The Guide to Creating
High-Conversion
Content for Your
Outbrain Campaigns

The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

2What’s Inside?
Introduction ....................................................................................................................

3

How Not to Do Content Marketing .......................................................................
Native Advertising to The Rescue ............................................................................

4
5

Chapter 1: Why Native Content Works .................................................................

6

Chapter 2: 11 Types of Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns ..................

9

Chapter 3: How to Write Content for Outbrain Campaigns .......................

13

Chapter 4: Outbrain Content Guidelines Explained .....................................

16

Chapter 5: Creating Ads for Your Outbrain Campaigns .............................

18

Conclusion: Get Started With Outbrain ..............................................................

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

3

Introduction
In 2014, reeling from two deadly disasters, Malaysia Airlines went ahead with acontent marketing campaign: “Send us your bucket list of travel destinations!”
Bucket list? That list of places you want to see before you die?
Not surprisingly, the public was outraged, the company apologized, and thecampaign name was changed.1

These kinds of content fails are exactly what
you – as a brand marketer or business owner– want to avoid.

1

https://mashable.com/2014/09/03/malaysia-airlines-bucket-list/

The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

How NOT to Do Content Marketing
If you work in marketing, you don’t need us to tell you that getting your audience’s
attention is hard.
As long as they have an internet connection (and who doesn’t these days?),consumers are faced with endless choices.
Bombarded with images and information, no wonder it takes an average of 5 to 7
impressions for people to even remember your brand.
There’s something just as bad as not getting noticed, however, and that’s creatingembarrassingly bad content. Like the airline example above.
There’s another way you don’t want to stand out. And that’s withbad placement.

Unfortunate ad placements happen online and offline –and your brand should avoid them.
Image source:
https://www.boredpanda.com/advertising-placement-fails/

In this guide, we’ll show you how to write great content that works for your brand, and how to promote it in the right places.

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5

Native Advertising to the Rescue
Today’s consumers don’t want “ads”. They want valuable, relevant informationthat improves their lives and solves their problems. Get this: 47% of millennials
say that they would trust a financial services company more if it produced
useful content.2
You may be wondering how to create that content and how to get it out there in
front of your audiences. The answer? Native advertising.

Here’s how native advertising works:
Produce original, high-quality content that provides relevance andvalue to your target audience.
Host the content on your website, blog, landing page, or other URL.
Run a native advertising campaign on Outbrain, targeted to yourbest audience. Your Outbrain ad links to the content URL.
People browse the web and click on your Outbrain ad. They land on
the URL featuring your great content.
People read your content and engage with your brand. They evenbecome customers. YAY!

As you can see, the first step in the process is creating great content. And not justany content – but content specifically designed to engage audiences innative placements.

Let’s get started!
https://contently.com/2019/05/06/content-marketing-stats-credible/

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Chapter 1: Why Native Content Works
Before diving into how to create content for native campaigns, it’s important tounderstand why native content works. This will help you choose the best content
type and craft it most effectively.
The first step is understanding that there’s “content”, like SEO keyword content or
non-marketing content, and then there’s “content that leads to conversions”.
Conversion-oriented content works best for Outbrain native campaigns and it’swhat you should be aiming for.

Get Started With Native

Create Campaign

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7

What does “conversion-oriented content” even mean?
Conversion-oriented content is crafted in a way that tempts the reader to take an action that “converts” them from viewer to potential customer.
It’s content with a marketing goal.
For example, let’s imagine a vlog about how to apply mascara, published on thewebsite of a cosmetics company.
The aim of the video is to teach the viewer how to apply mascara, right?
Yes, but there is another goal as well – getting the viewer to consider buying
the mascara.
Unlike a regular ad, which focuses on the product (in this case, mascara), conversionoriented content focuses on the reader’s pain point (how do I apply mascara?!?), while
only hinting at the benefits of the promoted product.
It’s a much more subtle way to get the audience focused on your brand or product.

And that’s why it is so powerful.

The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

8

Why do Outbrain campaigns need this kind of content?
Consumers everywhere are suffering from “ad fatigue”. That’s not surprising,considering that people are exposed to approximately 5000 online ads a day!
Native ads combat ad fatigue in a critical way: they are designed to fit in “natively”
with the layout and design of the web page, so they don’t seem like ads.
Because they don’t look like ads, Outbrain native ads are much less intrusive toreaders. They complement, rather than disrupt, the audience’s web browsing
experience. When viewing native ads, customers feel open to discover products
and brands, rather than annoyed and averse.
Plus, Outbrain native ads are targeted to audiences by their location, interests,
previous browsing habits, and much more. This means that your native ads arebeing shown to customers who are more likely to be interested in your brand or
business to start with.

