The Guide to Creating

High-Conversion
Content for Your
Outbrain Campaigns
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 2

What’s Inside?
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3

How Not to Do Content Marketing ....................................................................... 4

Native Advertising to The Rescue ............................................................................ 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 .............................................................. 22

 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 a
content 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 the
campaign 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 4

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 creating
Unfortunate ad placements happen online and offline –
embarrassingly bad content. Like the airline example above.
and your brand should avoid them.

There’s another way you don’t want to stand out. And that’s with Image source:
bad placement. 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.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 5

Native Advertising to the Rescue

Here’s how native advertising works:
Today’s consumers don’t want “ads”. They want valuable, relevant information
that improves their lives and solves their problems. Get this: 47% of millennials Produce original, high-quality content that provides relevance and
say that they would trust a financial services company more if it produced value to your target audience.
useful content.2
Host the content on your website, blog, landing page, or other URL.
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.
Run a native advertising campaign on Outbrain, targeted to your
best 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 even
become customers. YAY!

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

Let’s get started!

2
https://contently.com/2019/05/06/content-marketing-stats-credible/
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 6

Get Started With Native Create Campaign

Chapter 1: Why Native Content Works

Before diving into how to create content for native campaigns, it’s important to
understand 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’s
what you should be aiming for.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 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 the
website 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), conversion-
oriented 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!
Did you know?
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. 64% of people say that display ads are annoying or intrusive.
Native ads are viewed 52% more than display ads.3
Because they don’t look like ads, Outbrain native ads are much less intrusive to
readers. 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 are
Brainy Tip:
being shown to customers who are more likely to be interested in your brand or
business to start with.
Native content should support and enhance your audience’s online
experience. Therefore it must be relevant, entertaining, engaging and
Now that you’ve got the basics down, let’s take informative. And it should be targeted to the audience with the highest
a look at the different content types that work with potential of actually converting.

native advertising.

3
https://www.outbrain.com/blog/native-ads-vs-display-ads/
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 9

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 some
common 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 more

Brainy 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.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 10

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

Blogs Infographics
1 Blogs and articles are a staple content type in native advertising. It is so easy to link to 4 Infographics are a blend of images and text to explore a topic or illustrate a process. It’s
a blog post or article already featured on your website. Make sure to use blogs that are a fun way to present statistics or other dry information. So fun, in fact, that infographics
fairly recent (within the past 6 weeks tops!), so your content is fresh and current. are the 4th most popular content type!4

Ebooks Videos
2 With 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 and
5 There’s no competing with videos for pure content success. If you’re in marketing, you
are either using video already, or are one of the 92% of marketers who say that video is
engaging. An example? An e-guide by a fashion brand about how to choose the best
important for their content strategy.5
clothing styles for different body shapes.

Whitepapers Podcasts
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,
6 Podcasts are a seriously up-and-coming success story in marketing. 70% of listeners say
that the products and services they hear about on podcasts are relevant to them.6 And
and can go into quite a lot of specific detail. Whitepapers are a great way for B2B
that probably explains why the number of podcasts is growing all the time.
companies to show leadership and authority in their field.

Hubspot, Not Another State of Marketing Report 2020, https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing

4

https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-platforms/video-marketing/video-marketing-statistics-to-know/
5

6
https://www.marketing-podcasts.com/blog/podcasting-101/
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 11

Stories
App downloads
7 10
Stories connect people and communities, from ancient myths, to fairytales, Harry
Potter, and now brand storytelling. You can build stories through articles, videos, image For marketers of mobile apps, a landing page for app downloads is a great way to boost
galleries, customer profiles, behind-the-scenes at the factory or office, or dozens of install rates. The page can feature all kinds of content about the app, in the form of video,
other ways. This will require some creativity on your part but if you’ve got it, stories are stories, demos, and more, to convince the reader to click the “Download” button.
a content winner.

Testimonials & reviews

Product pages & catalogs
8 11
Customer reviews or testimonials of your products or services are a powerful way to
show the audience what you have to offer, but from the perspective of people just like Calling all e-commerce business owners! Linking native ads to product pages or
them. You can do this with video interviews, written reviews, or by linking to third-party catalogs is a great way to expose customers to your offerings. Add a product story
testimonials or earned media, such as influencers who have reviewed your product or interactive feature to the page – even better!
(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 low-
cost interactive content creation tools available online, so it is getting easier to do – and
the payoff in customer engagement makes it worthwhile.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 12

The Customer Funnel - It's the journey people take

to becoming your customers
Deep dive:
Awareness How to Choose The Right Content Type

The kind of content that works best depends on how well the customer knows your
Consideration business. That’s why it is so important to define your target audiences before diving
into content creation.

