Advertorials: the genuine article

An advertorial is a hybrid of advertising and informative editorial content. At worst, it is created to deceive, to make the reader believe it is a journalistic addition to the publication. This, of course, is why you so often see the word “Advertisement” posted at the top of the article by the publication.  One recent example of advertorials gone amuck is the full page ad appearing in newspapers across America for miraculous flameless fireplaces housed in genuine Amish-crafted mantelpieces. Perhaps you’ve seen it. (And if you actually bought one, I’d love to hear about it!)

Their over-the-top approach probably worked to sell fireplaces, but it is no way to build a brand.

At its best, however, an advertorial can be an effective component of a marketing strategy, taking what might ordinarily be a conventional advertising space and using it to inform the reader about a product or service in more detail or, even better, to inform the reader about an issue or problem that’s important to him.

For several years, I have written an ongoing series of  advertorials for a bank in Nashville. It appears every month in the Nashville Business Journal and features a different bank expert who dispenses information and advice. Rather than just hawk the bank’s products and services, it focuses on issues that are important to  business owners, CFOs and the like–the people who read the Journal. For example, when the federal government increased FDIC insurance from $100,000 to $250,000, I worked with the expert to write an article about how the change would affect readers. In another article, we covered the escalating costs of real estate in Downtown Nashville and what it meant for developers and builders in need of financing.

These advertorials are easily recognized as bank ads. But they are a soft sell. They offer real content and added value to readers while positioning the bank and it’s employees as experts in the field and a ready resource of up-to-date financial information and services.

In an industry like banking in which competitors offer very similar services, interest rates, etc., success comes from relationship building. A good informative advertorial can be the foundation on which new relationships are built.