Advertorials May Serve a Purpose for Your Utility – GWC Mag

Nearly every day, professional public relations practitioners (and a few plain old citizens) offer to “help” my newspaper by writing articles about their clients or organizations of interest.

I immediately shoot them down for a few reasons.

First and foremost, it violates journalistic ethics, standards and practices to have someone with a vested interest in something to write about it. It’s akin to hiring a fox to guard the henhouse.

Second, although many people can write reasonably well, most don’t have the journalistic training to properly format an article. And don’t get me started on the many people who are horrible writers!

Third, I have control over my reporters and can reasonably expect them to meet deadlines. Whenever I have to rely on someone else, there’s a possibility that they flake on me. When I say my deadline is noon Tuesday, that’s firm.

That said, there may be an opportunity for your utility to contribute to your local media outlet and maintain control over the content.

That would be via advertorial.

Journalistic snobs and purists (they’re often the same thing) have scoffed at advertorials in the past because they thought they diluted the media’s overall reputation.

That may be, but given the dire straits of most media outlets, we’ll take any revenue we can get. It beats looking for a job on Indeed.

For those who aren’t familiar, an advertorial is content that’s written like a news article but is written from the perspective of whoever’s buying the space. Advertorials are generally labeled as such and usually appear in a different font than the media outlet’s regular content, but the idea is to position the content as news-like.

It works, too, so don’t worry that your advertorial will be overlooked. From first-hand experience, I can report that most readers don’t know the difference between a news story, an editorial, an op-ed or an advertorial.

Advertorials certainly should be a consideration for your utility, especially when you need to explain complex or detailed concepts or topics.

While it’s nice when a media outlet covers you (at no cost), your utility may only rate a brief mention in the story, even if your personnel was interviewed extensively. And you won’t control how the information is used.

I’ve touted the idea of writing an op-ed, but space is often at a premium and the topic you want to discuss might be rejected by editors.

You have complete control over an advertorial.

The biggest drawback of an advertorial is the price. Advertising can be expensive, so advertorials should be reserved for the most important things.

If you’ve decided to pay for an advertorial, what should you write about? You don’t want to write about the utility (or employees) being honored or some other mundane topic.

Use the advertorial instead to explain issues that are complex, potentially controversial and require in-depth discussion.

For example, if your utility is receiving public pressure about burying transmission lines, you might explain why that’s not so easy to accomplish. Point out the high cost of that (and the rate hikes likely needed to accomplish that) as well as the logistical obstacles.

Or if you’re seeking approval for a rate increase to modernize your grid and transmission facilities, explain how the benefits (better reliability, improved efficiency) will be worth the cost.

Now it’s time to write the advertorial. Even if your writers don’t have journalistic backgrounds, they’re going to have to use a journalistic style instead of press release or white paper formats. You should also try to mirror the publication’s writing style.

If your advertorial is appearing in a local daily or weekly general publication, eliminate any industry jargon and write so that the average reader can understand. Newspapers are written at anywhere from a sixth- to 11th-grade level, so keep things basic.

If your advertorial is running in a trade publication, you don’t need to remove all industry jargon, but remember that the audience may not have a technical background.

You’ll need to use a journalistic style called the “inverted pyramid.” Place the most information in the first paragraph, with the next-most-important thing next. The information decreases in importance the further along you go.

Newspapers often cut articles for space, so it’s easier to trim the less-important material straight from the bottom. Although you’re paying for the paying for the space, the principle should still apply.

Remember that the longer an article continues, the percentage of people still reading it declines. If the most important information is up top, you’re more likely to get the point across.

Keep your paragraphs short and address one idea in each. One- or two-sentence paragraphs are desirable.

Stick to the facts, and don’t speculate.

Finally, illustrate your advertorial with photographs or graphics: A gray copy blob isn’t appealing to the eye and sends readers looking for something else.