Scaling native ad campaigns requires more than just increasing your budget—it involves making smart, data-driven decisions and continuously optimizing content for better results.
Whether you’re looking to boost brand awareness, drive traffic, or increase conversions, this guide will help you scale your native ad campaigns efficiently while maintaining high performance.
We’ll walk through each step to ensure you reach your objectives, from defining your goals to leveraging the right tools for continuous improvement.
This guide contains everything you need to know about:
- Defining your objectives and KPIs
- Understand target audience
- Converting landing pages
- Optimization and testing
- Personalization
- Spy Tools for Native Ads
Step-by-Step Guide to Scaling Native Ads Campaigns
1. Define Your Objectives and KPIs
Start by clearly defining what you want to achieve with your native advertising campaign. Common objectives include:
- Increasing brand awareness
- Driving website traffic
- Generating leads or conversions
Once your goals are set, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success.
Key KPIs for Native Advertising
Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial to assess the success of your native advertising campaigns. Here are some common KPIs to keep in mind:
Return on Investment (ROI): ROI compares the revenue generated by your campaign to the cost of running it, giving you a clear picture of overall performance and profitability.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): This shows the percentage of people who clicked on your native ad compared to how many saw it. It helps gauge how compelling your ad is to the audience.
Engagement Rate: This measures how often users interact with your ad (likes, shares, comments) relative to the number of impressions. It’s useful for understanding how well your content resonates with viewers.
Conversion Rate: This reflects the percentage of users who completed a specific action (like a purchase or form submission) out of those who clicked on your ad. It’s a key metric for evaluating the success of your campaign in driving desired outcomes.
Cost Per Click (CPC): CPC shows how much you are paying for each click on your ad. It’s an important factor when evaluating the cost-efficiency of your campaign.
And one of the best native ads tracking tools that you can use to get all these metrics at your fingerprint is CPV Lab. Hundreds of marketers already use it to stay on top of their native ads data.
2. Understand Your Target Audience
How To Target With Native Ads
Before exploring native ads, remember that they work best for broad audiences. If your product is only relevant to a small group, like women over 75, native ads may not be the best fit.
Targeting in native ads is simple and happens through your headline and images.
For example:
“Tired of back pain? Everyone over 40 should try this pain-relief innovation.”
This headline calls out the problem, solution, and target audience (people over 40), making it clear who the ad is for. People outside this group may still click, but the target audience is most likely to engage.
The image also plays a role in targeting. Using a picture of someone from the target demographic—whether elderly or young—helps create a connection with the intended audience. Testing different headlines and images will help you find the right combination.
Testing is essential in native advertising. Platforms provide metrics on how your ads perform, so you’ll need to experiment by tweaking headlines, images, and content to see what resonates best.
In conclusion, native ads can effectively expand your audience if your product appeals to a wide range of people. Use specific headlines, relevant images, and constant testing to optimize your campaigns for success.
3. Which Landing Pages Convert Best for Native Ads?
When it comes to native advertising, choosing the right landing page is crucial for driving conversions.
Landing pages for native ads need to be simple and attention-grabbing. A strong combination of a headline, an image, and a clear call to action can make all the difference in conversion rates.
Key Elements of High-Performing Native Ad Landing Pages:
- Simplicity is Key: Native ads often direct traffic to landing pages with short, concise content that hooks the viewer quickly. One example used a straightforward headline, an image, and a “Watch Now” button that directed users to the actual offer. These types of pages typically achieve a high click-through rate (CTR), with averages ranging between 30-45%.
- Attention-Grabbing Headlines and Images: The headline should immediately speak to the audience’s pain point or interest. For example, in one case, a headline related to diabetes management used a “blood sugar trick” that caught attention. Paired with an image that stoked curiosity, users are compelled to click through to the main offer.
- Short Stay, Quick Action: Colin explains that visitors to these pages don’t linger. The goal is to capture attention and drive a click within 10-20 seconds. These types of landing pages are designed to push users toward the main offer as quickly as possible.
- Video Sales Letters: These types of landing pages often lead to a video sales letter (VSL), where the sales pitch happens in a longer format. The VSL does the heavy lifting of selling, while the landing page just gets users to click through. This works particularly well for ClickBank offers and other similar products.
- Advertorial Pages for Broader Appeal: For products that require more information, an advertorial-style landing page can be used. This type of page reads like an article or testimonial, guiding the reader through a story before pushing them toward the product. While these pages have a lower CTR (1-8%), they often achieve much higher conversion rates, sometimes up to 25%, because they better inform and qualify the audience.
Here is an overview that you can save to make sure you have it always handy:
You can use this checklist to check if your campaign is properly optimized before launching
Optimizing for Success
The choice of landing page depends on your offer.
