Advertorial Writing Isn’t Like Any Other Writing

First of all, what is an advertorial? Advertorial combines the words advertising and editorial. And essentially, that’s what an advertorial is: it’s an advertisement “disguised” as a newspaper or magazine feature. In order to avoid misleading readers, advertorials are very clearly marked (usually at the top of the page) with a line or two that states it’s a paid advertisement. However, not all readers notice this disclaimer, which is one of the reasons advertorials are so effective. People often think they’re reading a news feature piece and take everything contained therein as “fact.”

Now, this leads to some important ethics. Advertorials should be truthful and based on facts and reputable science and data. Unfortunately, not all are. Which is why it’s even more important to make sure your advertorial is.

The research and work that goes into writing an advertorial is not unlike the research and work that goes into writing a news feature. Some of the similarities include:

  • Interviewing
  • Researching facts, science, and other data
  • Writing a compelling lead or “hook”
  • Building the narrative in a way that makes people want to continue reading

And so on. How advertorials differ is that they ask (sometimes in a subtle fashion) the reader to do something—buy a product, visit a store or website, call a phone number, give to a charity, etc.

I’d be happy to discuss your advertorial needs. Email me today to set up an advertorial consultation. In order to get the most out of our discussion, please think about and have answers to the following questions:

  • What are the demographics of the publication in which you want your advertorial to appear (you should be able to easily get this information from the pub’s sales rep)?
  • What’s the goal of your advertorial (what’s the call-to-action)?
  • What metrics do you have in place—if any—to measure the advertorial’s effectiveness?
  • What are the publication’s specs for the advertorial (word count, images [b/w or color], etc)?

Advertorial Clients:

The Boston Globe

Below are some advertorials that I’ve written for advertising supplements to The Boston Globe.

Writing is my passion. And it shows in my work. Contact me with details of your copywriting project.