Preference 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 your
niche or trigger their interest by focusing on one of their pain points.
Purchase
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 your
content on advanced uses of your product, or any other subject that will reignite
Retention their interest.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 13

Chapter 3: How to Write Content for Try Native Now Start Campaign

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 to
draft an outline first, and then get down to the writing. Some marketers write their
own 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.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 14

The content writing process:

Where to start Rock your headlines
Headlines are the first opportunity to catch the attention of your audience, so it is essential that
Writing content is a creative act, so there is no other way to do it besides they be intriguing, catchy, and clickable (but not clickbait-y!).
sitting down and doing it!
How to do it: Emotion is a huge driver of action. Try to communicate an authentic feeling in
But we can’t all be JK Rowling, so here are the golden content writing rules for the headline. Question style headlines work great because they generate curiosity – experiment
Outbrain you must follow. Stick to these and the process will unfold much easier: with different ones. Also, numbers in headlines drive conversions (odd numbers more so than
even numbers!). Try to incorporate numbers in your headlines where feasible.

Focus on the customer, not on your business

This 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 with
customers, 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.
Incredible Tricks to Melt Away Back Pain 3 Ways to Relieve Back Pain That
Takes NYC by Storm Everybody in NYC is Talking About
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 15

Make your content easy on the eye Sprinkle your content with CTAs
Content should look enticing at first glance to encourage the audience to delve in Conversion-oriented content always includes “calls to action” or
and read it. Design and layout are key! CTAs. These are buttons or links that prompt the reader what to
do next. Remember the vlog example, “How to apply mascara”?
How to do it: Avoid cluttered content and dense blocks of text. Keep paragraphs Include a CTA at the end of the video or in the video description
short and easily skimmable. If your content is a video, make sure the preview text: “Bee Mascara makes lashes lusher. Try it now!”, with a link to
screenshot looks good. Use images where possible and appropriate. Share the the mascara product page.
content with colleagues or friends to get their opinion before publishing, or even
better – run it by a few customers and get their take on it. 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

Expand to diverse content types stand out with a bold color. You can add several CTAs throughout
the content, as long as they are not overbearing. That way, if a
reader doesn’t make it to the end, they still have the opportunity
Back in Chapter 2, you’ll find a long list of content types that work great in native
to click.
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.

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
Here’s how we did it at the Outbrain blog. In this article,
your audience is business professionals, a long-form ebook could be the way to go.
the bold orange buttons are CTAs inviting the reader to
Or, if you are a sporting goods company with a young customer base, then a short,
sign up to a webinar.
snappy video is a good choice.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 16

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 by
association with offensive, untrustworthy or inappropriate content.

For a full overview of the Outbrain content guidelines, click here.

 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 17

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
Brand New Brews Are In. Shop Now to Try Brand New Brews Are In. Shop Now to Try
network, but in a restricted fashion. For example, content about alcohol is
All Our New Flavors All Our New Flavors
allowed, however there are rules about how to present the content, such as no
images of minors.

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 by
adhering to the guidelines from the outset.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 18

Chapter 5: Creating Ads for Your

Outbrain Campaigns

So your content is finalized and ready to be

promoted. Congrats!

Now it’s time to create the bait that will draw your target audience:
Outbrain Smartads.

Brainy Tip:

Outbrain offers loads of native ad formats for you to choose from.

Outbrain Smartads 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 Smartads Gallery page.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 19

What's an Outbrain Smartad?

Outbrain Smartads are native ads that link to your conversion-boosting content. Here's a few examples of what Smartads look like:

Ok, but where do Outbrain Smartads appear?

Your native ads will feature on publisher sites that are part of Outbrain’s network, including world-leaders like CNN, BBC, 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.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 20

Here are 3 most important recommendations for creating native ads

on Outbrain that work:

Ads must match the content on the Follow best practices for ad headlines
destination page. and images.
This is such an important point, it is also one of Outbrain’s content guidelines. Outbrain ads are made up of two components: the headline and image. For more
advanced ad types, there are other components too. For example, native carousel ads
A reader clicks on an ad because it interests them in some way. If the content in the include multiple images and headlines.

1 2
ad link is not congruent with the ad message, the reader will become frustrated and
probably just leave the page straight away (that’s called “bounce rate”, and you want The Outbrain team continually tracks the keywords and image features that work best,
it to be as low as possible!). 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
Imagine that your ad headline states: “Top eco-friendly ways to remodel your home”. website.
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 In addition, there are some evergreen best practices that you should know about. Check
content experience! out this article about how to create ad headlines and images that work. It’s one of our
most popular blog posts year in, year out!
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.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 21

Test multiple ads to see what works best.

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

3
“campaign optimization”. Through trial and error, you will gain knowledge about the
kinds of ads that attract higher conversion rates, and you can create more powerful
ads 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 and
experienced, you can even use Outbrain’s advanced features like Conversion Bid
Strategy to help you get the maximum return on your ad spend (ROAS).
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 22

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.
 The Guide to Creating High-Conversion Content for Your Outbrain Campaigns 23

Promote Your Native Content Create Campaign

Next Stop: Native!

Want to get even more familiar with native content campaigns?

Subscribe to our blog and receive regular tips and hacks direct to your inbox, like these:

How to Write Content The Value of Video Content Red Bull Strengthens its Storytelling
that Converts During Uncertain Times with Outbrain Carousel