If you’re reading this blog, it either means that you’re confused about organic vs paid marketing or you probably have a limited marketing budget to work your magic.
Either way, you’re at the right place.
Before you make a choice, you’ll need to understand the characteristics of organic and paid marketing and the benefits they’ll bring to your digital marketing strategy.
So, let’s have a look at organic vs paid marketing, and find out how they can add maximum value to your marketing strategy.
Let’s get started!
Differences Between Organic vs Paid Marketing
Digital marketing is not one-size-fits-all. Brands often use a variety of gimmicks to engage with their audience to increase website traffic and conversions.
The only thing that differs is which strategy they implement: Organic or Paid.
While these two can certainly create something amazing together, it’s still important to understand their differences so you can structure the perfect digital marketing strategy for your brand.
Let’s go over what organic and paid marketing is and what are their key differences so you have a better understanding of how they complement each other to create a comprehensive and a symbiotic marketing strategy.
What is Organic Marketing?
Organic marketing is marketing that drives traffic to your website without you spending any dime on it. Also known as inbound marketing, organic marketing primarily relies on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to bring readers to your website.
Say, an individual enters a search query on Google or any other search engine and clicks the link that appears in the search results that then directs him to a particular website. This is organic marketing at work. Instead of annoying potential customers with a barrage of ads, organic marketing draws customers in with quality content they want to see.
Content marketing is at the heart of organic marketing as organic marketing depends on the creation of relevant and informative content that attracts, engages, nurtures, and converts prospective customers.
The ultimate goal of organic marketing is not to drive sales or increase conversions but to engage and educate your audience. Organic tactics are authentic and value-based and the benefits you derive from them are developed over a period of time.
What is Paid Marketing?
Paid marketing is the type of marketing where you pay a publisher(a newspaper, Facebook, or Google) to feature your ads. These ads are specifically targeted towards a selected audience and provide a pathway for conversion. Paid marketing shares the same goal as organic marketing that is – to attract visitors (and potential customers) but it takes it a step further.
Paid marketing allows you to reach your ideal target audience directly instead of waiting with the hope that someday, someone will click and read your blog as in organic marketing. Paid marketing is more than just sales and conversions i.e. it encourages the audience to take some action like purchasing a digital product or registering for a webinar.
However, paid marketing is not as simple as creating and publishing an ad. You need to maximize your return on investment (ROI) and to achieve this you need adequate knowledge and experience with ad placement opportunities, bidding process, and the best practices for ad content.
‘So, why should I pay for ads, when I can reach my customers organically?’
Well, to answer that you’ll need to know the fundamental differences between paid and organic marketing. Here are those differences:
- Organic marketing can be evergreen but paid marketing is temporary: Organic content like blogs can generate traffic throughout years if it can retain its relevance. Evergreen content can be thought of as a gift that keeps on giving.
However, the same cannot be said for paid marketing. Once you stop paying for it, the results stop coming in too. - Organic marketing takes time while paid delivers instant results (if you do it right): Organic marketing is a long-game approach and takes months to deliver results. Even after you get results you’ll have to constantly optimize the content to keep the traffic flowing.
The same cannot be said for paid marketing. Once you create an appealing ad and optimize it, you can immediately start seeing results. However, you will have to constantly monitor your ad and optimize it for better results. - Organic marketing is cheaper than paid: As long as you have a decent understanding of SEO techniques, you can optimize your website for organic search with little to no budget.
As for paid marketing, the higher your budget, the higher your chances of success are. However, this doesn’t mean that individuals with lower budget cannot be successful; it’s all about how trustworthy your ad is.
Benefits of Organic Marketing vs. Paid Marketing
Before making your pick for the paid vs organic marketing rivalry, consider your business needs and what each has to offer you. Below, I’ve listed the benefits of organic as well as paid marketing.
Benefits of Paid Marketing
- Connect with your audience instantly.
- Makes it easy to track sales.
- Makes it easy to track ROI.
- Easy to set up and can be used to boost other marketing efforts.
- You only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
- You get maximum control over incoming traffic.
Benefits of Organic Marketing
- Cheaper than paid marketing.
- Helps build trust with the audience.
- Organic can provide higher ROI.
- Organic isn’t unsolicited.
- Organic helps you build a strong foundation.
Why Choose When You Can Use Both?
In the raging paid vs organic marketing debate, there’s no definitive winner.
However, if you think of it; there can be a winner and it’s YOU!
Both offer immense value in their own way. If you can find the perfect balance between them, then you’re gold. You’ll have your double-edged sword that builds lasting relationships with customers and also increases your brand awareness.
Sounds like a WIN to me!
If you haven’t considered integrating paid and organic marketing in your digital marketing strategy, now is a good time to start!