One struggle we’ve all had when it comes to advertising is figuring out just how to reach the people you need to reach.
Today, even small businesses have a tool that was, until recently, available only to the world’s top companies. Your content can be published on major publication sites around the globe. (Remember paging through the ads in your parents’ magazines?)
Even better, because it’s online, your content reaches only the people who are most likely to find it relevant. A content discovery widget can analyze their browsing habits, and only show them the content that matters to them.
This scale and reach across multiple publishers is just one of the benefits of going with content discovery. Here are some others to consider.
It works with your customer’s online habits, not against them
But wait, this is another form of online advertising. If that term makes you recoil a bit, we can certainly understand why. In the early days of online advertising, marketers went too far. They launched those annoying pop-up and banner ads onto the world. There may be something said about the value of impressions, but we’re finally starting to realize how much they just get in people’s way.
How do they get in the way? People go online to play games, look for a movie schedule, figure out how to rid their yard of weeds, get directions to the restaurant, laugh at a cat video, or find out what their president is up to. A popup, no matter how original and creative, is nothing more than an unwanted interruption.
How do people respond? They get them out of the way as quickly as possible so they can get back to what they were doing. No wonder ad blockers are so hot right now!
If you’re considering a content discovery platform to spread your message, it’s fair to say we’ve watched the past mistakes of online advertising, we’ve learned, and we built something that people can trust.
Content discovery is one of the most reliable marketing tools out there that is designed to work with your customer’s online habits — not against them! That’s the biggest benefit of all from using a publishing platform.
We use technology to reach your audience
Think of all the methods you’ve tried to grow your audience and boost conversions. You’ve done keywords, pricey social media ads, and created a snappy hashtag.
The difference is content discovery has a better delivery that’s designed to entice readers with content they find interesting and want to read. It’s not designed to scare them away with an aggressive sell.
At the same time, you can target-market
Content discovery platforms use algorithms that can analyze and respond to a person’s online browsing history, social media activity, and searches.
You can also program your content to reach a specific audience. Whether you’re after a particular age demographic or you want to reach people in a specific community, you can set the filters.
Your content gets a relevant, high-quality audience
When your perfect customer shows up on one of our publishing partner sites, something remarkable happens: recommended content also appears. This content fits that browser’s habits and matches your tailored specifications.
Get your message on target with a content messaging platform. Your content and message will land where it needs to be: into the minds of the right audience.
Your content can get a reputation boost
We can’t talk about content discovery without talking about the halo effect it has on the minds of customers. Our sponsored content appears on the websites of high-quality publishers.
Here’s what one interesting study says: Banner ads on well-regarded publishing sites get an automatic reputation boost. That is, readers are three times more likely to see the brand favorably if it appears on a publication they like and respect. If banner ads get a lift just from appearing on The Prestigious Times, it’s not a stretch to say your content can get a dose of pixie dust. That’s because it appears seamlessly with other recommended content on a website they voluntarily visited and trust.
Taboola's Sponsored Content Checklist
You decide where your content lives
Since the dawn of publication, there’s been a tug-of-war between editorial and advertising. Editorial delivers the news and advertisers buy up spaces around it to tout their message.
In spite of the change we’ve witnessed to publications over the past two decades, one concern persists. The last thing any brand wants is an audience inferring an unintended message just because their name appears in proximity to a certain story. Many brands don’t want to be associated with racy images or something that is problematic for their brand. That’s understandable.
What happens then when you use an online apparatus that publishes across hundreds of publications? Those are important questions for anyone choosing a content discovery platform. Taboola, for example, has a system that is transparent to the advertisers and the publisher. Brands can use it to review which websites their content will appear, approving and disapproving sites as fits their needs.
Beyond that, you’re also in control of the types of content you want your brand to avoid—with better brand safety.
If certain topics happen to hit a sensitive area for your brand, it’s easy to design your campaign so you can evade placement with articles that can create an unwanted situation. When you have the type of control that you do with content discovery, brand safety is an easier issue to manage.
Taboola is the world’s leading content discovery platform, serving 360B recommendations to over 1B unique visitors each month on the web’s most innovative publisher sites. To learn more about how Taboola can help you A/B test your site content, contact us or start your campaign.