Advertising is dead and buried. You can mourn, you can grieve, you can even cry over it. Just understand that it’s not the end of the world yet. There is more than one way to skin a cat. Or in this case, more than one way to convey your message across to your audience. And this alternative way is actually with featured editorial. That’s right, feature your product, service, or even your brand identity, and tell a story about it… A real story…
What’s Editorial, And How Does It Work?
In the old days, the main mode to know what’s going on in the world around you is through newspapers. And editorial is the “news” that you consume. It’s the unbiased, unopinionated, unadulterated news of what’s actually going on in the world around you.
And with people consuming the news, it makes sense to allocate spaces between these “news” to carry advertisements. These days, it’s simply known as ad space, or media space. “News” consumers are also forced to consume these ads at the same time. You can’t separate news from ads. Hence, ad spaces sell like hot cakes. The wider the circulation (number of people reading that particular newspaper), the higher its selling price.
Henceforth, editorials almost always come attached with advertisements. It’s an acceptable inconvenience. If you want to consume contents, you’re gonna have to consume advertisements together with it.
Editorial? Advertorial? Aren’t They The Same?
Let’s take a look at things empirically. Editorial is the content that you want to consume. Be it current news, factual stories, fictional works, even entertainment. It’s usually presented to you in a story format. Advertisement, on the other hand, is contents that you’re forced to consume, together with the editorial. It’s usually presented to you in an attractive and mesmerising “Buy Me” hypnotic format. To make things simple :- Editorial = good. Advertisement = bad.
So what then is an “advertorial”?… The illegitimate child, conceived out of wedlock, between editorial and advertisement?… Not exactly…
Advertorial, as the name suggests, is a combination between an editorial and an advertisement. To make it even clearer, it’s simply an advertisement, disguised and presented as an editorial… An advertorial’s main purpose is to “trick” the consumers into believing it to be a neutral piece of content. More crudely put, it’s a thinly veiled advertisement, served in a story format.
In a nutshell, advertorials tells you the story about the product or service that it wants to sell to you.
Why Is Advertisement (Or Even Advertorial) “Bad”?
Advertorials, sometimes also known as sponsored content. Its sole purpose is to entice the audience into buying their products or services. On its own, it’s not exactly bad. But persuading people to buy your products who would otherwise not buy them?… Not exactly very genuine now, is it?…
Its format and delivery mimic that of the regular featured editorials. But its underlying intention is more sinister than merely telling the stories as it was meant to be told. Their objective is similar to the regular, run-of-the-mill advertisements, which basically says “Buy Me“.
How then can one genuinely introduce products and services to the masses, without using any underhanded tactics? I mean, there are businesses genuinely wanting to introduce their products or services to the masses. Not every business is out to con or trick consumers into buying something that they don’t really need. Is there even a way to introduce new merchandise to the market without appearing like a con job?
The Answer Lies in The Proper Use Of Editorials
Believe It Or Not, You can introduce products or services into the market without being pushy. After all, what the audience really want is an unbiased, unopinionated, unadulterated news or stories. It can be stories to introduce your products or services. All you need to is to genuinely want to introduce your merchandise. Leave all the opinions and decision making to the audience. If you can project the image of fairness, it’s more than likely that the audience will appreciate the gesture.
Henceforth, the best way to improve your brand value is to simply tell more stories. Stories about you, your values, or even your merchandise. In short, create contents, regularly and consistently. Now, don’t confuse this with blasting the same story over and over again. That’s a surefire way to make your audience turn a deaf ear to your subsequent stories.
To Be Successful, Here’s What You Must Do
Create contents, lots of them. Curate them into stories that your audience can relate to. Introduce your products or services as a solution to underlying problems that your audience might have. Show them that you’re here to help them, not merely to earn their money.
Once you’ve got that done, publish your stories on a reliable and neutral platform. Yes, the platform matters. If you have your own corporate website, consider hosting a blog there. It’s your own platform, might as well make full use of it. Just make sure you present your stories in a neutral and palatable fashion. If you don’t have one, consider publishing your stories on a platform that also features similar offerings. Yes, there’s bound to be competition there. But then again, competition actually encourages growth. The more competition there is on a platform, the more audience will want to gather there. And the further your brand identity will reach.
It doesn’t matter what format your stories are in. Whether it’s a printed story, a video clip, an audio message, or even a fictional representation of your message. Just keep it coming, and keep the interval consistent. The more impressions your brand is delivered, the more likely your audience will remember you. And the more memorable your brand is, the more trustworthy it’ll be. And that’s what you want to ultimately achieve.
“But I’m Not A Good Story Teller”
Hire one… Or at least engage a service provider who specialises in curating stories for you. You won’t regret it. Still confused or unsure? Buy us a cup of our favourite coffee, and we’ll show you how you can genuinely and effectively share your stories with your audience.
