For years, brands have relied on display ads and programmatic levers as a cheap and easy solution to spend large portions of marketing dollars. But the major frustration with programmatic advertising has always been the lack of control and transparency on where ads actually show up. And as banner blindness spreads, ad-blocking technology becomes more prevalent, and subpar or broken sites crop up at increasingly high rates, programmatic advertising will only become more expensive, unsustainable, and a huge risk.
According to a recent study from Integral Ad Science, when your programmatic ads happen to show up in high-quality environments, it could lead to a 30% lift in brand recall. But on the flip side, when your ads appear in low-quality environments, the consequences can be brutal: Ads in low-quality environments were perceived 74% less favorably, and even harshly, compared to the same ads seen on high-quality sites. Overall, users were four times less likely to think a brand cared about them after seeing the brand surface next to inappropriate content. Finding your ad in poor-quality environments creates a stronger impression among audiences, and it's not the kind of impression you want. Plus, it means that your paid marketing needs to work harder to boost your brand reputation, convert customers, and do damage control.
It's Time for Brands to Become Publishers and Take Control
As a brand marketer, you need to reclaim ownership of where and how your messaging shows up. One key way to control your context is to become a publisher. According to NewsWhip, 70% of people would rather learn about a brand through content than through ads, and 68% feel more positive about a company after engaging with the brand's content. And it's a good time for brands to go all in and create an advantage with content, too. Now, more than ever, page performance matters for audience reach, retention, and revenue. Google, along with Facebook, have explicitly made page speed a factor in search results and News Feed, while site visitors will quickly leave a page that takes more than three seconds to load. Media companies that have survived in the past with broken sites now feel the consequences of their low-performing properties due to their inability to provide solid returns to advertisers.
As a CMS platform and creative agency, RebelMouse partners with brand teams on best practices and innovative ways to build content experiences that will break through and resonate with audiences. For example, our work with United Airlines has produced a better-performing site and helped them beat out media companies to win travel search phrases for organic audience growth. Our partnership is a key reason why United Airlines' content now drives the most web engagement in their industry.
Choose Your Media Partners Wisely
If you plan to rely on media partners to place your messaging, then be selective and spend on the right context. Build direct relationships with quality publishers that prioritize the user experience and know how to pair editorial with premium advertising (in particular sponsored content) to maximize eyeballs and engagement for brands. RebelMouse powers a tight ecosystem of quality publishers, like PAPER Magazine and Motherly, that have built valuable, new media properties. We can connect brands into this network of quality sites to execute premium and effective campaigns at scale.
Build for the Future
Moving away from the inefficient world and disadvantages of programmatic advertising and creating a sustainable content marketing strategy is not easy — it takes organizational commitment, patience, and the right technologies. If you're a brand marketer, reach out and learn how RebelMouse's full-stack content marketing solution is ideal for your growth into a publishing powerhouse. If you're a media company and sell premium advertising, guide your advertising partners on how to build mutual value on your site when they're tempted to blindly toss marketing dollars on cheaper impressions.
Our platform is a complete digital publishing toolbox that's built for modern-day content creators, and includes game-changing features such as our:
Why RebelMouse?
Unprecedented Scale
RebelMouse sites reach more than 120M people a month, with an always-modern solution that combines cutting-edge technology with decades of media savvy. And due to our massive scale, 1 in 3 Americans have visited a website powered by RebelMouse.
120M+ Users
550M+ Pageviews
17+ Avg. Minutes per User
6+ Avg. Pages per User
Today's Top Websites Use RebelMouse
Thanks to the tremendous scale of our network, we are able to analyze a wealth of traffic data that informs our strategies and allows us to be a true strategic partner instead of just a vendor.
What Clients Say
We’re here to help you weigh and understand every tech and strategic decision that affects
your digital presence. Spend less time managing everything yourself, and more time focused on
creating the quality content your users deserve.
I love the control panel. Awesome work. I have to say, what an amazing creative team RebelMouse is. I am so grateful!
Terrence O'Hanlon
Founder and Chairman Reliabilityweb
It’s like we’ve been riding horses to commute all our lives and someone just showed us a Tesla.
Brendan Farley
Vice President, Product Management Strada Education Network
Thanks to RebelMouse, United doesn’t have to sacrifice great content for speed. You can have both!
