What Is An Advertorial? (With Advantages And Disadvantages)

Updated 30 September 2022

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed's data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

Companies trying to grow their followers and customer base might look for creative ways to advertise their products and services and go beyond television commercials and banner ads. Often, marketers use advertorials to engage with their audience and enhance brand awareness. Learning this innovative advertising method can help determine if this strategy is right for marketing a brand. In this article, we answer the question, "What is an advertorial?", review some advantages and disadvantages and provide tips for creating an effective advertorial.

What Is An Advertorial?

The answer to the question, "What is an advertorial?" is that it is a paid advertisement in the form of articles and a website page. The word advertorial is a combination of advertisement and editorial. Typically, the content and design of an advertorial reads like a journalist piece and include more details than a traditional advertisement. It helps customers understand the product a company is trying to market and sell. An advertiser creates an advertisement to reach customers and they might pay for the content that appears in a newspaper, magazine or website.

Marketers can use advertorials to educate customers on how a product can be helpful for them. The place where marketer places their advertorial depends upon the customers they want to target. They might place these advertisements in newspapers, webpages, magazines and videos. An example of a company that might use advertisements is a finance company. To advertise their new software in a finance magazine, the brand creates a one-page advertisement detailing how the software helps a company or individual choose the right stocks. With the advertorial, the brand easily reaches customers who read the magazine.

Advantages Of Using Advertorials

Here are a few advantages of using advertorials to advertise and market your services or products:

Increase brand awareness

Brand awareness is the degree to which a consumer can recognise a product or service by the company's logo and brand images. Advertorials can help enhance brand awareness, which is cost-effective compared to traditional advertisements. Typically, you pay less for an advertorial than other forms of advertising. These advertisements have the potential to get discovered long after the publication date, allowing you to gain benefits from a single advertisement even after several months of getting published.

Educate your customers

Advertorials help educate customers about the use and benefits of particular products and services. It helps brand promote informative content related to targeted customer's problem and shows why a product is the best solution for a customer's problems. Providing the right information to the customers makes an advertorial a successful marketing strategy.

Convert potential leads

In marketing, a potential lead is a customer who shows an interest in using your products and services. Advertorials are a powerful marketing strategy for converting leads into customers willing to buy your product or services. By placing advertisements in strategic locations, you can reach your potential leads and convert them into loyal customers. Try to speak to editors of magazines, blogs and websites related to your product's field to place your advertorials.

Enhance sales

You can use advertorials as promotional tools to increase your sales as it conveys to your existing and new customers about your new product line, special offers and announcements. Besides reminding existing customers about your products, an advertorial develops a distinctive brand. A well-written editorial can encourage the customers to try your product, increasing business sales.

Enhance engagement

Often, advertorials are far more engaging than traditional ones because they provide your customers with in-depth information. When your content is engaging, it encourages customers to read your advertorial and take the desired action. Your customers are more likely to make a purchase and interact with you. A successful advertisement requires more than reading or watching a brief clip. Some common elements to include in an advertorial are quizzes, clickable links and an in-depth description of how a product or service solves a customer's problem.

Support other business operations

Advertorial is a part of the business marketing strategy and they effectively achieve the desired organisational goals and support the operations of other departments. For instance, as advertorials establish background knowledge about a service or product, they help the sales team sell the products. Also, by educating customers on your products and telling them how the products can solve their problems, you help the customer service department.

Bypass advertisement blocker software

You can benefit from choosing an advertorial over a pop-up or banner ad to market your services better to the customers. As advertorials resemble editorial pieces, they easily bypass advertisement blocker software. When customers install advertisement blocker software, which removes any advertisement that could obstruct their screens.

Disadvantages Of Using An Advertorial

While using an advertorial brings a lot of benefits, it offers some drawbacks:

Customers might skip it

Once customers identify that an editorial piece is promoting a product, they might prefer to skip it. You can avoid such instances by providing content that delivers some value to the readers. When you share meaningful and exciting content, customers are less likely to skip it even if they encounter an advertorial. For instance, share a customer or brand story where your products helped solve a challenging situation. This can help in keeping your customers engaged.

Customers might feel deceptive

An advertorial might pose ethical questions, especially if you do not include a disclaimer about it being an advertisement. Customers might feel that you are deceiving them and making them think your ad is a traditional editorial. This happens when the heading of your editorial is misleading or you use a click-bait headline. You can avoid such a scenario by giving details about your relationship with the publisher and sharing content that is an advertisement.

Customers feel you are forcefully selling them products

Often, a customer might feel depressed when an advertiser tries to sell something. If you sell products, even if the customer does not need them, they might lose interest in buying your product or services. You can avoid this by creating content that provides in-depth information to the customers. When customers receive valuable information, they can benefit from it even if they decide not to purchase the product.

For example, when creating an advertorial about your latest makeup line, you can give readers detail about your product while giving information on ways to take the best care of their skin. This helps create trust between your brand and consumers who might respect the advertorial you write.

Tips For Creating Advertorials

When writing your advertorials, use these tips:

Try new writing styles. An advertorial allows you to think creatively and experiment outside your typical brand voice. To connect with your customers, you can try something different, like using emojis or animations in your digital advertisements.
Solve your customer challenges. Ensure that the advertorial you create answers your customer's problem. Your editorials can explain how and why your products address them and why a customer might purchase them.
Write compelling content. As an advertorial is an editorial and reads like a blog post, it is conversational and helps a customer gain relevant information about the product or service. Create a list of how your product might solve their problems.
Entice your readers: In your advertorial, give an enticing offer to the customers that they find difficult to resist. For instance, you can offer free discounts or shipping to first-time customers.
Create a story. Before writing an editorial, collect your facts and create a compelling story. A good story can help you build a positive and long-lasting relationship with your customers.
Support your claims. When you claim something in your advertorial, ensure to include relevant facts about your claim. Giving facts about why your product is essential can help you sell your products to customers.
Include a call to action. If your editorial manages to trigger your customer's interest, they are likely to search for ways to contact you. Ensure to include a call-to-action at the starting or end of the advertorial.