If you’re promoting products via a video sales letter (VSLs), a simple and short landing page with a curiosity-driven headline will work best.
On the other hand, if you’re selling a product that needs more explanation or social proof, consider using an advertorial-style page.
For those new to native ads, Colin recommends focusing on proven landing page templates, such as video sales letter pages, which are simple to set up and edit.
However, he also advises that for niche products like nutritional supplements, experimenting with advertorials could yield high conversion rates.
Ultimately, the success of your native ad campaigns depends on testing. Using platforms like CPV Lab can help you test landing pages on the fly, track and analyze performance, enabling you to optimize your campaigns for the highest possible ROI.
Here is a case study to learn more on how much time and money you save by testing with a tool like CPV Lab.
4. Optimize Ad Placement
Select the right platforms for your native ads based on where your audience is most active. Key considerations include:
- Choosing sites that align with your brand values and audience interests
- Ensuring ads are placed within relevant content to enhance visibility and engagement
In-feed placements typically outperform sidebar ads, so prioritize these options when possible.
5. Implement A/B Testing
Regularly conduct A/B tests on various elements of your ads, including:
- Headlines and copy
- Images and videos
- Call-to-action buttons
Using a tool like CPV Lab, you can track and analyze the performance of these tests to identify what resonates best with your audience, allowing you to continuously refine your approach based on real-time data.
6. Monitor Performance and Optimize
Use analytics tools like CPV Lab to track your campaign performance against your KPIs. Pay attention to:
- Engagement metrics (impressions, clicks, shares, engagement time)
- Conversion metrics (leads, sales)
- Audience feedbackhead
CPV Lab provides deep insights into these metrics, enabling you to make informed adjustments, such as reallocating budget to higher-performing ads or tweaking underperforming content. Such as reallocating budget to higher-performing ads or tweaking underperforming content.
7. Scale Up Successful Campaigns
Once you identify high-performing ads and strategies, consider scaling them by:
- Increasing the budget for successful placements
- Expanding to similar audiences or new platforms
- Repurposing successful content for different formats or channels
This approach allows you to maximize your return on investment while maintaining effective messaging.
8. Leverage Data for Personalization
Utilize data analytics to deliver personalized content that resonates with individual users. This can include:
- Tailoring messages based on user behavior and preferences
- Using retargeting strategies to engage users who previously interacted with your ads
Personalization can significantly enhance engagement and conversion rates.
9. Maintain Ethical Standards
Ensure your native ads comply with advertising regulations and maintain transparency. Clearly disclose the sponsored nature of your content to build trust with your audience. This transparency can lead to higher engagement rates and a more positive brand perception.
10. Continuous Learning and Adaptation
Stay updated on industry trends and best practices in native advertising.
Regularly review and adapt your strategies based on new insights, audience feedback, and performance data. Engaging with your audience and incorporating their feedback can help refine your approach and enhance campaign effectiveness. By following these steps, you can effectively scale your native advertising campaigns, driving better results while maintaining a strong connection with your audience.
Native Advertising Spy Tools
These tools help you research and analyze successful native ad campaigns to gain insights for your own campaigns:
1. AdPlexity
- Tracks native, push, YouTube, and TikTok ads
- Covers 7 native ad networks including RichAds
- Offers filters like date range, ad type, device type, country, language, traffic source, and more
2. Native Ad Buzz
- Focuses solely on native ads
- Covers 10 ad networks and 42,042 advertisers
- Provides filters like ad keyword, landing page, advertiser URL, publisher, date range, and more
3. SpyOver
- Tracks native ads across 150+ countries
- Covers 14 native ad networks
- Allows sorting by affiliate networks, trackers, device type, and browse
4. Anstrex
- Tracks native ads across 80 countries
- Covers 27 native ad networks
- Allows sorting by affiliate networks, trackers, device type, and browser
To sum up…
Scaling native ad campaigns requires a well-planned strategy, continuous optimization, and a focus on data-driven decisions. By following these steps—defining clear objectives, producing quality content, and leveraging data for personalization—you can effectively scale your native ads without losing touch with your audience.
Tools like CPV Lab offer powerful tracking and insights that help refine and optimize your campaigns in real-time, ensuring you stay ahead of the competition.
Ready to take your native ad campaigns to the next level?
Join CPV Lab today and start maximizing your ROI with smarter, data-driven strategies.
Author: Elizabeta Kuzevska
Elizabeta is a certified Digital marketer and Email strategist. With 15+ years of experience in digital marketing, she helps B2B companies boost their online presence through digital strategies, strategic email marketing, & SEO content marketing. As founder and CEO of Online Marketing Academy and co-founder of Lead Gen Marketing, she is passionate about learning from and supporting others.
