The effectiveness of native ads lies in their subtlety. They don’t demand attention; they earn it. They don’t interrupt; they ignite curiosity and engagement instead. Using native ads is a subtle way to blur the line between content and promotion. This is why native advertising is extremely effective in terms of affiliate marketing and promoting offers.
If you're part of the affiliate industry, understanding how to master the power of native ads can significantly boost your revenue and improve user engagement. Together with Adskeeper, a leading native ad network, we have prepared information on the main trends in the industry and tips for catching up and succeeding with ever-changing native advertising. So let’s dive deeper and share insights on the topics of native ads and trends that we will observe in the industry these upcoming years.
Coming back to the basics: Native Ads in a nutshell
Most affiliates know what native ads stand for, and might already have successful cases of using it in their advertising endeavors. For those who were not lucky enough yet to discover the power of native ads, let’s take a moment to get back to the basics, and showcase (or just remind) how it works and how it looks.
Native ads are those advertisements that match the look and feel of the website they are displayed on and relates to the topic of the website. Sometimes you don’t even have a feeling that you’re looking at an ad. For example, you can see some native ads in nutra on the site connected to healthy lifestyle or weight loss topics and it’s integrated in the site’s content.
To make advertising a little bit fairer for consumers, the IAB introduced a set of guidelines that regulate the industry and ensure native ads clearly disclose their commercial intent. Therefore, on various sites, you’ll find these ads under various titles such as 'Sponsored Content,' 'Content Recommendations,' and 'Sponsored News’. For instance, here is how native ads in Adskeeper look like:
Native ads’ Redefinition of Affiliate Marketing
The effectiveness of native advertising keeps skyrocketing, changing the game in the affiliate marketing arena. Native advertising makes it possible for both affiliate players and direct advertisers to establish connections with their target audiences in a way that is both effective and respectful. By integrating promotional content into the user experience, native advertising avoids disrupting the user's engagement with the platform, creating a more positive and receptive environment for the advertising message. As a result, the targeted audience is less susceptible to ignore the ad due to banner blindness as in the case of traditional old-school banners. Furthermore, they are less likely to feel any negative emotions, such as frustration or annoyance, unlike those situations where they are being interrupted by intrusive pop-under or pop-up ads. This smoother approach allows advertisers to deliver their message in a contextually relevant and engaging manner, increasing the likelihood of capturing the audience's attention and driving desired actions.
AI-powered native advertising
The introduction of AI has become a turning point not only for society in general but also for the affiliate marketing and native ads industry. The use of AI in marketing is significantly impacting many aspects of the industry and, as we predict, will continue reshaping how the advertising industry operates. The advancement of AI technology is especially noticeable and evolving in the following areas of native advertisement:
- AI-Powered Ad Creative
While it was pretty easy to spot some peculiarities and flaws of AI-generated images just one or two years before (we all remember those high-fives that turned into high-sevens or even high-nines; the same goes about infamous the dozen-finger handshakes), but now AI image generation tools are becoming more and more impeccable. This makes them perfect for ad creatives preparation. According to the experience shared by Adskeeper account managers, AI-generated creatives perform even better than those created by designers.
- Better Targeting
While Google is retrieving its decision to start blocking third-party cookies, advertisers should not just sit around and wait for this inevitable cookie-less destiny. Instead, we should proactively adopt AI-driven solutions for advanced levels of audience targeting and data analyzing. If talking metaphorically, AI in advertising works like Cupid with a data set, matching you with the perfect product before you even know you're falling (into the perfect purchase decision). AI in targeting is developing to help consumers find the product they’re looking for and affiliates reach the right audience with less spend, and it becomes especially effective with the help of native ads.
- Dynamic Ad Placement Optimization
AI in Ad Placement Optimization uses smart strategies to place ads where they'll get the most views and clicks. This means testing different spots, seeing how users interact with the ads, and using algorithms to predict the best placement. By constantly improving ad placement, advertisers get more conversions, publishers earn more, and users have a better experience on a site.
