9 Tactics to Be a Native Advertising Pro

March 16, 2017

According to a recent HubSpot report, reading a native ad headline yields 308 times more consumer attention than processing an image or banner. The question, at this point, isn’t whether or not native advertising can be effective. It’s how best to utilize native ads to drive consumer engagement and increase conversions.

Marin partnered with Yahoo to provide the best practices we’ve learned on how to build successful native ad campaigns that’ll help you conquer your biggest possible share of the market.

Build the Backbone of Your Native Campaigns


  1. Add an Image: Confirm that your current image is relevant to all campaigns. Make sure your messages match your images for top performance-driving queries.
  2. Use Your Logos: Reinforce brand recall and inspire action by letting your logo shine in images and using brand mentions where applicable.
  3. Clean Your Keywords: Just like with your search campaigns, use keyword performance reports to defend positive ROI and ad relevance. Add negative keywords where applicable.
  4. Track Performance: Use higher bid modifiers to get more traffic and consider whether other modifiers may be driving down your bid.
  5. Test Often: Pull ad performance reports regularly, and compare image performance for ad refreshes and testing.
  6. Break It Down: Separate your campaigns into similar performing groups (e.g., seasonality, purchase-funnel location, price point, etc.) to better measure performance across groups with similar goals.


Oh, You Fancy, Huh?


If you’re already following the six tips and tricks outlined above, here are three more for the advanced native advertiser who’s using Yahoo Gemini.

  1. Entice New Customers: Recruit new customers based on their Yahoo search history. Use custom messaging to target users who’ve searched for your competitors.
  2. Improve Your Targeting: Leverage data from other publishers to enhance your content and bidding strategy on Yahoo Gemini.
  3. Maximize Your Investment: Use machine learning to optimize your Yahoo bids. Gain an advantage by mining cross-publisher data to set the optimal bid to hit your overall performance goals.


Want to learn more about Native Advertising? Check out the recording of our joint webinar with Yahoo for best practices for native video and steps you can take immediately to extend your reach with native ads.

You can also download our white paper, The Essential Guide to Native Advertising: The Rise of a Digital Ad Format and Best Practices for Commanding Audience Attention.

Ashley Andrada

Marin Software
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