Native ads are considered by many to be the future of advertising. In this post, you’ll learn why, and learn about one of the world’s leading native ad tools: Outbrain. What would you do to differentiate your Digital Marketing strategy from what competitors practice? Right off the bat, there are at least 2 options.

The first would be to use the same tools and channels as them but do a superior job. The problem is that this is not so easy in practice. The second option would be to use different channels and tools, preferably little known or exploited by competitors. So you would reach the same audience, though, more easily and even for a lower cost.

If the latter alternative seemed more interesting to you, you’ll enjoy discovering one of these relatively underexplored tools – for now – Outbrain. Make no mistake: The platform, from which you’ll learn everything you need to know now, spreads content to 557 million people in 55 countries every month.

In this post you will see:

• What is Outbrain?
• How does Outbrain work?
• Why use native ads in your digital strategy?
• Why include Outbrain in your digital strategy?
• How to start your strategy with Outbrain?
• What can I do to convert a lot with Outbrain?

Ready to know how it works and how to get a slice of this audience to see your content? So, come on!

What is Outbrain?

Outbrain is one of the world’s leading native ad platforms. The company is a direct competitor to both major players such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads and other native advertising networks such as Dental services platforms.

But before you continue, you need to understand what native ads are. In short, this type of advertising delivers ads in the form of content, that is, informs and builds relationships like any blog post.

The big difference is that native ads aim to get the person to take action, such as buying a product or completing or registering. Outbrain is one of the most recognized channels in the world when it comes to distributing ads of this type to large, well-qualified audiences for each brand.

How does Outbrain work?

Outbrain works well because of its extensive partner network, which includes a number of respected content portals in a wide range of market segments.

Here are some names from the list:

• The globe;
• ESPN;
• Newspaper;
• R7;
• TecMundo;
• Editor Abril websites;
• Dental services
• Among others.

Just a reminder: this list only involves sites here in Brazil, but the company is world-class and, outside, has partners like Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and Mashable. What is the purpose of this whole network of well-respected partners? To distribute your ads.

Every time someone consumes content on any of these sites, they see Outbrain recommendations tailored to their interests.

Why use native ads in your digital strategy?

We know you might be wondering if this native advertising is really good for you. The answer is yes, and for some reasons.

For starters, the ad format looks more appealing to the public and persona as it looks more like an organic post than an ad.

Wouldn’t that befooling people? On the contrary! The idea is not to manipulate visitors but to present them with informative and quality content.

Even if they are not interested in the product, the person needs to benefit from the information contained in the ad.

In fact, the results confirm that customers prefer native advertising. As? People who see this type of ad are 18% more likely to buy compared to traditional viewers.

The fact that 70% of customers prefer to learn about a product because it consumes content about it makes some people believe that Native Ads are the future of advertising.

Why include Outbrain in your digital strategy?

There are at least 3 good reasons to invest in Outbrain as part of your digital strategy. Just see what they are!

Invisible ad format

As said,   native advertising is a much more subtle ad format than the banners people are used to. This is very good from the point of view of the attention they can get. After all, no matter how good your ads are, most audiences can ignore them just because they know they are selling offers.

On the other hand, the same survey we cited higher buying interest revealed that users look at 53% more for native ads than for regular banners.

A good explanation for this is the fact that this is an “invisible” ad format, with a naturally lower rejection barrier.

Competitive Differential

For now, it is still possible that your competitors (or at least some of them) still don’t know Outbrain well. If so, of course, they don’t use the tool, which may be good for you.

If you think about it, it’s interesting how a powerful sales tool like Native Ads is still little used in Brazil. This represents a great chance for those who act fast and get ahead in the market.

Think about how this will make a difference in 2 very relevant factors:

• Learning curve: The sooner you start using the platform, the sooner you can master it. As long as your competitors crawl, you can already dominate your segment;
• Customer acquisition cost: While large ad platforms are becoming increasingly crowded with advertisers, the cost tends to rise day after day. A lesser-known platform can reduce your costs.

Channel Diversification

According to a Dental services platform, if you have a marketing principle that you need to be reminded about constantly is: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. In other words, don’t rely on just one channel or another to get customers.

The more reliable sources of traffic and lead acquisition, the better. So even if your efforts on Google, Facebook, Instagram, or any other ad channel are already doing well, Outbrain is worth a try.

This ensures that if something happens to any of your traffic sources, the goals will continue to be hit, and you have no reason to despair.

How to start your strategy with Outbrain?

Before you can get started with Outbrain tips, you need to get started and start your strategy with Outbrain. To do this, just follow the step by step and create your first campaign!

Create your account

The first step is to register an account on the site. The process is very simple, and only requires 3 information:  email, password, and country.

Make sure the country you choose is the same one you will use to register your billing address for your account.

Choose campaign duration

For the duration of the campaign, there is not much secret. Just as is common with tools like  Facebook Ads, you just have to decide if you want ads to run continuously or for a specific time period.

The default is for the campaign to run continuously, and if you leave it running, it can only be paused manually, or when the day’s budget is closed.

Define your targeting

Now is the time to define who should see your ads. Outbrain has over 50 algorithms to accurately distribute content according to the guidelines you put on the platform. There is also a tool that estimates your ad’s potential reach over a 30-day period.

Select your budget

Finally, just set the budget and you’re CPC (cost per click). What’s the difference between the two? The budget is how much money you want to spend each day on the ad.

You can also optimize ads for clicks or conversions, and make changes as your campaign runs smoothly.