As the digital advertising industry has been rapidly evolving from punch the monkey flashing banners ads to integrated content, we have seen a fast paced move towards improving the user’s experience and talking less like advertisers and more like people. Simply put, Native ads look, feel, and behave like the editorial or other content that they are paired with – so they don’t really look or sound like ads. You’ll find native ads all across the web from social media feeds to recommended content on a web page.
With the advent of social media there is a radical shift to change the way advertisers are speaking to consumers. Native has been an extremely effective vehicle to get this accomplished. Native advertising is often positioned as a new strategy in digital advertising but actually dates back to the late 19th century when John Deere created a magazine to promote their products. Native advertising now incorporates integrated content marketing – it can be as grandiose as this Mini Takes the States or the Super Bowl Halftime Show brought to you by Pepsi. To as mainstream as incorporating tax advice into an article that is sponsored by H&R Block. Native continues to merge the worlds of content and advertising together, leaving consumers thinking, was that an ad? The reason native works so well is that we stop talking like advertising execs and start talking like real people to consumers and that resonates. Consumers know when they are being sold and it feels more authentic when advertising is integrated into the everyday flow of life.
BDX recently incorporated Native advertising into our leading new home website, NewHomeSource.com, and the results did not disappoint. With the introduction of native advertising across NewHomeSource.com in February 2019 we have seen a huge increase in our front end and back end performance metrics. We have a recipe that has worked to help builders connect with as many consumers as possible. Start with your listings on the site, complement those with banner advertising, and then incorporate native ads into the mix. One builder noted, “we’ve seen a 33% increase in our leads and our CPL was cut in half once native was introduced.” (National Builder)
We are continually looking for ways to grow and evolve, and while banners still hold the persistent value of accompanying a builder’s listing, we believe that native will be a game changer to help drive the best user experience and results for our builders.
Ready to see how you can start leveraging native ads to connect with home shoppers? You can reach our BDXperts at info@thebdx.com.
