanation-advantages-and-examples/

This blog is published by news aktuell, a subsidiary of dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur.