Native Advertising is the future of advertising, magazines, newspapers, blogs and websites. It is basically paid editorial or advertorial. Or you could call it ‘content marketing’. The way the old media (including online) worked was that the content was written by journalists and was ‘objective’, ‘unbiased’ and ‘news’. There was a solid brick wall between ‘journalists’ and ‘advertising’. The thought of a ‘real’ journalists writing something paid for by advertising was enough to call in the union.
This indignation, to those in the know, was paper thin, as there is an army of people, handsomely paid, to influence the media and get stories run on behalf of their clients – be they government, politicians, community organisations or businesses. These include media advisors, public relations consultants, marketing gurus and press agents. I would hazard a guess that over 80 percent of stories in the media have been put forward by one of these ‘paid’ advocates as ‘news’ to an editor or busy journalist.
This is acceptable to ‘journalists’ because they have been taught to know what ‘news’ is (topic for my next e-book) and as long as there is a ‘news’ angle, and they are not being paid by the people they are writing the story on – then ‘they’ are in control of the story. Right? Ah, no. The media ‘enabler’ has sold the journalist the story, provided the angle and text in a media statement, put forward their spokesperson, and other spokespeople and set up a photo opportunity … you get what I mean.
So, print, television, radio and online media were only getting paid for half of their services: advertising. The other half content, or news, was a cost. There are people getting paid to ‘sell’ the news to journalists (as discussed above) but media businesses were missing out.
So, media businesses have had to look at new ways of generating revenue. If 80 percent of stories are being ‘sold’ to their journalists but they are not getting anything for them, why shouldn’t they cut out the ‘conga line’ of media advisors, public relations consultants, marketing gurus and press agents and be paid for promoting issues and businesses and celebrating their successes?
Now, of course, these articles need to be professional, written, have a news angle, be properly researched and fact checked – or they will not be read.
Most media businesses support the need for independent, and investigative, journalism, but now recognise the fact that 80 percent of
content provided to the media is through its symbiotic relationship with an industry of ‘content enablers’.
As the media grapple with a changing world, it is now far more open to paid content and advertorial.
It is a great way to get your story out to the world. Editorial (Native Advertising) has credibility and keeps the audience engaged through the use of professional writing and journalistic techniques.
It is also an industry standard for public relations agencies and other ‘media enablers’ to value ‘editorial’ at twice the amount of advertising. So, if you are going to pay for your marketing then why not get twice the value.
Have your business promoted with Native Advertising in B2B Magazine and online at b2bmagazine.com.au
Tim Benson – Managing Director, Man Bites Dog Public Relations
[email protected]
T: 02 61128176
M: 0402 900 402
