One of the trends in the content marketing universe is so-called “native advertising,” in which branded content is strategically placed with a publisher’s content space.
According to CMI’s Robert Rose, the name is a misleading misnomer. It’s neither “native” (quietly co-existing with the publisher’s editorial content) nor “advertising” (paid content that serves to unabashedly promote a product, brand or service).
The type of content being talked about in terms of native advertising is just one form of what is collectively known as branded content marketing, according to Rose.
“In short, native advertising takes content and places it in the context of a publisher’s site. So, whether you think of it as an advertorial, a paid guest post, a sponsored tweet, or just a really extensive ad, it’s basically paying for your engaging branded content to have a prominent and contextual place on somebody else’s platform.”
And it’s far from a new concept, although talking to some content marketing managers you would think they had invented the idea.
The point, Rose says, is not that native advertising is a bad thing. It’s just not native or advertising, and calling it such confuses the issue. Branded content placed in the right context can be terrifically powerful and effective. He advises pushing the envelope instead of blending in, and making the content pop in ways that can’t help but engage.
Worth the read, even if you have to take side trips into the linked text to get a handle on all the terms: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2013/08/native-advertising-neither/