- Improved Fraud Detection
AI plays a pivotal role in fraud traffic detection by analyzing vast amounts of data to identify patterns and anomalies indicative of fraudulent activity. Machine learning algorithms can quickly adapt and learn from new fraud trends, making them more effective than traditional rule-based systems. AI detects subtle patterns that might be missed by human analysts, improving the accuracy and speed of fraud detection. Additionally, AI is able to analyze an incredible amount of traffic in real-time, allowing immediate identification and prevention of fraudulent activity. minimizing financial losses and protecting user experience.
Adskeeper started integrating AI tools into its platform as part of the growing AI ecosystem years before the spurge of AI after the public introduction of OpenAI. This ad network began enhancing the creative development process by introducing AI text-to-image solutions and optimizing ad placement with the help of AI technologies. These new features are not only related to creative processes, but also expand into predicting user behavior for dynamic ad optimization, and better targeting. AI is used to optimize ad performance by predicting user behavior and preferences. This includes analyzing user behavior and ad delivery algorithms to show ads to users who might be potentially interested in them. For publishers, AI is being used to optimize widget layouts and improve their performance. AI features are constantly being added and improved to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving advertising landscape. Adskeeper continues to develop, test, and improve new features as AI technology advances.
Adskeeper began integrating AI tools into its platform years before the surge of AI that followed OpenAI's public introduction. This ad network enhanced the creative development process by introducing AI text-to-image solutions and optimizing ad placement with AI technologies. These new features are not only related to creative processes but also expand into predicting user behavior for dynamic ad optimization and better targeting. AI optimizes ad performance by predicting user behavior and preferences. This includes analyzing user behavior and ad delivery algorithms to show ads to potentially interested users. For publishers, AI optimizes widget layouts and improves their performance.
What are tips to catch up and succeed?
The integration of AI into the advertising ecosystem is expected to continue to drive significant changes and innovation in the coming years. Let’s discuss some tips on how to succeed in this ever-changing AI technology era.
- Don’t Underestimate AI-generated creatives
AI-generated creatives have come a long way, producing impressive visuals and compelling copy. They can generate multiple design variations and test different messaging approaches, providing a quick way to jumpstart your campaigns. As we already mentioned, sometimes they show better results than human-made. However, if you still prefer to create ad copies of human origin, AI still can help a lot by speeding up workflows and brainstorming great ideas.
- Accept Help from Your Account Managers
Account Managers are highly knowledgeable about the needs of affiliate marketers. They have access to key insights on what works and what doesn't, along with a wealth of strategic advice to help maximize the ROI of your native campaigns.
- Be Open to New Approaches and Innovations
The development of AI technologies and AI integration will help you grow faster. Be open to these advancements to accelerate your progress and never stop testing new approaches and experimenting. If you stick to specific things and don’t change them, you might already be falling behind in the affiliate industry.
- Research Prompts
Effective prompts should be specific, audience-focused, and include data-backed insights. While creating the prompt, specify the target audience. For prompts connecting to the text-to-image tools, you need to define artwork style, describe perspective, the central object and the background.
“A captivating close-up of a woman touching her flawless, glowing skin, soft lighting enhancing her features. Golden hour, luxury skincare ad style, slightly blurred background. Inspired by high-end beauty campaigns.”
“A dreamy shot of a woman sipping a green detox smoothie on a tropical beach, sun-kissed skin glowing. Vibrant, influencer-style aesthetic, slightly blurred waves in the background. In the style of a modern wellness ad.”
For creating ad strategy, and ad title brainstorming, it can be worthy to apply the “Act as if…” prompt.
As we can see, native ads unlocks the hidden potential of the world of creative storytelling where commissions are earned not through clicks alone but through genuine value creation. AI integration has become a game-changer for affiliate marketing and native advertising, creating new opportunities for AI creatives generation, ad optimization, and targeting. Adskeeper can help you catch up with the emerging trends and brand new AI tools. Native ads provide affiliate marketers and direct advertisers a way to engage with their target audience in a non-disruptive way. Native advertising and affiliate industry are rapidly changing, actively integrating AI tools into its platform, so you have a great opportunity to test our offers using the wonders of AI tools presented in native ads sphere, and particularly in Adskeeper.