If writing isn’t your day job, and for most of us it’s not, you might be unsure what editorial actually is. Quite simply, it’s an article that is intended to inform, educate or entertain.
It’s completely different to advertising, so avoid anything that screams ‘buy’!
Drafting editorial about your business for a magazine, can seem daunting if you’ve not done it before.
Follow these tips and you can create content that will be pleasing to editors and readers alike.
Create a working title
Start with something basic, such as, ‘We’ve been voted best restaurant in Kent’. You can amend it later to a more attention-grabbing headline but to start with, this will help to focus your writing.
Keep referring back to it; if your text starts veering away from the headline, take that sentence out unless it provides some context or necessary extra information.
It’s not an advertisement
Editorial should be a good read above all else, while also portraying your business favourably. If a reader feels they’re being sold to when they were simply looking to read a news piece, educational content or something interesting, you could lose them.
If your story angle is: ‘’Dine at our fantastic restaurant!”, that’s advertising, and it belongs on an ad page.
Keep your audience in mind
Remember that editorial should serve the reader, not the subject.
Apply the ‘so what?’ test; ask yourself if you were reading the article about another business, would it really interest you? Is the topic genuinely useful, enlightening, or intriguing?
Length
This varies hugely so always check first. Plus, some titles will only take submissions in the form of a press release which they’ll use to create their own article, if it’s of interest; in this instance, it should be two pages maximum.
Add headers throughout to break it up and help the eye glide easily through the piece.
