Nowadays, companies use content marketing as a valuable channel to endorse their products. Brands are increasingly redirecting their digital marketing budgets toward native advertising, including the ‘sponsored content’.
This advertising platform plays an important role in the online publisher’s monetization strategy, particularly among those publishers looking to diversify their revenue streams.
Definition
Sponsored content is a type of promotional media that’s paid for by an advertiser, but created and shared by another brand or publisher.
While branded content tends to be produced in-house by the brand, sponsored content is usually a collaborative effort between the publisher’s editorial staff and the brand. If you are reading a publication, good sponsored content should appear like any other feature story you would want to read.
This modern twist on the traditional format helps companies shine a spotlight on their brand without coming across as self-promotional.
When done well, this advertising platform is a valuable marketing tool for increasing brand visibility and demonstrating how your company solves problems for your target audiences.
Sponsored content is a type of native advertising, in that both mimic the look and tone of a publication or platform.
This advertising platform is an ad that doesn’t look like an ad. It feels like a natural part of the site. But unlike native advertising, which often links to outside websites, sponsored content lives solely on a publisher’s own site.
Forbes created a separate place for sponsored content as a way to ensure that readers don’t feel duped by what they’re reading. The amount of content and syndication of that content depends on the pricing level that the advertiser selects. The Huffington Post has also created entirely new sections on its website based around brand sponsorships.
Benefits
Sponsored content is mutually beneficial – a content creator (with an audience) gets funding and a product creator (who needs an audience to get customers) gets an audience.
Consumers have started to ignore many traditional advertisements. The sponsored ad content, however, is much more effective than paid banner advertising. Companies use sponsored content because it feels more like a recommendation from a friend. It builds trust with your brand and provides value to the reader.
Some major points and benefits:
- Sponsored content leads to sales
- Sponsored display ads perform better than typical display ads
According to an AppNexus whitepaper, the click-through-rate with sponsored display ads is approximately 8.8 times higher than with typical display ads.
- Sponsored content receives higher engagement rates
Sponsored content lends itself to increased relevancy and engagement. If content is more personalized and better suited for a particular consumer.
- Consumers trust sponsored content more than traditional ads
A Time Inc. study reported that 2 in 3 GenZ, Millennials, and GenX consumers believe sponsored content is more sincere than traditional advertising.
Sponsored Articles
Sponsored articles have been around for years. While they were common in print publications, they have easily made the jump to online news sites.
According to a study by Neilsen and Mode Media, consumers spend 2.5 minutes reading a sponsored article. That’s roughly the same amount of time that they spend reading a standard editorial piece.
A few EXAMPLES
Grads of Life – Forbes + GradsofLife.org
Why the UAE is Betting Big on Renewable Energy – Smithsonian.com + Embassy of the United Arab Emirates Washington, DC; Source: pressboardmedia.com
Mouth-watering reasons to visit Adelaide – The Telegraph + Ethiad Airways and There’s Nothing Like Australia; Source: nativeadvertisinginstitute.com
Lastly, native advertising may be better for quick action, while sponsored content is a better option to establish your brand as a credible subject expert and to provide useful information to your target audience; “one is meant to convince, while the other exists primarily to inform”.
Collaborate with BRAINIMMUNE
Collaborate with the BrainImmune editorial team to identify topics and areas where you can promote your Company’s profile and integrate this content on our Site. Deliver more educational and engaging content to our readers, and, thus, strengthen your brand equity and drive awareness.
We publish sponsored content in all of our categories on behalf of businesses.
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