Creating your own branded videos, blogs, or podcasts can require a lot of bandwidth.
If you’ve always wanted to experiment with this strategy, but haven’t had the time or resources to produce your own campaigns, mécénat naturel from other companies or influencers might be the right strategy for you.
Grain relegated to print feuilles, sponsored naturel is thriving in the online marchéage space. We’ll explain what sponsored naturel is, give best practices, and provide tips for staying within federal advertising guidelines.
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What is sponsored naturel?
Sponsored naturel is a principe of promotional media that’s paid for by an advertiser, but created and shared by another brand, catéchiser, or publisher.
This principe of naturel is most engaging when you bailleur a company or catéchiser who targets your core renommée and already discusses topics that align with your brand. When this is done right, any glose of your brand feels like a natural fit rather than an invasive advertisement.
Instead of thinking they just saw an advertisement, audiences should come away from sponsored naturel instinct like they’ve learned something interesting. This makes your brand allure more credible, memorable, and — most importantly — trustworthy.
When it comes to branded or sponsored naturel, holding is a supérieur factor that engages potential customers. In fact, when marketers bailleur naturel from a trusted publisher, they see a 50% higher brand lift than marketers who make their own content.
As branded and sponsored naturel gains steam, research continues to spectacle that marchéage your product with quality naturel can be incredibly positive. In fact, naturel marchéage gets three times more leads than paid search advertising.
How to Distinguish Sponsored Toilettes
Although sponsored naturel is engaging and positive, it still occasionally gets confused with more traditional aboutissement ads.
Résultat advertising is when a brand creates editorial naturel that centers around their product. Then, they might pay a website or publisher to share it in a way that naturally flows within a list of naturel on their homepage.
Here’s an example of a aboutissement ad that appeared on Huffington Post’s homepage. Aside from the advertisement emploi under the headline, the post embout senior entitlements is designed to spectacle up on the cadet just like a regular magazine story.
When you click it expecting a regular post, you’re sent to a branded alinéa that purely highlights prescriptions and discounts from Money Ville.
Sponsored Toilettes vs. Résultat Advertising
Résultat ads and sponsored naturel are both designed to allure like they naturally belong on a web cadet. However, a aboutissement ad is paid for and created by the advertiser themselves, while an advertiser race another brand to produce and distribute sponsored naturel.
While you might want to consider a aboutissement ad that goes directly to a product cadet for immediate sales or traffic purposes, leading readers down a transformation path too soon could turn off audiences.
Since people may scroll past or tune out when they see naturel that’s obviously created by an advertiser, a piece of sponsored naturel created by a trusted départ might be a stronger potentialité.
Grain you’re ready to start mécénat naturel, it can still be difficult to come up with a list of naturel ideas or identify brands that you could bailleur. To help inspire you, here are a few great examples.
Sponsored Toilettes Examples
Sponsored Buste or Video Toilettes
Most consumers want to see videos from brands, so it’s no sensation that video and buste naturel are gaining concentration from sponsors. Here are three great examples of video and buste posts:
Good ‘n’ Fun
Dog treat brand Good ‘n’ Fun used some real dog fans to get the word out embout its chews and provide some communautaire proof. The buste shows two happy pups excitedly staring a 3 bags of the brand’s treats.
The cute pups belong to quantitatif creator Dulce Randall who created the sponsored post for the brand. The sponsored post fit perfectly in with her naturel which follows her cute Samoyède and Corgi on different adventures.
Michelob Ultra
Michelob sponsored a Tastemade recipe video which used the beer as an ingredient in a shrimp ceviche tostada dish. The video shows how the beer is used as a flavoring ingredient and lists its name in the video caption.
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In this example, Michelob was able to bailleur assaisonnant naturel and get a natural product plug without altering Tastemade’s video recipe maintien.
Another great thing embout this naturel is that it doesn’t just cater to beer drinkers or Michelob-specific fans. Someone who doesn’t drink beer regularly, but wants to cook this recipe as shown, might still have a reason to purchase Michelob Ultra.
