Advertorial: the art of offering products through genuine useful content

It was not a random choice of ours when we put an advertorial as the next step of the Alpha funnel, it goes right after ads when people see your brand and product for the first time ever. Here’s why.

Advertorials blend in with regular content, offering readers valuable information in a familiar format, making them more engaging and trustworthy than traditional ads.

They mimic genuine content, so readers feel they’re getting authentic information rather than just a sales pitch. They are also very easy for marketing newbies to differentiate, you’ll see it for yourself by the end of this chapter.

So, imagine going way back to the days when newspapers and magazines ruled – we’re talking late 19th, early 20th centuries here. That’s when the genius of melding advertisements with editorials emerged, giving birth to advertorials.

The idea was pretty slick – instead of bombarding readers with overt ads, why not weave promotional content into engaging stories? It’s like wrapping a pill in cheese for a dog. You get them to swallow the sales pitch without even realizing it!

Look at these examples that have been perfectly working for us lately:

1. LIFEHACK FOR PARENTS! HOW TO REDUCE STRESS AND MONEY SPENDING ON FAMILY TRIPS
2. DO YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR DOG’S SAFETY ON THE ROAD? SOME ADVICE FROM A VETERINARIAN

Notice anything in common? Yes, they both follow the same logic: describe problems people face (sometimes they don’t even know they do, an advertorial must show it), then smoothly lead to the solution and the specific product that works as the solution.

Now, the secret sauce that makes advertorials work so well is their subtlety. And we’ve learnt it well through millions of tests that our team has conducted when launching dropshipping stores.

While a billboard might scream at you to buy something, an advertorial casually slips it into the conversation. It’s more like, “Hey, here’s an interesting fact/a problem, and oh, by the way, this product is pretty cool/is the perfect solution for the problem.”

Because they often come off as unbiased, readers feel they’re getting genuine info, not just a sales pitch. That trust factor? Gold in advertising.

And here’s where it gets even cooler. Advertorials have this chameleon-like ability to adapt. Whether it’s print, online, radio, or TV, they just blend right in. Plus, the digital age gave them a new playground, morphing them into what we now know as native advertising.

If you’ve ever been on a website and clicked on a story that seemed interesting, only to realize halfway it’s kinda promoting something, yep, that’s a modern-day advertorial for you.

Speaking of cool instances, did you hear about the Netflix and ‘The New York Times’ combo? They whipped up this killer advertorial for “Orange Is the New Black.” Diving deep into women’s lives in prison, it not only gave readers a gripping tale but also subtly promoted the show. Talk about a win-win!

So, the effectiveness of advertorials as a digital marketing tool comes from the following:

1. Seamless integration: They blend with regular content, ensuring less disruption to user experience.
2. Increases trust: Presented in a familiar format, they can build reader trust.
3. Provides value: Beyond promotion, they offer genuine content value.
4. High engagement: Being content-driven, they encourage longer user interaction.
5. Bypasses ad blindness: They can avoid the automatic ignoring response many have to traditional ads.
6. Flexibility: They fit various mediums, from blogs to videos.
7. Enhanced storytelling: Allows deeper brand connection through stories.

How do you get one for your store? Easy. We’ve got the right algorithm for a bomb advertorial and it always works for us, here’s your plan.

1. Think of the problem your product might solve and generalize it as much as possible. You want to talk about the problem on a global scale, not less. For example, if you sell a vacuum cleaner, don’t sell the vacuum cleaner itself!

First, introduce the problem of not having a vacuum, the problem of dust and dirt and crumbs all over the place, think of the feelings people have when having this problem. It will be perfect if you talk about the connection between people’s health (not only physical but mental too!) and living in dirty dusty conditions. For example, find a research that shows the link between messy rooms and depression (there actually are lots of such researches).

Then, find and give the statistics regarding the topic, for example: “about 55 percent of Americans find themselves stressed out by the clutter in their homes…”.

2. Illustrate the problem with high quality visuals.

Images are great, but it’s always better to use videos or at least collages of photos.

3. Make it personal, if possible or add professional view

It’s always better to use a personal approach and show someone’s personal experience regarding the problem your advertorial is describing. Add photos, quotes or interviews of people who’ve been facing the problem, they should better share their feelings so that the readers could relate.

It’s also great to invite an expert who can talk on the problem and solutions that exist. It should be a professional, someone who knows about the problem, someone who has deep knowledge in the field to which the problem belongs.

4. Show solutions that exist

If there are many solutions to the problem, and your product is one of them, describe why your product is the best solution. In the text of your advertorial, answer the questions: how does my product solve this particular problem? For whom will my product be of use? How good is my product in solving the problem and why? What are the specific characteristics that make my product stand out from the other solutions?

5. Add reviews, feedback and discount coupons or special offers (if applicable)

Don’t leave “cliffhangers”: at this point the reader might already be interested in the product but still concerned, so it’s time to finally dispel all the possible doubts with good reviews and feedback by people who have used the product and are satisfied with it. You can always order product reviews from bloggers (there are some at Fiverr.com besides social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etcetera. We’ll talk about UGC content in the 9th chapter) or your friends and family members.

Spice it all up with attractive discounts and voila – you’ve got the clients!

Stay tuned with the Course to learn the next Alpha Funnel stages.