Native ads are a consistent source of traffic, but will prospects still convert when the markets are trending down?
6H Agency co-founder and CEO Nadim Kuttab thinks so, and he’s generated millions of qualified leads on native networks like Taboola and Outbrain for international brands to prove it. In a recent speech, Nadim revealed his four ways to build recession-proof native campaigns – and why media buying is on its way out.
1. Creativity > Media Buying
The days of outperforming your competitors by tweaking your bids and manipulating native ad networks are gone.
Advances in the algorithm and a broader knowledge of affiliate marketing have leveled the playing field.
That’s why media buyers need to leverage creativity before and after the click as their key differentiator in today’s market. Original and creative ideas will improve your click-through rates and move your competitors out of premium ad placements – even if you have the same budget.
n practice, this means testing and optimizing your title, thumbnail, and publisher before the click. And after your prospect has clicked, you need a compelling landing page to capture their interest before they convert to the offer page.
2. Refine the 3 Key Elements in Your Funnel
The three most important elements in your native ads funnel are Context, Content, and Offer.
Context refers to where the ad is running and how it’s running. Some publishers don’t have the right audience for your product, and you need to identify and avoid those early.
Content is where you send them to after the click – typically a landing page – to stoke demand. This is the segue that leads prospects from the ad to the offer.
Finally, your offer page should be extremely simple and linear so that your prospects can’t do anything but convert.
When these three elements are rock-solid, you can focus on broader questions like where you’re buying and how you’re buying and whether your campaign will be able to sustain success.
3. Ask Your Affiliate Managers the Right Questions
If you’re already running campaigns on networks like Outbrain or Taboola, your account managers may already have some of the insights you’re looking for, like which offers are more successful or which landing page angles drive more traffic.
In these cases, you don’t have to exhaustively test everything – just ask. The answers could save you a lot of time and effort.
4. Don’t Micromanage Your Campaigns
Again, native isn’t what it was two or three years ago. You don’t need to adjust or play around with your bids on a daily basis.
In fact, if you have a lot of data, it probably isn’t a good idea to optimize every day. Let the data collect, look at trends, and let the algorithm do its thing. Don’t work against it with constant changes.
When you work together with the networks, offer owners, and agency clients to increase the value that comes from each click, your native ads will continue to perform – even when the rest of the market doesn’t.
The next Affiliate World is coming up fast! Get tickets now to learn exclusive strategies and tactics for native ads, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Ecommerce, and more.
