What is an advertorial?
An advertorial is a paid advertisement in the form of an article, webpage, or video that reads like journalistic content. The term advertorial is a combination of the words advertisement and editorial.
Advertorials are made to look objective, but the primary purpose of this content is to advertise for a company, whether through marketing its products or establishing company positioning on a topic.
Native advertising platforms help advertisers create ads that match a website’s content. These tools make it possible for advertisers to make ads that more accurately adhere to consumers’ media consumption habits. This is accomplished by formatting ads to match the content on any given website.
Types of advertorials
Each kind of advertorial has a distinct purpose. Businesses may use one or more types of advertorials depending on their advertising strategy. Types of advertorial include:
- Image: Advertisers publish image advertorials most often for promotional purposes. This type of content is generally created to build an image and raise brand awareness. Visual appeal is necessary for this type. It’s best to use image optimization software to deliver high-quality advertorial images to websites.
- Comparative review: Brands may use comparative review advertorials to position themselves against one or more competitors. The purpose is to guide consumers through a side-by-side comparison of products or services so potential customers can make informed decisions about which would benefit them most. Advertisers may leverage this strategy to build brand awareness for a brand in its infancy.
- Advocacy: Marketers strategically use advocacy advertorials to associate their products with issues they care about. Advocacy content promotes a brand’s product or service and sheds light on important issues, building a stronger case for buying their product or service. Customer advocacy software can help leverage word-of-mouth.
- Journalism: Organizations use journalism advertorials to blend in with a publisher’s regular content. Often, this content looks like a news article and features a catchy headline with body content resembling the publisher’s usual editorial.
Basic elements of advertorials
Despite the different types of advertorials, some key elements often come into play. The features to keep in mind when using an advertorial are:
- A catchy headline: Similar to journalism, many advertorials use catchy headlines to grab readers’ attention. Keep headlines punchy, engaging, and easy to digest.
- Body content: An advertorial contains body content similar to traditional journalistic articles. Sometimes they are more detailed than a traditional ad, but the content varies in length depending on the topic and type of advertorial. This is where advertisers would include information about their product or service.
- A conclusion: For best results, an advertorial should contain a conclusion, such as a call to action (CTA). These are the final words advertisers leave the customer with before the customer decides to purchase something or not.
These elements will vary across content types. For example, image advertorials don’t contain as much written content and will likely not have body content within the ad, so as to not take away from the image or graphic.
Benefits of advertorials
Companies have many advertising strategies, but advertorials offer some distinct benefits. Here are a few companies can expect:
- They're more engaging. Since advertorials blend into surrounding content more naturally, they may attract more readers than a traditional advertisement. Customers may read an advertorial without realizing it’s not a regular article.
- There’s more room for details. Advertisers can use the additional page space to include more information about the products and services. This allows brands to hook more customers based on their needs.
- Ad blockers are less of an issue. With traditional digital advertisements, users can run ad-blocking software to prevent frequent advertisements from appearing on the screen. Sometimes advertorial content goes under the radar as it isn’t always flagged as advertising.
Advertorial best practices
Some general best practices should be followed when using this advertisement strategy. Consider the following to get the best results from advertorials:
- Replicate the publisher’s tone and voice. Advertorials are designed to fit in with the publisher’s content, so it’s crucial to study the publisher’s tone and voice. Blend the content so it doesn’t appear out of place to readers.
- Leverage catchy headlines. There is a limited amount of time to catch readers’ attention. That’s why it’s essential to use headlines to draw their attention before they move on.
- Make the content informational and promotional. Remember that advertorials are not the same as traditional ads, which means they aren’t merely promotions. Strike a balance between informative content that will educate the reader and promotion of the product or service.
