How to Use Native Content to Drive Interest in Your Business
As Chronogram Media’s native content editor, I spend a lot of time thinking about how native content (AKA sponsored digital and print articles) can achieve the goals of our local advertising partners.
When I drill down past all the details, most advertisers want the same thing: to increase interest in their business.
That little spark of interest has a lot of power. It can lead to a visit to your website or physical location, which can lead to an initial sale, then hopefully repeat business and long-term loyalty from local residents and visitors alike.
So with all the advertising and marketing options available to drive that interest, why should you make the investment in native content? Simply put: Because people read it.
Native content is designed to look and read like editorial content. It doesn’t feel like a sales pitch. That means more people are likely to read about your business, make an authentic connection, and remember you the next time they need your offerings.
Okay, so now you’re on board with why native content works. But making the decision to invest in the creation of custom native content is just the start. Here’s the nuts and bolts of how you can actually use it to drive interest in your business.
1. Get Editorial-Style Coverage When You Need It
Coverage of your business when you need it is one of the most common ways advertisers use native content to increase customer interest. Just like you do with display advertising, you can purchase and schedule native content when you have a specific event, program, or other sales or marketing initiative that you want to get the word out about.
By commissioning content in one of our trusted publications—Chronogram, Upstate House, Upstater, Rural Intelligence, or Chronogram’s Explore—you secure editorial-style coverage timed to your sales and marketing cycle. Unlike display advertising, where you have just a few words to convey your message, the article-length size of a native content piece allows you to go in depth on your initiatives. What’s more—you have final sign-off on the custom content we create for you, so you get to fine-tune the messaging just like with your other advertising materials.
2. Establish Your Business as Trustworthy and Authoritative
Our locally based native content writers are experienced in transforming the expertise behind your products and services into an engaging article that Hudson Valley residents and visitors want to read. Our native content can delve into your business’s origin story; the stories of your founders, employees, and customers; and explain what makes your offerings truly distinctive, high-quality, and worthy of people’s attention.
Connecting with readers through a custom-written native article also makes your business more relatable. As one of our native content partners, Glenn’s Sheds owner Glenn Nystrup has said, when people contact him to discuss his product, they act as if they already know him because they received information about his business from our publications that resonated with them.
3. Send Traffic to Your Website Long-Term
Native content is a great way to send traffic to your website in the immediate days after the article publishes. But that’s just the start of its usefulness. Since our native content articles live permanently on our publications’ websites, they continue to send traffic to your website for months and years to come. (Interested in learning more about how native content can deliver long-term results? I’ve got a case study for you over here.)
In addition, because most customers conduct some amount of research about a business before making a purchase, native content provides a long-lasting foundation for your brand’s search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. When potential customers search for your business online, our native content shows up in search results, reinforcing your brand’s messaging and trustworthiness. That’s one of the reasons why native content that is “evergreen” (or continually relevant and accurate about your business regardless of time of year) is so powerful. It has the potential to generate interest in your business long after the content’s initial publication date.
Now you now the basics of how to use native content to drive interest in your business. Want to know how you can extend the reach of your native content after its initial publication? Stay tuned for Part 2 in this series, where I’ll cover strategies to will keep your native content working for you for months and years to come!
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