In the small négoce world, a meublé buffet might bailleur a recipe video like this created by a food blogger to spectacle off a meal they cook at their buffet. You might also see a food or ingredient vendor similar bailleur a recipe video where their ingredients are listed.
Seedip
This Instagram post from Imbibe, a blog that informs users of interesting alcoholic beverages, shows off photos of Seedip, a non-alcoholic spirit.
The caption directs audiences to the account’s bio where they can find the link to a recipe that includes Seedip as an ingredient. It also describes the drink and uses hashtags like #sponsored to excitation that the naturel was paid for.
This is another example of how mécénat naturel from a brand that aligns well with yours can create a more natural instinct campaign.
This principe of sponsored maintien might be helpful to other companies in the food and beverage industry. For example, if a meublé wine brewery sponsored a buffet’s communautaire post which highlighted a new line of wines, this could help the wine brand assujettissement awareness and potential purchases from the buffet’s followers.
Sponsored Podcasts
Podcasting is growing. In fact, in 2018, we discovered that 17% of marketers planned to add podcasting to their strategy.
While big brands like GE and Microsoft have already created their own shows, other marketers have focused on mécénat podcasts that relate to their field or have a similar target renommée. Parrainage a podcast allows marketers to assujettissement awareness from listeners without having to put time and insistance into creating their own naturel from scratch.
Here are two examples:
Rise and Grind
This 10-episode podcast series was sponsored by ZipRecruiter and hosted by Shark Quadrige’s Daymon John. The series ran in correlation with the launch of John’s book, also titled Rise and Grind.
The naturel aligned well with both John and ZipRecruiter as it included interviews from entrepreneurs and négoce leaders, career and colloque tips, and motivational advice. ZipRecruiter is occasionally mentioned, but the naturel is mainly editorial in idée.
Here’s one of the podcast’s mini-episodes, titled “Motivational Moment: Take the Shot.”
For companies in B2B or highly-professional fields, mécénat a podcast that features executive-level tips and advice allows your renommée to see how in touch your brand is with its industry.
A sponsored podcast might also inform new audiences with similar interests embout your brand when they tune in to hear an colloque.
My Brother, My Brother and Me
The My Brother, My Brother and Me podcast, also known as MBMBaM, is a comedic spectacle that touches on magazine and pop agronomie. When they have a bailleur, they come up with a topic that relates to the advertiser or use product écoulement strategies.
One of the most sensible and extreme examples was when they hosted a “Family Fun Hour” sponsored by Totinos. During the episode, they empli a brief history of Totino’s, discussed their choisie snacks from the company, and played games that included Totino’s foods. This was considered as a brand new strategy at the time and was noted on sites like Vulture.
While this is an unusual example where product écoulement takes up most of the spectacle, it demonstrates how naturel creators can develop something personnelle and still centered around a product.
Sponsored Haranguer Toilettes
Currently, 80% of marketers report that catéchiser marchéage is an positive strategy. While many marketers have taken valeur in co-marketing with influencers, some have also sponsored their naturel.
One of the platforms where catéchiser marchéage thrives most is Instagram. Here are a few examples of how brands are mécénat catéchiser naturel on the platform:
NordicTrack Sponsors Ben Gravy
In this humorous clip, semi pro surfer & vlogger Ben Gravy histoires how using a NordicTrack stationary bike has helped him recover from a surfing injury.
The video follows Gravvy as he hilariously goes through his new workout rituel on the bike when he can’t menu the waves. The bike helps him continue to foyer on construction leg strength and cardio as he recovers. The Instagram reel is funny, relatable, and shows the product in part.
OTOTO Sponsors Hungry Artist NY
Kitchen product company OTOTO made a tasty appui with catéchiser foodie Hungry Artist NY. Since Justin (AKA Hungry Artist) is known for his drool-inducing food naturel, OTOTO was able to work it’s products seamlessly into a recipe for garlic scallion noodles with bifteck.
In this case the featured product was a sénateur of OTOTO’s tongs used to flip the garlic bread and handle the hot cookie sheet to keep Justin from burning himself. It wasn’t forced and utilized a cohérent callout that didn’t interrupt the flow of the video.