Now that you’ve got the basics down, let’s takea look at the different content types that work withnative advertising.

Did you know?
64% of people say that display ads are annoying or intrusive.
Native ads are viewed 52% more than display ads.3

Brainy Tip:
Native content should support and enhance your audience’s online
experience. Therefore it must be relevant, entertaining, engaging andinformative. And it should be targeted to the audience with the highest
potential of actually converting.

3

https://www.outbrain.com/blog/native-ads-vs-display-ads/

The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Chapter 2: 11 Types of Content for Your
Outbrain Campaigns
Remember, in native campaigns, you want to get customers to click on your ad,
but that’s just the first step.
The deeper goal is what happens when they land on your content. Here are somecommon examples of actions you might want your readers to take:•

Buy a product•

Watch a video•

Submit their contact information•

Install an app•

Download a coupon•

Sign up to a newsletter•

Browse a catalog•

And moreBrainy Tip:
Native content is geared towards driving the customer to action. There
are many other ways to do that than with simple blog posts or articles.

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10

Let’s take a look at the different kinds of content you can use in native campaigns(and there are loads!).

1

Blogs
Blogs and articles are a staple content type in native advertising. It is so easy to link toa blog post or article already featured on your website. Make sure to use blogs that are
fairly recent (within the past 6 weeks tops!), so your content is fresh and current.

4

Ebooks2With ebooks, you can delve much deeper into the topic than with a blog post. An ebook
can combine visual content with text-based content to make it more interesting andengaging. An example? An e-guide by a fashion brand about how to choose the best
clothing styles for different body shapes.

5Whitepapers

3

Popular in the B2B world, whitepapers are long-form guides or reports that explore
a topic comprehensively. They are based on professional research and references,and can go into quite a lot of specific detail. Whitepapers are a great way for B2B
companies to show leadership and authority in their field.

6

Infographics
Infographics are a blend of images and text to explore a topic or illustrate a process. It’sa fun way to present statistics or other dry information. So fun, in fact, that infographics
are the 4th most popular content type!4VideosThere’s no competing with videos for pure content success. If you’re in marketing, youare either using video already, or are one of the 92% of marketers who say that video isimportant for their content strategy.5

Podcasts
Podcasts are a seriously up-and-coming success story in marketing. 70% of listeners saythat the products and services they hear about on podcasts are relevant to them.6 And
that probably explains why the number of podcasts is growing all the time.

Hubspot, Not Another State of Marketing Report 2020, https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketinghttps://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-platforms/video-marketing/video-marketing-statistics-to-know/
6https://www.marketing-podcasts.com/blog/podcasting-101/
4

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Stories7

Stories connect people and communities, from ancient myths, to fairytales, Harry
Potter, and now brand storytelling. You can build stories through articles, videos, image
galleries, customer profiles, behind-the-scenes at the factory or office, or dozens ofother ways. This will require some creativity on your part but if you’ve got it, stories area content winner.

10

Testimonials & reviews

8

Customer reviews or testimonials of your products or services are a powerful way toshow the audience what you have to offer, but from the perspective of people just likethem. You can do this with video interviews, written reviews, or by linking to third-party
testimonials or earned media, such as influencers who have reviewed your product(with their permission of course).

Interactive content

9

If you want to create a bit of WOW around your content, interactive is the way to go.
Interactive content is engaging because it requires the audience to play an active part,whether through a quiz, calculator, live map, poll, or more. There are lots of free or lowcost interactive content creation tools available online, so it is getting easier to do – andthe payoff in customer engagement makes it worthwhile.

11

App downloads
For marketers of mobile apps, a landing page for app downloads is a great way to boost
install rates. The page can feature all kinds of content about the app, in the form of video,
stories, demos, and more, to convince the reader to click the “Download” button.

Product pages & catalogs
Calling all e-commerce business owners! Linking native ads to product pages or
catalogs is a great way to expose customers to your offerings. Add a product story
or interactive feature to the page – even better!

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

The Customer Funnel - It's the journey people taketo becoming your customers

Awareness
Consideration
Preference
Purchase
Retention

Deep dive:How to Choose The Right Content TypeThe kind of content that works best depends on how well the customer knows yourbusiness. That’s why it is so important to define your target audiences before diving
into content creation.
For example, a potential customer who has never heard of your company is at the“awareness” stage of the marketing funnel. Content should introduce them to yourniche or trigger their interest by focusing on one of their pain points.
On the other hand, a customer who has bought from you before doesn’t need an
introduction. They are at the “retention” stage, so you might want to focus yourcontent on advanced uses of your product, or any other subject that will reignite
their interest.

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Chapter 3: How to Write Content for
Outbrain Campaigns
Once you have chosen the type of content that will work best for your goals, it’s time
to start developing it.
If you are creating a blog post, ebook, or other text-based content, you will need todraft an outline first, and then get down to the writing. Some marketers write theirown content; others hire freelance writers to do the job.
Good quality content is never free. If your budget is tight, find out whether there are
any aspiring writers or hidden talent in your staff pool.

Brainy Tip:
Feeling short of inspiration? Check out these hacks to get your creative
juices flowing.

Now let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of writing
content for native campaigns.

Try Native Now

Start Campaign

13

The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

The content writing process:
Where to start
Writing content is a creative act, so there is no other way to do it besides
sitting down and doing it!
But we can’t all be JK Rowling, so here are the golden content writing rules for
Outbrain you must follow. Stick to these and the process will unfold much easier:Rock your headlines
Headlines are the first opportunity to catch the attention of your audience, so it is essential thatthey be intriguing, catchy, and clickable (but not clickbait-y!).

How to do it: Emotion is a huge driver of action. Try to communicate an authentic feeling in
the headline. Question style headlines work great because they generate curiosity – experimentwith different ones. Also, numbers in headlines drive conversions (odd numbers more so thaneven numbers!). Try to incorporate numbers in your headlines where feasible.

Focus on the customer, not on your businessThis is the most important part of writing native content that converts. Content should focus on
the customer’s perspective, and that means getting inside their heads before you start writing.

How to do it: Talk to your customers about their pain points. If you have direct contact withcustomers, request a quick phone call. You can also run surveys and polls if you have an active
online community. If not, join groups and forums on social media and other websites and follow
the discussions closely. This will help you tap in to the mood of your target audience.

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Make your content easy on the eyeContent should look enticing at first glance to encourage the audience to delve inand read it. Design and layout are key!

How to do it: Avoid cluttered content and dense blocks of text. Keep paragraphs
short and easily skimmable. If your content is a video, make sure the preview
screenshot looks good. Use images where possible and appropriate. Share thecontent with colleagues or friends to get their opinion before publishing, or evenbetter – run it by a few customers and get their take on it.

Expand to diverse content types
Back in Chapter 2, you’ll find a long list of content types that work great in native
advertising, like videos, podcasts, and infographics. Think out of the box, and don’t
be afraid to go beyond blog posts or product pages. This helps keep customers
interested and engaged.

Sprinkle your content with CTAs
Conversion-oriented content always includes “calls to action” orCTAs. These are buttons or links that prompt the reader what to
do next. Remember the vlog example, “How to apply mascara”?
Include a CTA at the end of the video or in the video description
text: “Bee Mascara makes lashes lusher. Try it now!”, with a link tothe mascara product page.

How to do it: Consider the aim of your content – what do you
want the reader to do? Click on a link? Download a form? Submit
their contact details? Once you decide on the goal, craft a CTA
and position it where the reader can easily see it. Make buttons
stand out with a bold color. You can add several CTAs throughout
the content, as long as they are not overbearing. That way, if areader doesn’t make it to the end, they still have the opportunity
to click.

How to do it: When you understand your audience’s pain points and interests,
you can start defining the types of content that will be effective. For example, if
your audience is business professionals, a long-form ebook could be the way to go.
Or, if you are a sporting goods company with a young customer base, then a short,snappy video is a good choice.

Here’s how we did it at the Outbrain blog. In this article,
the bold orange buttons are CTAs inviting the reader tosign up to a webinar.

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Chapter 4: Outbrain Content
Guidelines Explained
Native advertising on Outbrain comes with certain rules and guidelines. Content or
ads that don’t meet our requirements won’t be accepted.
This is good news for you as an advertiser. Why? It keeps the Outbrain network
clean and high quality, which means that your business or brand won’t be tainted byassociation with offensive, untrustworthy or inappropriate content.
For a full overview of the Outbrain content guidelines, click here.

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Meanwhile, check out a few examples of Outbrain guidelines for native ads
and content:•

Acceptable page types: You can only link to certain types of web pages, but
don’t worry – the list is long and includes all the content types mentioned earlier.

