Words are as crucial to an advertising campaign as visuals, despite the recent trend for visual puns without headlines or copy. At the end of the day, people are not going to buy anything without reading something about it first. It’s just common sense. But, the English language has been used and abused over the last 50 or so years, and some words have certainly felt the effects of advertising. Outrageous claims, unsubstantiated facts and overly-salesy verbiage have created cynical consumers who don't trust advertisers as far as their asthmatic poodle could throw them.
Clichés, slogans and taglines don't work.
An advertorial should be something that flows well, sounds conversational and uses language that the average consumer would use. If you come in hard and fast with slogans like "state of the art," "the world's best," "unbelievable results" and "amazing!" you'll lose all credibility. In fact, stay away from exclamation marks unless you absolutely have to use one (such as it being part of the product name).
How to Write an Advertorial
In part one of this special how-to feature, we discussed the first four ways to ensure your advertorial has every chance of being a success. Those tips were: 1. Make it interesting 2. Research the context 3. Headlines do the heavy lifting 4. Use photographs and illustrations wisely Now, we will discuss the remaining four tips you’ll need to create a killer advertorial with a great ROI.