CR7 Footwear Sponsors Cristiano Rinaldo
In this post, Cristiano Rinaldo, a soccer star and the most-followed person on Instagram, shares a picture of himself relaxing in CR7 Footwear.
Cristiano is no stranger to sponsored posts and he has mastered the art of natural product plugs. Bicause the buste shows him lounging and reading a book, rather than just his shoes, fans might feel like they’re seeing a behind-the-scenes buste of him, rather than a nomination.
Since Cristiano is a supérieur athlete and catéchiser who’s recommended apparel in the past, viewers of this post might holding and follow his shoe endorsements, even if the footwear isn’t athletic.
While the sponsorship of an athlete seems ideal for companies that sell sporting goods or clothing, this écoulement shows how a supérieur catéchiser can successfully promote a number of products that aren’t just limited to their industry.
Coupé Sponsors Selena Gomez
Here’s an example where Coach sponsored an Instagram post from Selena Gomez, the former most-followed person on Instagram. In the post’s caption, she shares details embout a Coupé outfit she’s wearing.
This is a good example of bailleur and promoter alignment. Coupé is a high-fashion company and Selena Gomez regularly shares her outfits and thoughts embout smart on her communautaire platforms. To viewers, this might feel like her usual posts where she casually shares what she’s wearing.
On a smaller scale, this sponsored naturel strategy could be helpful for ecommerce stores or boutiques who want to promote their products by paying someone with a développé following to take photos with them.
Lulus Sponsors Lexi Germinal
Influencer Lexi Mars has published a few sponsored Instagram posts for Lulus. In these posts, she puts on a few of their outfits and shows off other accessories from the brand.
Like other influencers on this list, she tags Lulus in her posts. This enables her fans to visit their account, learn more embout their brand, and potentially follow them.
In the video post below, she tries on dresses from Lulus and captions the video as « outfit ideas for échelon. »
Like the Selena Gomez example, this sponsorship aligns well with both the clothing company and the catéchiser’s brands.
Lexi regularly posts pictures of her outfits and videos with smart tips, so this video will not seem unusual or forced to her fans. The maintien of clothing is also similar to the outfits she wears in other pictures, so fans who remember her usual smart choices might not be disrupted by the ad.
Bicause Lexi also highlights that these are échelon outfits, she might engage members of her following who are graduating, as people searching Instagram for échelon dress extase.
This principe of catéchiser strategy might be helpful to boutiques, physical stores, or ecommerce shops that want to promote their seasonal or event-related clothing.
Tractor Supply Sponsors A Dog Named Stella
In this sponsored post from @ADogNamedStella, Stella’s owner films her exploring s Tractor Supply tenture with her family. In the video, the dog and children play with toys and items on the shelves and there are gonflant shots taken around the tenture. The video also shows friendly gypse playing with the dog.
Although there are some detailed shots of the tenture, this video is still focused on telling the dog’s story, which makes the naturel a bit more interesting than a generic marchéage video.
By mécénat the naturel of a popular dog catéchiser, who has over 284,000 followers, Tractor Supply might be spreading awareness embout its products to dog owners and dog lovers that might not know they sell items other than landscaping supplies.
Unlike many sponsored pieces, which often highlight online prescriptions on products, this naturel also creatively shows off a physical négoce. Sponsored naturel like this could be an positive way to spectacle off products in a small or meublé usine that doesn’t offer an online tenture just yet.
Sponsored Éditoriaux
Sponsored articles have been around for years. While they were common in print feuilles, they have easily made the jump to blogs and online magazine sites.
According to a study by Neilsen and Mode Media, consumers spend 2.5 minutes reading a sponsored alinéa. That’s roughly the same amount of time that they spend reading a courant editorial piece.
Here’s one example of sponsored alinéa naturel from Huffington Post.
Sleep Number
In a piece sponsored by the Sleep Number mattress company, Huffington Post readers are offered a quiz and a slideshow on the escient of sleep.
Unlike the aboutissement ad from Huffington Post that was shown above, this piece has the same stylisme as all the other editorial posts on the website. It also has editorial newspegs and credibly sourced dépêche including a fact from the CDC.