•

Prohibited categories: There are certain content categories we don’t allow on
our network, including illegal substances, malware, hate speech or fake news,
among others.

•

Restricted categories: Several categories are permitted on the Outbrain
network, but in a restricted fashion. For example, content about alcohol isallowed, however there are rules about how to present the content, such as noimages of minors.

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Read more about Outbrain's guidelines in this article.

Brainy Tip:
We recommend becoming familiar with Outbrain guidelines before starting to create your content. All ads and content submitted for publication on the Outbrain
network are checked by our content review team first. If guidelines are not met, you will be required to change or edit your content. Save time and effort byadhering to the guidelines from the outset.

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Chapter 5: Creating Ads for Your
Outbrain Campaigns
So your content is finalized and ready to bepromoted. Congrats!
Now it’s time to create the bait that will draw your target audience:
Outbrain Ads.

Brainy Tip:
Outbrain offers loads of native ad formats for you to choose from.
Outbrain Ads include everything from standard native ads, to video ads,carousel ads, native social ads, and more. Check out the full range, including
all the relevant specs, on the Outbrain Ads Gallery page.

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

What's an Outbrain Ad?
Outbrain Ads are native ads that link to your conversion-boosting content. Here's a few examples of what Outbrain Ads look like:Ok, but where do Outbrain Ads appear?
Your native ads will feature on publisher sites that are part of Outbrain’s network, including world-leaders like CNN, Daily Mail, MSN, and hundreds more. You will also choose
audience targeting for your ads using Outbrain’s advanced tools, like geo targeting, interest targeting and lookalikes. This means your ads will get high quality traffic, and be
seen by audiences that are most likely to be interested.

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Here are 3 most important recommendations for creating native ads
on Outbrain that work:

Ads must match the content on thedestination page.

Follow best practices for ad headlines
and images.

This is such an important point, it is also one of Outbrain’s content guidelines.

1

A reader clicks on an ad because it interests them in some way. If the content in thead link is not congruent with the ad message, the reader will become frustrated andprobably just leave the page straight away (that’s called “bounce rate”, and you want
it to be as low as possible!).
Imagine that your ad headline states: “Top eco-friendly ways to remodel your home”.
The reader clicks on the ad, only to land on a product page from your online hardware
catalog. Where are the eco-friendly tips? This is not a smooth, enjoyable
content experience!
Remember! Don't confuse potential customers. Give them what you promise. Always
create an ad that matches the topic and spirit of your content page.

Outbrain ads are made up of two components: the headline and image. For moreadvanced ad types, there are other components too. For example, native carousel ads
include multiple images and headlines.

2

The Outbrain team continually tracks the keywords and image features that work best,
based on vast amounts of network data. You can follow the latest trends by category,country, device, headline length, themes, and more at the BrainPower data insights
website.
In addition, there are some evergreen best practices that you should know about. Checkout this article about how to create ad headlines and images that work. It’s one of ourmost popular blog posts year in, year out!

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Test multiple ads to see what works best.

3

Over time, you can run different headlines and images in your Outbrain campaigns
and learn which ones are most effective with your target audience. This is known as“campaign optimization”. Through trial and error, you will gain knowledge about thekinds of ads that attract higher conversion rates, and you can create more powerfulads with each campaign.
Remember! Outbrain’s algorithms continuously collect data about your campaigns
and learn which ads perform best and why. As you become more confident andexperienced, you can even use Outbrain’s advanced features like Conversion Bid
Strategy to help you get the maximum return on your ad spend (ROAS).

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Conclusion
There’s one question that every marketer asks themselves, and it lies at the heart of native
advertising too:
“What do customers really want?”

Great content starts when you can answer this question.
Great content provides value to the reader. It informs, entertains, instructs, persuades, or contributes
to the consumer’s sense of wellbeing.
It can be funny, educational, edgy, technical, or heart-warming.
It doesn’t matter, as long as the customer benefits from reading it.
With Outbrain’s native advertising platform, you can amplify the power of your conversion-oriented
content by reaching your best target audience, from among 1 billion monthly users worldwide. That’s
the key to content success.

Want to promote your great content with Outbrain?
Get started here.

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The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns

Promote Your Native Content

Next Stop: Native!

Create Campaign

Want to get even more familiar with native content campaigns?
Visit our blog to learn all about native advertising, content creation, and more:

How to Write Content
that Converts

8 Ways to ImproveYour Content Marketing ROIRed Bull Strengthens its Storytellingwith Outbrain Carousel

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