Advertorial Ads: Definition, Types & How to Create It

Advertorial is one type of advertising that can assist you in digital marketing promotion through content production.

Advertorial advertising is generally used to convey marketing messages by including value-added product/service reviews through convincing narratives.

Entering the digital era like today, understanding the concept and types of advertorial advertising according to the business niche can be the key to the success of a company's marketing.

Therefore, check out the review of what is advertorial, its types, examples, and strategies in the discussion below.

What is Advertorial Ads?

Advertorial advertising is a marketing strategy that goes beyond ordinary ads as it involves a combination of information and the promotion of products or services through content production.

In literal meaning, it is one form of content marketing packaged as an editorial article but aimed at promoting specific products or services.

Advertorial itself comes from the combination of the words "advertisement" and "editorial." This type of strategy is often used by businesses to convey marketing messages more implicitly but convincingly, as it is presented in a format similar to editorial content.

Like most paid ads in common, it is also responsible for presenting high-quality content to highlight the advertised products/services.

Essentially, this type of advertisement can be found on various platforms, both offline and online, ranging from newspapers, magazines, websites, web content, and video ads.

By utilizing it correctly, companies can produce more engaging content for consumers, thus strengthening the brand image and increasing sales.

Advantages of Advertorial Ads

In general, this type of ad content has the ability to transform into a regular journalistic product with educational purposes. Some advantages of this advertising strategy are:

• Integration with Editorial Content: Readers tend to be more receptive because their content is relevant and informative.
• Building Trust: By presenting ads as independent content, readers can trust the product more and are likely to recommend it.
• Wider Exposure: It can reach a larger audience than conventional ads, especially when placed in popular media.
• Boosting Brand Awareness: This type of ad helps increase brand awareness by embedding product information in reader-engaging content.
• SEO Optimization: Online advertorials with quality backlinks from leading media portals can improve a brand's SEO ranking.

Characteristics of Advertorial Ads

It's undeniable that this type of advertising strategy is increasingly dominating the digital marketing era.

After understanding what is advertorial advertising, you also need to learn about its characteristics in general, which conclude:

1. Sponsored Content 

Please note that this type of paid ad is created in collaboration with a specific party. So, it can be said that, unlike independent articles, this advertising method is created to achieve marketing goals.

One interesting aspect is that this type of ad is able to disguise itself as regular editorial content, making readers unaware that they are actually reading an advertisement.

2. Goal to Promote Brands/Products

Information presented in this type of advertising content is generally crafted to help sell a particular product or service or increase awareness of that product or service. 

Although it is concluded as a promotional strategy, its content must still provide added value to readers.

3. No Hard Sell

One significant difference between conventional advertising and advertorials can be observed in how product promotions are presented in content.

These advertising types are essentially designed in such a way that they appear like regular editorial content.

Therefore, its characteristics include avoiding the display of hard-selling elements and refraining from using CTAs that direct readers to take immediate action.

This strategy is aimed at creating a more relaxed atmosphere and giving the impression that readers are making decisions based on the information in the content, not under direct pressure from the manufacturer.

4. Contain a Label "Advertorial" or "Advertisement"

These types of ads are transparent and often labeled to indicate that the content is paid advertising and not regular editorial content.

In the context of both print and digital publications, you can generally find indicators that classify certain content as paid advertising rather than regular editorial content.

5. Informative and Authoritative

Despite being aimed at marketing, this advertising content presents in-depth and educational information compared to conventional ads. 

This is intended to build trust and reader interest through a deeper understanding of the topic.

Moreover, it's possible that this type of content also includes valid sources such as figures, statistics, percentages, or statements from specific industry experts.

Some Advertorial Examples

This advertising strategy generally combines editorial elements with marketing goals. Hence, integrating suitable types of advertorial advertising can certainly enrich your marketing strategy. Discover some of the types below.

1. Product Ads

This type of advertising generally aims to provide a comprehensive overview, covering brand identity, product types, and overall quality and functionality.

2. Service Ads

Advertising content for services generally focuses on introducing and explaining a particular service. 

The content of this ad type usually covers the promoted service's advantages, usage guides, and various types of services offered.

As for healthcare services, for example, you can discuss various types of treatments, usage procedures, management, and the benefits provided to consumers.

3. Government Ads

These advertorial examples generally focus on activities carried out by government entities. 

These ads can discuss government programs, achievements in infrastructure development, or educate the public about specific initiatives.

4. Corporate Ads

This type can be produced by introducing the profile or a brief biography of a company within content. 

Additionally, these ads can highlight corporate activities, such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs supporting the environment or the local community.

How to Create an Advertorial

This advertising content is usually presented in an editorial or news content format to appear as part of a publication without being overtly promotional. Here's a guide on how to create it: 

1. Understand the Consumer’s Pain Points or Issues

Before you start making the content, a crucial consideration in creating an advertorial is understanding the pain points, issues, and needs of the target readers. 

In this case, you need to conduct research on forums or analyze reviews on business platforms, such as Web Apps, Social Media, or other media.

Additionally, consider the opinions of the target market and identify their main problems or needs so that your product/service advertisement can provide the expected solutions.

2. Determine the Writing Angle

After understanding the problems and solutions needed by the target audience, the next step is to determine the writing angle of your advertorial article. 

Create an interesting and specific title that gives a hint that this content can provide the solutions desired by the readers. 

3. Provide Solutions

As it aims for marketing, an advertorial article must add value to the readers and should be able to answer frequently asked questions (FAQ) by the target audience by focusing on how your product/service can meet their needs.

4. Find Suitable Media

To support the success of this marketing strategy, you also need to consider the media or platform suitable for it. Readers tend to identify the content as an advertisement if it is not presented wisely.

5. Enhance It with Engaging Graphics and Visuals

Lastly, you can also include graphics and visuals that support your message. Providing visual aspects can help clarify concepts and capture the reader's attention, enabling them to understand your product/service more comprehensively.

That was all the comprehensive explanation above covering what is advertorial ads, their types, characteristics, advantages, and how to create them to support marketing efforts.

You need to know that this type of advertising plays a crucial role in digital marketing strategies, especially when linked with SEO optimization efforts. 

Understanding relevant keywords in creating advertorial article can enhance the visibility of a product or service on search engine result pages (SERP).

By detailing the needs and issues faced by the target audience, you can integrate keywords that potential customers might search for, assisting search engines in understanding content relevance and boosting website rankings.

If you encounter challenges in maximizing SEO strategies for content creation, SEO Services by cmlabs can be a reliable partner to help you dominate the digital search space. Let's collaborate – contact the cmlabs Marketing Team now!