I was at Starbucks the other day going through the newspaper and I came across a news story with the headline, “U.S. Gov’t Issued coins go to residents in 48 States.”
I saw a picture of armed guards with a bunch of workers loading up boxes with vault bags in them. Then, there is a picture of a Buffalo Nickel that says how to claim your bags. There is also an article that talks about the phones ringing off the hook and we only have 48 hours to claim four bags (example of urgency… limited quantity).
At first I was intrigued and got a little excited thinking, “Hey! I should buy a bag or two.” Then… I noticed at the very top of the picture in small print, “Special Advertisement Feature.” What’s this? This is an Advertorial.
Yep, I was tricked into thinking this was a news article, when, in fact, it was an advertisement.
When you see ads in the newspapers that look like it’s an editorial or news article they are really called Advertorials.
Advertorials are ads disguised to look like news articles to get you to read them, not thinking they are really ads (Notice this advertorial is in the “money” section).
Here are pictures of the advertorial I’m talking about… Do you see how you would be fooled too?

Notice the “SPECIAL ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE” at the top of the advertorial in small print? Tricky-tricky

Disclosures at the bottom of the page. The picture of the U.S. Coins of the Buffalo Nickels really draws your attention.
What do you think? Would you be fooled into thinking this is a real news article?
So, how can you use an advertorial in your marketing? This is a great tool (if done right… see pictures above) to have in your marketing arsenal that you can use for your business.
Let’s discuss in the comment section below.
Now go take action!
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