An advertorial, as the name suggests, is part-advert, part-editorial. The idea is to provide useful content on a specific subject related to your core sales message.

And then, to segway into a “light” sales pitch, with a CTA to “find out more”– which typically redirects to a sales page or opt-in form.

You may, for instance, have an advertorial on your own website… which encourages readers to click-through to your main sales page.

This is known in some marketing circles as a “2-step sales letter”. Because you’re directing readers to the advertorial FIRST— with a certain proportion of those readers “filtering through” to the main sales pitch SECOND.

Originally used to fill newspaper and magazine ad space… the advertorial has expanded in function to form a core part of every Info-Marketer’s sales process.

While you may still buy physical ad space— in magazines, newspapers, industry journals, etc— you may also host them on your own website, or an affiliate’s website, or on a special interest website related to your niche.

The sales objective is the same, even as the medium changes.

(Bare in mind, if you host it via a magazine, newspaper, journal, or special-interest website, it will need to fit in with their “house style”, both in terms of copy and design.)

It really does pay to think of an advertorial as a “hidden step”… within the sales page it ultimately drives traffic towards.

Because many platforms like Google and Facebook… are cracking down on advertisers who funnel readers straight to an off-site sales page.

Instead, they want you to send readers to quality content on a subject they’ve shown some interest in— perhaps through a Google Search, or through Facebook pages they’ve “liked” in the past.

The advertorial, then, can serve as a crucial intermediary step towards your sales page.

(Bonus points if you run a ‘retargeting campaign’… to people who read the advertorial… but didn’t click-through to the sales page.)

A case study combines storytelling, customer testimonial, and a strong marketing message… to show readers how you helped a former customer/ client achieve a certain result.

Case studies typically start with a brief preamble… to explain WHO the customer is, WHAT they wanted, and WHY they found themselves in the product expert’s orbit.

Then, they tell the story of some ‘transformation experience’ the customer had… as direct result of YOUR coaching program, info-product, or live event.

They conclude with “main lessons learned” or how the customer “highly recommends _____ to like-minded people”.

Case studies are one of the best— if not THE best— vehicles for BUILDING BELIEF… in your ability to DELIVER the results you promise in your core sales message.

Readers trust a well-written case study more than a mere testimonial. Testimonials can be taken out of context or twisted beyond their original intent.

But a case study gives the whole story. It puts the testimonial elements in their broader context. They reveal “the story BEHIND the testimonial”. They HUMANISE the customer results.

Many prospects will base their ultimate consumer decision— to buy or not to buy— on the results of former customers and clients. In particular, the customers and clients whose situations and life experiences most closely resemble the reader’s own.

That last part is crucial.

Let’s say you have 30 case studies on your website. Most people are unlikely to read more than a handful of them.

But each reader will gravitate towards the case studies which most closely “speak to” their current position/ frustrations/ occupation/identification, etc.

And since your market likely contains different “segments”– each with their own priorities, preoccupations, agendas— you want as many “ins” as possible. There’s no such thing, then, as “too many” case studies.

A short “teaser” ad, usually embedded within a formatted ‘box-out’ in an email newsletter or affiliate blog.

(The Ad copy + graphics are “INSERTED” into the email, blog post, etc— hence the name “Insert Ad”.)

Great for generating leads from other marketer’s “house lists”.

An Insert Ad is usually short— no more than 150 words in most cases, and often less than 80.

Therefore, it must be concise, to the point, and COMPELLING. It gives readers a clear reason WHY they should click the link to “learn more”. Brevity is the soul of an Insert Ad.

“Whitepapers” are a fixture of B2B Marketing, whereas “Special Reports” are used in both B2C and B2B.

A Whitepaper is more “formal” and thoroughly researched, as it’s intended to be referenced in “industry circles” by other working professionals— but should nonetheless be free of “corporate speak” and technical jargon.

A Whitepaper will NEVER try to “hard sell” with a direct-sales call-to-action. It’s more about positioning your brand as an authority within your field… and providing deep value to business readers.

A Special Report, in contrast, may include a soft sell… hard sell… or a simple link to “find out more”… depending on the type of conversation it’s already engaged the reader in— CONTEXT IS KING!

“Special Reports” come in a few common “archetypes”:

• • ‘How To ______’
  • ‘X Things To Know About _____’
  • ‘X Trends To Follow In [month/quarter/year]
  • ‘Top X _____’
  • ‘Year-in Review of _____’
  • ‘Deep Dive on _____’

However… these archetypes are not definitive, and a “special report” can be essentially anything that:

1. Gives valuable, timely, “niche” content… geared towards a well-defined need or desire;
   
   
2. Is separate from other marketing materials (PDF Downloads + email optins are common; physical mailings are less common but far from unheard of);

Your Core Brand Message is the dominant message around which your brand identity– and all its subsidiary sales messages– are constructed.

It’s typically expressed as a single statement, around 6-12 words.

This statement can appear in any of your marketing materials (where it makes contextual sense to include).

It will often appear as a main headline on your website’s homepage, or under your logo as it appears online or in print materials (eg: letterheads, business cards, etc.)

It’s easy to underestimate the value of your Core Brand Message. “It’s just one little sentence”, you might think. But it’s so much more than that. It’s your brand’s first point of contact with the outside world. It’s your first opportunity to make a strong impression, to call out your market, to identify yourself as something unique and worthy of immediate attention.

It encapsulates your Hierarchy of Relevant Solutions and your Unexploited Premise. (See ‘The Transformation Marketer’s Handbook’ for more detailed breakdown of these concepts.)

Infographics are often thought of as more a “designer’s job”.

And, while the design component is crucial… the written content that makes up the Infographic is just as important— if not more so.

(People come for the pretty graphics, but they stay for the useful content.)

“Thought-leading” Infographic content should do a few things:

1. Break down complex or “difficult” topics… into simple, digestible advice… that reads as if it were “common sense” all along;
   
   
2. Focus on posterity rather than timeliness— ask yourself, “if this were printed on a large poster, would my readers want to stick it on the wall of their study/ living room/ bedroom… and continue to make reference to it?”
   
   
3. Position the product expert or coach as a ‘thought leader’– as opposed to “general-purpose” infographics more commonly seen in pure B2B sales cycles: giving raw stats, observing trends, minimal “personality”, etc.
   
   
4. Create natural ‘lead-ins’ to relevant points of the sales cycle/ other sales collateral. For example: an Infographic for “5 keys to losing weight fast!” may also provide a link for each weight-loss “key”… towards a “soft sell” page for a relevant product for that particular aspect of weight loss.

Sales Brochures are about as “old school” as it gets— we all recognise them from a distance— and yet many coaches/ info-marketers don’t exploit them.

(Perhaps having been told “it’s all done online now”– as if human consciousness exists only in “The Cloud”… and nobody handles physical objects anymore… 🙄)

A well-timed brochure can take up residence in someone’s home or place of business— and keep “calling” them to attention whenever they pass over it at their desk.

Unlike an online-only sales page— which, if abandoned, must be “retargeted” towards… often with great deliberation and tact.

The purpose of a brochure is exactly what you think it is: to give more information about services, products, coaching, etc.

And MAYBE pricing, bonuses, etc… but not ALWAYS.

But it’s not “information for information’s sake”. People can get information from a Google Search if they want it enough.

The real purpose is to drive a call-to-action that moves forward the buyer’s journey— one step closer towards the point of sale.

That may involve getting them on a “free consultation call”… or downloading a whitepaper… or redeeming a coupon for an immediate, time-limited discount.

An Info Packet fulfils a similar role to a Brochure… but with a few key differences:

1. Info Packets are generally more geared towards B2B coaches, consultants, and “done-for-you”/”done-with-you” service providers… as part of a “lead-qualifying” process (I have one of my own in digital form here for exactly this purpose);
   
   
2. Tend to focus more on solving objections… identifying common questions… and pre-empting whatever prospects are likely to want to know before getting on a consultation call;
   
   

Info Packets are usually sent by request only, whereas brochures may be sent “cold”, or in response to some other consumer action (eg: buying a related product in the marketer’s back-catalogue).

With Info Packets, the prospect’s put up their hands saying: “I’m interested— now convince me to the point I’m willing to talk face-to-face about _____.” The conversation is therefore more targeted, with a “pre-negotiated” agenda in front-of-mind.

A short video— usually 3-6 minutes but sometimes as much as around 18 minutes— with the purpose of delivering high quality informative content on a specific topic related to your core sales message.

Although a Video Explainer doesn’t typically have a direct sales pitch, it usually has a “hidden agenda” in that it nudges viewers towards a CTA that funnels them further into the sales process.

(In ecommerce, video explainers often accompany a “buy now” CTA. Not so much in Info-Marketing, however— although they are often used in conjunction with Product Descriptions to similar effect.).

The same can be said of ‘advertorials’— which are like the written equivalent of a video explainer, only with more of an “editorialised” content style.

Therefore, video explainers and advertorials can often be a great video + text combo as part of your sales funnel— not enough info-marketers are exploiting combinations such as these!

A short-copy advertisement with a brief, direct CTA.

Most commonly hosted via Google Adwords, or its equivalent.

The benefit of a PPC ad is you only pay for the traffic generated from clicking the ad. Rather than paying a flat fee or paying for “ad views”.

PPC Advertising is a discipline unto itself— and so, for best results, you should work with an Adwords Expert in addition to a copywriter. A PPC/ Adwords Strategist will help set up the technical side of operations… so the promotional copy ends up in front of the right people at the right time.

A “banner” ad appears at the top of a webpage, at the bottom, or down the left/right side (or both).

Their success depends largely on how well-targeted they are— but the copy and design elements are essential in grabbing attention.

A “popup” ad appears over the main website ‘body’.

And in many cases, a popup can be tied to a particular timing, or on-site action/ non-action.

eg: [make popup appear when] = [total time on webpage = >10 seconds] + [no_scrolldown].

Thus, they can be optimised to be “less annoying”– since popups have a lot of psychological “baggage” attached. Especially with older web users… who remember vividly… how every other website could have 5 or 6 popups in rapid succession.

Here in 2019, a successful Popup presents ONE targeted message, at ONE time, in ONE place, without interruption from other popups or flashy banners.

If you can avoid the “it’s spammy!” reaction, a strategic, well-placed popup can still be a viable means of generating leads, click-throughs, and opt-ins.

Any paid-for advertising copy on Facebook.

Most Facebook Ads appear either in the main ‘Timeline’ feed…

… or as a short-copy space ad in the right-hand sidebar.

“Best practices” for Facebook Ads are constantly changing— as they must adapt to Facebook’s ever-changing algorithms.

For example, if Facebook decides to de-platform “hard sell copy” in the main Timeline… then marketers will rush in droves towards “soft sell content” instead. Or vice versa.

However, there are a couple things to bare in mind that should hold up regardless of specific algorithm tweaks:

• Facebook wants to maximise the time users spend on-site— and, by extension, to minimize time users spend on other websites.
  
  As a result, the only logical endpoint of their algorithm changes is a shift towards in-site advertising. That is to say, they want your Ad copy and CTAs to drive readers to another Facebook page— or simply, to spend more time “engaging” with the page they’re already on.
  
  They’ve been slowly adding more and more in-site functionality for follow-up marketing for exactly this purpose. People can opt-in to your email list… buy your products… and sign up for events— all within Facebook’s internal infrastructure.
  
  At the time of writing, CTAs that lead off-site can still get ranked well enough by the Timeline algorithm. But it’s hard to say how long that can last. Every time someone goes off-site, Facebook limits their potential revenue yield.
  
  

• Facebook wants a positive user experience based on valuable— or entertaining— content that gets a lot of social engagement.
  
  Facebook is a beast sustained on a diet of “likes”, “shares”, “reacts”, and “comments”. The more people are entangled within the social fabric of the platform… getting a steady trickle of dopamine ‘hits’… the more likely they are to stick around.
  
  So if advertisers are putting out “spammy” sales messages that get users’ backs up… and those users then get frustrated and click-out of Facebook in their web browser… well… do you think Facebook are just gonna take that lying down…?

All this tells us something vital about how Facebook Ads should be written:

Use engaging, content-first sales copy that invites social engagement— in conjunction with a mix of ‘off-site’ and ‘in-site’ CTAs.

Also, your FB Ad success or failure will depend on how you manipulate the ‘Facebook Pixel’ for conversion optimisation.

By using the ‘Facebook Pixel’, you can set parameters for audience targeting, and can also adjust ad spend, along with other factors.

Learning to “game” the Pixel in your favour is as much a part of Facebook Ads as the written sales copy itself.

All the marketing content that appears on your website— with a deluge of inter-linking CTAs… that guide readers from one page to another… depending on which “bucket” they place themselves into.

For instance, you may have one “bucket” for people who want to find out more but aren’t ready for a hard sales pitch.

You may have another “bucket” for people who express a desire to speak with a member of our team.

And so on.

Therefore, your website content is best thought of NOT as a collection of disjointed “content dumps”.

But rather, you should view all that content as an inter-weaving, non-linear “conversation” with prospects.

Two site visitors may have two very different experiences of navigating through your website. They may have a similar overall conversation— but the order in which that conversation unfolds may be totally different.

Every webpage— every sub-section— fulfils a different-yet-related function within that wider sales conversation.

So it needs to anticipate: “where did this reader come from just now?– where are they heading?– which pathways are most likely to result in a sale, if mapped out from this webpage as a new starting point?”

A short-form sales pitch— focused on features, benefits, bullet points, proof elements, and demonstration-of-product.

May include a link to “find out more”… which brings readers to a full-length sales page. Along with a “buy now” or “apply today” CTA.

Product descriptions serve two primary functions:

1. To generate direct sales from ready-to-buy prospects;
   
   
2. To give a “birds-eye view” of a product and/or product range— and therefore, help prospects identify which solution is right for them… out of a “multiple-choice” range of solutions.

For best results, use in conjunction with sales pages.