Best Practices for RSS Advertising

May 17, 2005

Over the last 18 months we've been working diligently to help our publishers monetize their feed content. We have proven to advertisers that RSS advertising works.

Something to keep in mind is RSS is a much different medium than its interactive brethren such as email, the Web or search; the tactics used there won’t always work for RSS. We've put together a set of best practices for making RSS advertising an indispensable part of your marketing strategy. These best practices are based upon data gathered from our advertisers over several months of running ads in feeds.

These Best Practices boil down to a few simple rules, which are:

1. Ads must fit the environment
2. Ads must be relevant and informative
3. Watch the content to ad ratio and unsubscribe rates
4. Tell, don’t sell: RSS ads are about creating relationships with readers
5. Be patient: Unlike e-mail, RSS feeds don't demand to be read.

Ads must fit the environment
Why are people consuming RSS? To escape ads, get away from the SPAM filling their inboxes, save time, and keep track of conversations across blogs among other things. RSS is a brand new advertising environment, and that means the ads that work in other interactive environments may not have the same results in RSS.

For example, if ad units are all image-based, some news aggregators can’t or won’t display them. The ads need to be formatted to match the specification of the news aggregator requesting the ad. With RSS, a combination of text and images is the best recipe for maximizing exposure.

Since news aggregators display ads differently, an important aspect to consider is stand-alone vs. embedded ads. Some aggregators just show headlines. If you embed an ad in a headline-only reader, your ad will not be seen. To maximize exposure, advertisers need to understand how the major aggregators display content; the easiest way is to work with a provider who formats your ad automatically to fit the aggregator requesting the ad.

RSS is 100% opt-in. Consumers have asked to receive this information, and ad performance can be high if done correctly because consumers are often dedicated readers of their feeds. Because consumers have explicitly chosen to view a feed, RSS is targeted, can be highly relevant and often reaches forward-thinking individuals that have actually opted-in to hear from a specific publisher.

Ads should be relevant and informative
Given the quick subscribe/unsubscribe nature of RSS, advertising needs to be more relevant and less obtrusive at the same time than other forms, or not be seen at all. The scanning mentality of RSS consumption requires new thinking of how to integrate ads into the RSS stream. The same rules apply as they do with all marketing – target your ads and make them relevant. Relevant “ad content” is king in this medium.

Currently, one to one RSS subscriptions have not quite arrived. There are some sophisticated news aggregators scanning every feed that comes into their service and republishing that feed back for the general public to grab – making a unique RSS feed not unique any longer if it is made available to everyone. This will change. RSS is still young and evolving.

Watch the content to ad ratio and unsubscribe rates
Consumers, simply put, control RSS. They will not put up with irrelevant ad content. There are too many other sources of information. The most powerful tool in RSS is the “unsubscribe” button in all news aggregators. Consumers will vote with their mouse. If publishers let too many irrelevant ads in their feeds, then consumers will quickly turn elsewhere.

Advertising ratios and practices will likely vary from publisher to publisher; but an ad on every post is not a good practice. Consumers will just start to ignore it or, even worse, unsubscribe. The best measure for publishers is to look at the unsubscribe rates and to play with the number of ads to content.

The nature of RSS and its one-click unsubscribe functionality makes this new marketing medium self-policing with a limited need for filters or government intervention. RSS advertising can be very simple and straightforward as long as you respect the medium and the power and interests of consumers

Tell, don’t sell: RSS ads are about creating relationships with readers
RSS is a relationship medium. It’s about telling a story and providing information, not just selling. Consumers keep turning to RSS in greater numbers for one overwhelming reason: to get information in a easy way. RSS provides quick summaries and highlights in a very organized manner.

Be patient: Unlike e-mail, RSS feeds don't demand to be read.
There’s still a lot to figure out with RSS, and savvy advertisers need to practice patience with this new, exciting medium. But, the market is quickly growing, so it’s time to start getting your feet wet and trying out campaigns. The latest numbers from Pew Internet show 6 million RSS subscribers, and some publishers are experiencing 20 to 40 percent subscriber growth each month.

Early ads are working well for many advertisers, but RO Is not overnight. RSS is a unique medium. Instant Messaging requires instant responses. Email is about a call to action. Web ads are all about click-throughs. But RSS is different. The information will be there when the consumers is ready; and it’s an information medium first-and-foremost, not a critical communication channel like email or IM. So, advertisers need to be patient. Build the trust of readers. Understand why they love RSS. Speak their language.

Posted by Bill Flitter on May 17, 2005 10:45 PM
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