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Here are three quick keys to doing native advertising right in the context of 21st century media and marketing:

1. Authenticity

Your native ad can perfectly match the editorial context of the publisher you pay, but still spectacularly fail if there is not authentic continuity once the prospect reaches your own site. You should be choosing media outlets with editorial approaches that mirror your own brand voice.

2. Action

The best thing to sell with the kind of content that makes an advertisement "native" is more information. Provide independent value in your native advertisement that inherently creates a desire to discover even more.

3. Audience

When you realize that a media approach works better than traditional marketing, you understand that you want to build your own audience, not just pay to access someone else's. This makes native ads work perfectly for you, since you're not pitching products or services, you're promising more valuable information that results in audience building.

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Forrester analysts are encouraged to “make the call” and here’s a call that is sure to invite some heated disagreement (native advertising has a way of doing that).

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How does a marketer get this right?

Weigh and answer four questions with a yes, no or partially/somewhat:

1.    Could the native advertisement appear on the site unlabeled as advertising without causing a backlash? It should be labeled, but if it was unlabeled would it stand out?

2.    Is it shareworthy? Is it reasonable to expect that an unmotivated reader would want to share the native advertisement, on Twitter or Facebook, for example?

3.    Does it appeal to a clearly defined sub-set of an audience? Native advertising works best against a niche.

4.    Would a reader or viewer of a native advertisement be more likely to prefer your brand? In the chase to produce loveable content, some brands risk skipping the “value to brand” objective altogether.

Four questions; answer yes (1), no (-1) or partially/somewhat (0). A final sum of zero or less is unacceptable. A sum of 1 or 2 needs improvement. A 3 or 4 means you’ve got the basics down.

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Seeing digital advertising integrated into the content experience on social networks, news sites and streaming services is a somewhat new phenomenon, but it has taken off quickly.

Excerpt...

Social networks, news sites, digital content aggregators and streaming media services are rife with ads that are integrated into the content experience. According to a new eMarketer report, “Native Advertising: An Emerging Consensus for a New Kind of Ad,” these so-called “native ads” are providing new ways for marketers to reach target audiences and new avenues of monetization for content sites that are under intense revenue pressure.

Although business prospects for native advertising are positive, the medium has its detractors. Some media executives and marketers are wary of the blurring of lines between content and advertising that occurs with native ads, particularly in the context of news sites. Others question the return on investment of these ads, arguing that native ads cannot scale for multiple placements.