Ryan Bujeker
Director, Social Media Strategy & Digital Engagement United Airlines
We're in a much better position to make it through the current crisis in part due to RebelMouse and their platform. We've not only saved on overhead costs, we've more easily optimized our traffic with their smart measuring and SEO tools, as well as their social integrations.
Jill Braff
President/Chief Operating Officer Brit + Co
THANK YOU for all the good, fast work you put into making our public rollout such a big success. I know we threw a lot at you very quickly, but you were calm under pressure and pulled it all off perfectly. Very glad to be working with you all.
Tim Grieve
Executive Editor Protocol
So inspired and impressed by these results from RebelMouse. Check them out and ask Andrea Breanna how they got there! Just goes to show that spending millions doesn't necessarily get you to the right destination. It's spending no more than you need on the right technology with the right platform that does! 🌐💙🏎️
Andrey Lipattsev
Partner Development Manager Google
It is not often I jump out of my chair and scream in a positive way, but I just did! This is the happiest I have seen my Managing Editor in 2021! Thank you.
Nick Smith
CEO Investing News Network
Working with RebelMouse is an actual treat. From the CEO down, every single member of the team has partnered with us to meet our needs. Everyone willingly (and with endless patience!) shares their expertise and insights to ensure we optimize search and create a great audience experience. As we have implemented the various search tactics, positive results are almost instantaneous. Training our content creators has been simple. The system is incredibly user friendly. As a co-worker commented, "RebelMouse doesn't just sell you something, they partner with you to deliver exactly what you want." I couldn't agree more!
Emma Schofield
Director of Change Management Investing News Network
We continue to be huge fans of RebelMouse and envision a very long-term relationship with the platform. The service has been impeccable.
Douglas Fischer
Executive Director Environmental Health News
I am a HUGE RebelMouse fan, and basically tell everyone I meet who's looking to overhaul their website to get in touch right away.
Susan Hassler
Editor Emeritus IEEE Spectrum
Every member of the RebelMouse team, but especially our project team, are superstars! Our site launch on the platform met all our expectations and we love the technology. We are positive about the future of our site and look forward to improving our approaches and processes with RebelMouse's guidance!
Terrence O'Hanlon
Founder and Chairman Reliabilityweb
RebelMouse's Layout & Design Tool is one of the most comprehensive and flexible tools I have ever used of any CMS. Their product team is also extremely helpful and constantly supports to make sure your properties are up to date and use the best industry standards, especially in terms of page speed.
Chuck Lapointe
CEO Narcity Media
The best thing about RebelMouse is how much they care about their customers. When working with them, I always get a sense that they go above and beyond for their customers. When working with the RebelMouse team, I very much consider them to be a partner, rather than just a vendor. Upon migrating to their technology, we have seen tremendous improvements in many key areas, particularly technical SEO. They have out-of-the-box functionality that is tremendously helpful to customers. At the same time, their system is flexible enough to allow us to adapt it to any new business needs that we have.
David Nguyen
Senior Director of Digital Marketing Investing News Network
RebelMouse has shepherded us through the modernization phase, and has been keen, practical, and nimble throughout the entire journey. They have helped modernize our website through an infinite scroll setup that allows us more advertising real estate while creating more time on site to capture reader engagement. Plus, the RebelMouse team has helped educate our own team on the various aspects of programmatic advertising and worked to best implement them. Premier Guitar joining forces with RebelMouse in 2020 was one of the best choices we could have made!
Luke Viertel
Digital Strategist Premier Guitar
RebelMouse has stepped up our content management process by providing a user-friendly interface, robust customization options, and seamless collaboration tools. The platform's analytics and reporting capabilities have empowered us to make data-driven decisions, while their exceptional customer support ensures any issues are promptly addressed in a professional, respectful, and friendly way!
RebelMouse employs a unique, diverse, and decentralized team that consists of 70+ digital traffic experts across more than 25 different countries. We have no central office, and we cover every time zone to ensure that we’re able to deliver amazing results and enterprise-grade support around the clock.
Our team is well-versed in all things product, content, traffic, and revenue, and we strategically deploy ourselves to help with each element across all of our clients. We thrive on solving the complex.