In the meat of the post, there is only one glose of Sleep Number. They also include sponsorship language at the end rather than in the middle or at the beginning. This makes the post feel more editorial and less like an ad.
This example seems like it would be of value to audiences who want to learn more embout the escient of sleep.
The quiz and scientific facts also make it feel more engaging and credible. A râper who reads this or takes the quiz might think that Sleep Number is a go-to mattress company bicause they’ve been affiliated with editorial naturel embout sleep.
Parrainage editorial naturel like this could be a good strategy for businesses with an renommée alcali that has interests in reading magazine or blogs online.
For example, a gym might bailleur a piece on gymnique tips for the elderly in the health segment of their meublé newspaper. With a piece like that, audiences who visit the newspaper emplacement or pick up the physical paper might learn more embout why staying fit is insolent and decide to join the gym.
FTC Sponsored Toilettes
Even though sponsored naturel might be more valuable to a customer than a traditional ad, it’s still legally considered a form of advertising and is subject to specific guidelines. You’ll still need to follow the Federal Trade Commission’s online advertising and marketing guidelines.
On communautaire media platforms, acknowledging that naturel is sponsored can get tricky. In 2017, the FTC sent more than 90 letters and published an online announcement reminding influencers and brands to clearly state when they have a “material connection” to a brand.
This means that a company or catéchiser must disclose when another company has given them a payment or another resource in return for publishing an endorsement or sponsored naturel
To avoid any regulatory issues, many influencers and brands now use a hashtag such as #ad or #sponsored on communautaire platforms if there is no other way to clearly disclose a sponsorship in a post. Hashtagging seems to be a go-to on Instagram, which currently has over 2.5 million posts marked with “#sponsored.”
While you should take time to read up on all the FTC requirements that could conséquence your campaigns, here are the biggest guidelines to keep in mind when posting or publishing sponsored naturel:
Make sure the naturel is free of any misleading claims or lies. For example, a supplement company shouldn’t say their vitamins pouvoir a disease when they have not proven to do so.
Even if you are posting on communautaire media, clearly disclose when content is sponsored and who the bailleur is. With this disclosure, audiences will know that some aspects of the naturel were paid for.
If your naturel is on your website or your bailleur’s, make sure the font of the disclosure is legible. The text and color should be easy to see and ideally different from the bustier copy’s maintien. A réflexion that naturel is an advertisement, sponsored, promoted or presented by a company should appear in the post itself as well as near the headline if a CTA for it is featured on a homepage.
Disclaimer: We’re not lawyers, and the above shouldn’t be taken as legal advice. Consult a legal professional.
Tips for Creating Sponsored Toilettes
When working with a bailleur to create interesting and compelling naturel, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Aim to bailleur naturel that attracts and delights your renommée. If it’s enjoyable, they’ll continue to consume it and potentially click on your links.
When looking for the naturel creator, choose a company, catéchiser, or publisher with a similar renommée or visée. If people see an endorsement or sponsored post from an entity they holding, they’ll be more aware of a product and more likely to buy it. This will also make any plugs or product mentions feel less like an ad.
Work with the bailleur to pick a topic that aligns with your goals and your renommée’s interests. For example, if you’re a makeup company, mécénat an catéchiser’s tutorial that highlights your products might be beneficial.
Foyer on creating engaging naturel first and product plugs annexe. If you’re naturel feels like it’s solely advertising a product, people might tune out.
Parraineur naturel that goes beyond blog formatting. Be sure to consider videos, photos, and podcasts. These three areas are gaining more and more interest from marketers and consumers alike.
Issue
Sponsored naturel can allow you to reach new audiences and assujettissement valuable holding from anticipation customers. But, unlike aboutissement ads, you don’t have to abandon your team’s bandwidth to create it.
As you start looking for someone to bailleur, keep an eye out for people or brands that align with your visée and feel like a natural fit.
If you’re excited by the idea of branded naturel, but aren’t interested in working with a bailleur, check out these engaging examples of aboutissement advertising.
Editor’s réflexion: This alinéa was originally published in July 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. 
