What is Advertorial Advertising?
Grabbing the attention of today’s consumers is becoming increasingly difficult.
With so many pushy ads and banners bombarding users both online and offline every day, people have learned to tune out most of them and effectively ignore their existence.
That’s why marketers that want to continue seeing success need to look for ways to adapt to the needs and changing habits of their audiences and use advertising methods that are more likely to get noticed.
And advertorial advertising can help achieve just that.
It enables companies to interact with their audience without the need for pushy ads and allows telling stories that help develop a closer bond and promote brand loyalty.Below, we’ll explore what is an advertorial, can it work for your business, and how to write an advertorial that accomplishes your goals.
Advertorial Advertising Explained
An advertorial is a promotional piece that is designed in a way to closely resemble the editorial content of a publication.
In many ways, the advertorial acts as a normal article, providing valuable information and having a similar style as the editorial content, but the main difference of advertorial vs editorial is that the former has qualities of an advertisement as well.
This way, instead of appearing as just another ad that’s very likely to be ignored, an advertorial can blend in with the other content and is much more likely to get opened and read.
And the best part is, even though users eventually discover that it’s an advertorial piece, as long as you provide genuinely valuable information that’s relevant to the readers, they will not mind it, and will actually be much more likely to respond since they already trust the publication that it’s appearing on.
Brands can use advertorials to not only promote their offers but also to inject their own opinions about a subject and make a case for why their products or services are in the best interest of the user.
Instead of having to use pushy methods with big salesy promises, companies can tell a story and lay out the facts, allowing the reader to reach the logical conclusion on their own.
Is Advertorial Advertising Effective?
Some companies are afraid to use advertorial advertising because they feel like their target audience might get angered by attempts to disguise advertorial content as editorial articles.
However, numerous studies have shown that advertorials help to increase the reader’s attention to the message, perceived message relevance, and message recall, all of which are key factors in whether a person takes action.
Even in cases where the texts are completely identical, the one that was designed to mimic the look of an editorial piece usually performs much better than the one that looks like an ad.
Because of the aggressive nature of online advertising over the past couple of decades, people have become hostile towards traditional advertising methods such as banners, even if the message itself is well-targeted and provides genuine value.
Therefore, writing an advertorial is simply a way to accommodate the content consumption habits of today’s online users, and the success that advertorials can generate proves that this approach is a much better alternative from the user’s perspective as well.
What’s more, unlike traditional advertising, advertorials provide a unique opportunity to tell a story with a much less sales-centric voice. Companies that trust and believe in their services can use advertorials with great effectiveness because their message does actually offer value to their customers.
Best Practices for Successful Advertorial Advertising
Even though advertorials can be incredibly effective, executing an advertorial marketing strategy requires that you follow the best practices that have been developed by those working in the field for many years.
In fact, a lot of the steps that you must take when planning an advertorial overlap with how to start an editorial.
And it all begins with a deep understanding of who you want to reach.
Just as in any marketing campaign, you need to know who your target audience is and how to best reach them because these are the things that will dictate the majority of your choices.
By understanding who your customers are, what their most pressing issues are, what are they likely to respond to, and even which publications they like to read, you will be able to create a relevant message that they will gladly engage with.
Another crucial aspect of succeeding with advertorials is offering value – since the format is designed to mimic editorial content, you must treat it as such and offer useful information that helps the readers.
And while providing value, you must also make sure that your advertorial’s style and voice are consistent with the media that you’re publishing in, because otherwise, it will lose its primary advantage and become a disruption not much different from a traditional ad.At Storygize, we have extensive experience creating native advertising campaigns that are perfect for achieving your advertorial writing goals. If you’d like to learn more about our services, please call +1 (866) 786-7944 or fill out a form here and we’ll help you find the best way to move forward.