Hiya …

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Welcome to Advertorial Copy, the one site dedicated to improving the pulling power of advertorials — the original “native ad.”

Hi, I’m Scott McKinstry.

I love adverts because they pack all the persuasive punch of the best sales copy in a slim, compact package.

And while they can still pull like gangbusters in print, advertorials are made for digital … a playground where readers are free to chase after the next compelling story. No borders. It’s a country where anyone with a fresh message can capture clicks and unleash a stream of profits.

So feel free to poke around my little corner of the web and chime in.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

5 Effective Advertorial Angles You can Swipe Today

If you’re looking for a fresh angle for your banner or advert headline & lead, look no further than your Google news feed.

Advertorials work best when they mimic news articles.

This is classic advice. The great copywriter John Caples of Tested Advertising Methods fame exhorted us to model our headlines on the old-style Reader’s Digest article headlines.

But now all we need do is pop on any news site and look at the “most shared” articles.

When we do, we’ll quickly catch the number one reason that people read anything:

Curiosity.

But what makes people curious?

How to Borrow from the News to Boost Your Credibility: The Power of Quotations

Here’s a tip from news articles we can use to our advantage: the liberal use of quotes from real people.

Could be experts, like doctors.

Or “ordinary people” who suffer from the condition we’re helping.

And here’s the great thing: The quotes don’t even have to be directly tied to your product.

The quote can simply plug the overall principle of your product.

Let’s take a look at an example.

ADVERT Critique: ProbioSlim

Strong CTA’s: Lessons from the 2 Billys (Mays and Shakespeare)

Never let em go till you ask for the sale.

That’s what makes direct response “direct response” … asking for a response right now.

A strong CTA — “Call To Action” — is the satisfying climax of a good pitch. This is as true for advertorials as it is for an Oxiclean pitch by the late master Billy Mays:

This guy knew how to ask for the sale.

Of course, the phrasing in an advertorial will be different (usually), depending on the style of the advert.

3 CTA’s you can implement today

The Original “Native Advertising”

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” — some dead French guy. Also Bon Jovi.

“Native advertising” — the tactic of clothing an ad in the trappings of its editorial surroundings — is the latest darling of digital.

Gary Vaynerchuk’s Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is obsessed with getting native ads to match the content of social media.

One article even proclaimed “Native Advertising Predicted To Dominate Digital In 2014.”

Why? Because, despite detractors, people do read native ads, often for just as long as they read editorial content.

But advertisers — especially direct response advertisers — have known this for years: “native ads” have been around a long time, but they used to be known by their original name: the advertorial.

And the secret sauce that gives the advertorial its compelling zing hasn’t changed.

Advert Critique: Don’t lose your reader

When you’ve got a point to make, make it fast.

Here’s the idea: Suppose I’m your local mom ‘n’ pop burger joint, and in my ad I tell you that McDonald’s burgers taste like cardboard because they use a microwave to cook ’em.

What should I say next?

Because I blamed the problem on how McDonald’s cooks its food, you need to hear how I cook my food differently.

Something like: All my burgers are grilled fresh, as hot and juicy as the burgers from the grill in your very own backyard.

mmmm … juicy

But if, instead, I start talking about all the wonderful ingredients that my burgers contain — non-GMO wheat, hand picked lettuce from my garden, and on and on …

… you’ll lose interest. Yeah, those are good features of my burgers, but they’re not the point you expect.

ADVERT CRITIQUE

How To Write An Effective Science-y Advertorial

If you’re selling a health product — or any product that can invoke science — you might want to try the following “Scientific Mechanism” angle.

Here’s why: everyone has a deep hunger to understand the world — especially what happens in their world.

When you can help a reader understand why she has a problem, she feels hope that it can be mastered — and she’ll be more likely to look to you to help her.

How To Generate A New Advertorial Angle, FAST

A fresh, new angle is just the the thing to revive sluggish CTR’s on aging advertorials.

Advertorials boost sales because they resemble news stories: they promise readers interesting and useful information — without the hard sell.

But that’s also the problem with advertorials: