What Are The Different Types of Editorial Content?
Editorial content can be bucketed into the following types:
Interpretation Editorial
The goal of an interpretation editorial is to provide information on the most important current events or issues. These pieces are based on facts and no opinion is expressed, rather they attempt to explain the meaning or the significance of a situation or event.
Examples include news reports and featured articles about world affairs.
Criticism Editorial
A criticism editorial presents a news event through the eyes of a writer, who might either explicitly express an opinion, strive to influence the reader or inspire solutions to a problem.
Examples of criticism editorials are opinion-focused articles and columns.
Editorial of Appreciation
This type of editorial praises people who have done well in their line of work and recognize their achievements.
An example of an editorial of appreciation is an article focused on someone who discovered a new technology or won a prize.
Entertainment Editorial
As the most popular form of editorial content, these pieces are light in nature and cover a variety of topics, including pop culture, fashion, television and cooking.
Examples include columns, fashion “lookbooks,” travel pieces and book reviews.
Leverage High-Quality Journalism to Achieve Your Goals
As a company, you are on the constant quest to expand the awareness of your product, connect deeply with potential customers, and highlight your company’s expertise. For this reason, you will need to be able to differentiate advertising content and editorial content to make the most of your strategy.
Almost all successful, modern digital marketing agencies use both forms of content to their advantage, but what is editorial content?
What is Editorial Content?
Editorial content is content, whose primary purpose is to educate readers on a specific topic or issue. Editorial content is crafted and published by brands and organizations with the intention of informing, engaging or entertaining an audience. It differs from traditional marketing and is non-promotional in nature.
What Is Editorial Content in the Context of Content Marketing?
Editorial content in marketing is not intended to sell or advertise products or services. Examples can include thought-leadership articles, profiles, opinion pieces, informative videos, infographics and more. Editorial content can be produced in-house, licensed or commissioned by freelance journalists.
A good editorial should put forth an opinion with a refreshing perspective. It needs to be more than just a pure analysis, and it is crucial there is evidence supporting the author’s viewpoint. Editorial goes beyond objective reporting and can help your business create actionable and relevant content for your audience.
What is the Purpose of Editorial Content?
Editorial content seeks to provide an objective truth while educating audiences on a particular topic. This form of content seeks to be unbiased and does not promote a product or service. Editorial content can cover industry news and current events.
Editorial content plays an essential role in any content marketing strategy. By publishing pieces that are genuinely informative and relevant, marketers can connect with their target audiences by delivering value in a way that feels more authentic and credible than a purely sales-driven approach.
How Do Businesses Use Editorial Content?
There are many different ways that businesses can use editorial content. Whether it is to educate or demonstrate expertise, businesses position themselves as knowledgeable entities that are ready to offer their knowledge within the field by sharing perspectives and offering a solution. Editorial content offers an opportunity for companies to showcase their knowledge, experience, and authority without just focusing on just selling. If you are not taking out time to create content about aspects of your industry you are missing out.
What Is an Editorial Content Strategy?
An editorial content strategy involves creating a plan of action for producing and distributing editorial content. This strategy is often part of a larger content marketing strategy that may include sales material and other promotional items. The editorial portion of this strategy focuses exclusively on content designed to educate and engage audiences.
What Does It Mean to Take an Editorial Approach to Marketing?
When marketers begin to take an editorial approach to their marketing, they stop focusing on promoting products and instead turn their attention to an educational content strategy. While traditional advertising can have its place, thought leadership content and valuable insights have been shown to drive leads and conversions.
According to a study conducted by Edelman and LinkedIn, 54% of decision-makers made a purchase from a company that had not been on their radar after engaging with thought leadership. Additionally, 53% did more business with companies that created the thought leadership they engaged with.
Editorial Content vs. Traditional Content Marketing
The goal of editorial content is to inform and educate audiences. It has no ulterior motives and isn’t trying to sell products or services. It serves as a great addition to any educational content marketing strategy since its main purpose is to deliver valuable insights and information. One example of editorial content is thought-leadership articles, which strive to address a specific issue a customer is facing without incorporating a product pitch.
More traditional content marketing is similar in that it can help solve a client’s problems. However, it also typically includes a call to action or mentions a product or service that an organization is looking to promote. Both types of content are vital for a fully formed content strategy and play different roles during the customer journey. For example, editorial content can help to engage audiences initially and establish a brand’s credibility, driving them to engage with more promotional content as they move down the sales funnel.
What is the Difference between Editorial Content and Commercial Content?
Paying attention to the differences between editorial and commercial use is very important. Editorial content is not seeking to promote or directly sell to clients. These pieces are more educational in nature. On the other hand, commercial or advertorial content is seeking to convert prospects into clients or to upsell customers. These can include TV commercials with a short product pitch or brochure. This type of content is generally more sales-oriented.
Why Should Editorial Content Sound Different From Advertorial Content?
Editorial content and advertorial content are both crucial parts of a content marketing strategy but do not serve the same purpose and should not be used interchangeably. Advertorial content’s main purpose is to sell. Editorial content does not aim to sell a service or a product, instead, it seeks to add value and inform or comment on a specific industry. While these forms of content inform each other, they hold their own purpose and trigger different responses from your audience. Using both of these techniques is a great way to engage your audience while converting leads.
So why should editorial content have a different tone than advertorial? The main reason is that you risk losing customers' trust. When a customer is reading editorial content they are looking for entertainment or information, so if you try to sell to them you run the risk of tainting the relationship you have with them. It is important that organizations take note and pay attention to the difference in tone, intent and overall purpose of both editorial and advertorial content.
Examples of Editorial Journalism VS. Advertising Content
Editorial journalism can come in multiple different formats, including:
- Press releases,
- Lookbooks for fashion designers,
- Opinion articles that are written for publications and media outlets,
- Product reviews,
- An invite and coverage to a special event.
Whereas advertising content can look like:
- Following brand guidelines, such as using specified language from your brand in a post,
- Content that urges consumers to convert using a call-to-action,
- Banner ads promoting the brand on a website,
- Branded distribution of content on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram,
- Writing a post with specific links and images,
- Having the brand have final creative approval for brainstorming about the post, publishing and promotion.
- Content that is written directly on a website for a business.
Why Is Editorial Content Important to Your Content Strategy?
Editorial content is important since it helps provide value to your end users. Consider the following reasons to leverage editorial content in your strategy.
Content Matters in the Buyer’s Journey
The kind of content you offer customers through the buyer’s journey makes a difference. 90% of buyers in the business-to-business space say that content plays a major or moderate role in what they purchase. The average buyer also prefers a balance between human and nonhuman interaction during the sales process and has an average of 17 meaningful interactions with an organization before making a purchase. This means that the kinds of content customers interact with can have a big impact on how they view your company and whether they make a purchase. Editorial content can provide value and help build authenticity for a brand during the buyer’s journey.
Earn Credibility With Consumers
Creating editorial content such as thought-leadership pieces or instructional materials is an effective way for your organization to demonstrate expertise on a particular topic. By highlighting the skill set and knowledge of your team, you can build trust and credibility with audiences in an authentic way.
Additionally, your team can consider leveraging outsourced material from reputable publications. News articles and thought leadership content can be a great way to showcase objective information on industry trends and important ideas. Journalism can also be a great addition to your content strategy, since it provides a clear view on topics your audience cares about.
Reach Customers Where They Are
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on nearly every aspect of our daily lives, including how we interact with brands. Due to the reduced ability to interact with consumers in person, the customer experience is becoming almost exclusively digital. 65% of customers say that the digital experience on a website or app is a very important factor in their decision to buy from a brand. Incorporating editorial content into your digital experience can deliver value to your audiences where they are: online.
Increase Website Visibility
Another major reason to incorporate editorial content in your digital content strategy is search engine optimization. Google rewards companies that regularly post rich editorial content that is relevant to their business. Doing so can help both business-to-consumer and business-to-business companies draw new leads to their websites. B2B buyers are finding companies they want to work with through search — it’s the No. 1 tool in their arsenal when beginning the research process. Just over 70% of B2B buyers say they are searching on Google using generic terms.
Additionally, editorial content allows your team the chance to showcase unique content on your website. Today’s content marketing environment is becoming competitive, making it difficult to stand out amongst the noise. By providing thought-provoking and useful information, your team can improve traffic to your website.
Expand Your Audience
By leveraging content that informs instead of promotes, you can attract new audiences to your digital platforms who are looking for genuine advice and insight. Editorial content can expose your brand to curious-minded audiences who never would have found your organization otherwise. Editorial content can allow you to expand your target audience and connect with readers in genuine and authentic ways.
Improve Your Conversion Rates
Research shows that companies using content marketing are seeing conversion rates six times higher than those that are not. When creating content, it’s important to strike a balance between pieces that provide information about your products and those that provide insights from thought leaders. Developing or licensing editorial content can help you maintain that balance, thereby optimizing your content marketing strategy, as well as your general copywriting approach.
Save Money
Marketing teams worldwide were facing budget cuts when the pandemic arrived. 45% of marketers said they had to cut their budgets heading into 2020. Content marketing is an effective tool for generating leads and more cost-effective than traditional advertising, costing marketers 62% less, on average. Licensing editorial pieces can be a great way to make the most of your budget while still delivering value to your audience.
Using Editorial Content to Supplement Your Content Strategy
Now that we have gone over the benefits of editorial content, how do you start incorporating it into your strategy? It starts with developing a plan. Take the time to think carefully about who your editorial content will target. What kind of content would be most helpful for that audience? Would any topics be particularly engaging? Be mindful of the tone and style of your editorial pieces. Consider whether you want to develop pieces written by thought leaders in your organization that take a more personal tone or whether you want to license articles from leading publications that have a more authoritative voice. You also need to consider the format of the content. Editorial pieces can take many different forms, including as blog posts, social media posts, news content, videos, podcasts, white papers and more.
Here are some additional tips for incorporating editorial content into your content strategy:
- Target Audience: Identify who you’re targeting. What segments of your audience do you want to engage? What type of leads do you hope to generate?
- Type of Content: Brainstorm what you’ll say. What kind of content will engage your prospects and customers? What do they want or need to know about your company and its solutions?
- Editorial Style: Be mindful of the tone and style of your editorial pieces.
- Who is Writing the Pieces: Consider whether you want to develop pieces written by thought leaders in your organization that take a more personal tone or whether you want to license articles from leading publications that have a more authoritative voice.
- Format: Consider the format of the content. Editorial pieces can take many different forms, including blog posts, social media posts, news releases, videos, podcasts, white papers and more.
How To Fit Editorial Content Into Your Strategy
Tying your content to your strategy can only happen by properly planning your content so it looks, sounds, and feels consistent every time, while also serving the overarching goal your company has. Editorial strategy involves leveraging high-quality content across platforms with the purpose to grow a strong community that will eventually turn into loyal customers.
Your content strategy will need to reflect the goals of the business, while determining which platform is best for reaching various stages of the marketing funnel. Your blog strategy may seek to drive traffic and generate leads, while your newsletters may be used to nurture your database. Ultimately what you want the consumer to do after they go to your source varies. The best way to integrate editorial content into your strategy is to pay attention to user experience so that it informs your editorial content plans. Editorial content strategy will include the following:
- Identifying your target audience
- Establishing guidelines- develop content themes
- Making your content channels cohesive
- Develop a content editorial calendar
Creating a strong editorial strategy that aligns with your organization's goals is the key to your company's success.
How to Use Editorial Content
Editorial content is an essential part of a well-balanced content mix for most organizations. In order to incorporate this content strategically, you need to consider three key factors: who you’re targeting, what kind of content will engage them and how you want the content to feel stylistically. Editorial content can be created in-house by your writing or marketing teams. You can also utilize the expertise of thought leaders within your organization to develop content focused on niche topics of interest. Another option is to license high-quality editorial content directly from prominent publications whose content already adheres to strict standards. Many publishers are willing to license their articles, images and even videos for use in your content strategy. Topics from these publishers can include financial news, business insights, or entertainment news.
Where to Distribute Editorial Content
Now that you’ve brainstormed the type of editorial content your organization will develop or license, it’s critical to consider how you’ll distribute it. One of the more straightforward uses of thought-leadership pieces and other editorial content is to leverage them to engage audiences on your company blog or website. These pieces can then in turn be shared across social channels and used to drive brand awareness and attract new leads. Additionally, these pieces can be leveraged in email newsletters to engage subscribers and deliver value. Editorial content can also serve as the subject matter for live events or webinars that can help your audience understand an issue or solve a problem.
How Do You Develop an Editorial Strategy?
Marketers looking to leverage an editorial content strategy effectively should first consider developing an editorial content plan. A content plan is a developed strategy that lays out clearly defined goals, key performance indicators, topics of interest and a content calendar that can help marketers make the most of their editorial content.
1. Assemble a Team with the Right Skill Set:
Many content marketers have editorial backgrounds, and for good reason: Writers and editors have the experience and skills necessary to identify stories that matter to their readers and are able to deliver high-quality, trustworthy content that can engage audiences. When assembling your team, look for candidates who have editorial expertise and a knack for storytelling.
It’s also important to identify when to outsource content development. Choosing the right partners for content creation can be a difficult challenge for brands to overcome. However, by working with thought leaders or reputable publications, your team can supplement your in-house content production with additional high-quality assets that will deliver value to your audience.
2. Identify the Target Audience
To create an effective content plan and strategy, you must define and understand your target audience. Identifying your primary audience, as well as their interests, can help you develop content that represents your target personas by illustrating their buying habits, demographics and goals.
Consider the following before creating content:
- What challenges does your target audience face?
- What types of content formats do they typically engage with?
- What industry publications do they read?
- Where do they engage with content?
3. Establish KPIs
Every marketing plan should have KPIs that determine the success of the program. For editorial content, these goals can involve lead generation metrics or brand awareness metrics (such as open rates in emails or engagement rates on social). These goals should be agreed on prior to starting any campaign.
4. Audit Your content
Using a content audit to help identify gaps will be a critical first step in creating this plan. Leveraging information from this audit can help your content team determine which types of assets perform better and the topics that resonate with audiences.
5. Conduct a Competitive Audit
A competitive audit will further help you identify gaps in your own content. Are there particular challenges your competitors are talking about that are not addressed in your content? Take a look across their social channels, newsletter campaigns, and blog articles.
6. Create a Content Strategy:
After finding the right team, the next step is to create a thoughtful strategy that considers your content marketing goals, the type of editorial content you’re looking to create, when it will be created, how it will be distributed and how you’ll measure its success. Be sure to also document your strategy and your content calendar, so teams can collaborate and know what is expected. Having a defined plan before you start creating content will give your team direction and set you up for long-term success.
Be sure to also connect across departments for ideas. Sales, business development, and product may be able to offer new insights that you can add to your editorial content calendar.
7. License Content Where There May Still Be Gaps:
Even with an editorial team in place, it can still be difficult for most marketers to consistently produce high-quality editorial content on an ongoing basis. Outsourcing content directly from publishers can be a good way to supplement the original work your team is producing. Determine the gaps in editorial content you have via a content audit and then do some research into the potential publishers you can partner with to license the editorial pieces you need.
8. Measure Your Success
How can you tell if your editorial content is engaging your audience?
As you begin implementing your content, make sure to keep track of the necessary data points. Depending on your marketing goals, you may measure success by:
- Increasing your web traffic
- Improved social media presence
- Increases in leads and overall sales
When you pay attention to your content marketing goals and KPIs, it allows you to make tweaks to your content, so you can better engage your target audience. Your editorial content shares a unique voice - but that voice can change, develop and grow over time.
The Benefits of Licensing Editorial Content
Licensing content from publishers gives you access to an archive of content that is ready to use and of exceptional quality, saving your team the time needed to develop pieces from scratch. Editorial content from publishers is already vetted and adheres to stringent editorial standards. The articles are written by professional writers who are expert business storytellers and understand how to engage an audience. Through licensing, you can also leverage leading voices in your industry. For example, you can license content from The New York Times written by prominent figures in business, economics, health and more. By leveraging credible sources, you can build trust and respect between your organization and your audience.
Types of Editorial Content
There are several different kinds of editorial content pieces your team can leverage. Below are some examples:
Persuasive Editorials
Editorials that utilize persuasion to take a firm stand on a problem or condition are very popular. These editorials attempt to persuade the reader to think of a topic from their perspective. They typically propose solutions or advice to take some definite action.
Informative Editorials
Informative editorials attempt to take the news and explain the meaning or significance of it. There are many kinds of editorials that fall under this category, which range from more general background information, to articles that identify and inform readers on issues.
Tributary Editorials
Tributary types of editorials may be a tribute to an individual or provide praise for a person or activity.
Entertainment Editorials
Entertainment editorials have two different categories: humor and satire. When it comes to lighter topics, humor is typically the course of action. On the other hand, if the topic is a bit more serious, a slightly more satirical route is usually the way writers go about it.
Editorial Content Examples
Brands are leveraging editorial marketing to better connect with their consumers. Below are some examples of companies who are utilizing editorial content in their strategy.
AdvisorStream Leverages Editorial Content to Drive Brand Credibility
AdvisorStream looked to expand its editorial content offerings with licensed third-party articles. Delivering trustworthy editorial content was crucial to AdvisorStream because it helped to drive brand credibility and provide users with valuable information. Between January to June 2020, they were able to improve their lead capture by 260%.
ESPN Uses Editorial Content to Showcase Historical Events
ESPN used TimesMachine, a browser-based digital replica of every edition of The New York Times published between 1851 and 1980, to contextualize the storytelling components with precise historical detail of events both on and off the field. This resulted in over 3,000 tweets about the newsmaking events of the 1927 season.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Does Editorial Content Include?
Since editorial content provides commentary or information on many different subjects there is a wide range of content it can include:
- News articles and publications
- Nonfiction books
- Documentaries- informative videos
- White papers
- Graphics
- Research reports
- Videos
Final Thoughts
When it comes to quality content marketing, incorporating editorial content into your strategy is a highly effective way to build trust with your audience and deliver value. The difference between editorial content and traditional content marketing boils down to the intention behind the content itself. Editorial pieces are written to educate, engage or inform an audience without promoting a particular product or service. Utilizing this type of content can offer your organization a variety of benefits, including building your credibility, improving the buyer’s journey and growing your business and brand awareness.
Marketers looking to create editorial content should take the time necessary to develop a content plan and hire a team with solid editorial skills, while also considering the possibility of licensing pieces from reputable publishers to drive further engagement.
