Paid digital marketing is a hot term that people are using today. As the importance of having an online presence as a brand continues to skyrocket, individuals are trying to find more ways to stay relevant and grab the attention of their audience.
Organic marketing may be a lesser-used term in some circles, but no less noteworthy. Its aim is also to attract customers and get their attention, but in a way that’s built up over time and centered around great content.
Today’s article is all about uncovering the differences between these two tactics. We’ll talk about what they are and how they work on individual channels.
What is Organic Marketing?
Organic marketing means targeting your customers through real-time conversations while providing content and information that is most relevant to them.
At Vervology, we define it as such:
“Natural and authentic efforts used to increase awareness and add value to potential customers; efforts build brand recognition and loyalty over time; reliance upon real-time content; reactionary posts; sales trends.”
It’s less about necessarily getting individuals to take action right now and more centered upon creating trust between a brand and its audience.
The materials that you use are usually inexpensive to create, consisting of things like social media posts and articles that are optimized for local SEO and are carefully researched for your audience.
Organic Marketing Channels
On social media, organic marketing looks like individual posts that foster engagement and tell you more about that particular brand. The organization will take the time to thoughtfully respond to comments, as well as engage users to start unique conversations.
Blog posts are created with the intent to add value to users, as well as improve search results and local SEO. Keyword research is a necessity for organic marketing, as you want your brand to be the go-to source of information within your niche.
Overall, it’s focused on creating trust and loyalty, while also building up brand awareness.
What is Paid Digital Marketing?
Paid digital marketing, or paid advertising, tends to take a more aggressive approach. It is typically measured on a shorter time scale than organic marketing, the main goal being to reach the most amount of people in the shortest amount of time.
Because of this, paid digital marketing tends to rely on more expensive advertising, such as sponsored ads in Google and on social media channels.
It is typically highly targeted toward specific audiences since you want them to perform an action or buy a product right away. It has to be show-stopping and quickly grab someone’s attention.
Paid Digital Marketing Channels
As we previously mentioned, paid digital marketing does well on social media and in Google where you can buy a sponsored section. It can also take the form of giveaways and flash sales that draw a great deal of attention to your brand in a relatively short amount of time.
Organic Marketing vs Paid Marketing
1. Cost
As the name might suggest, paid digital marketing tends to have a higher price tag compared to organic marketing.
While posting on social media or a blog is typically free or inexpensive, paid digital marketing can take up 55% of total ad spend in 2021. It can cost businesses 10-20% of their total revenue.
The trade-off here is free production for loyal audience growth that will happen slowly over time, as opposed to large amounts of growth right away, but a potentially less-engaged following.
2. Brand Perception
An organic marketing strategy is great for boosting credibility, particularly for brands just starting out. That’s because the strategy is to tell customers more about yourself and to engage them with questions and answers.
Plus, a focus on local SEO within organic marketing can help boost your rankings in search engines, showing that your organization is highly knowledgeable about your industry.
A paid marketing strategy may give potential customers a snippet about their brand, but the main goal is to get someone’s attention in a very short period of time.
So, while someone might take the bait and make a purchase this one time, the customer relationship has not necessarily been built up, and they could walk away still knowing very little about the company beyond that one interaction. However, the business was successful in making that sale and establishing the connection.
3. Longevity
The organic content that you create for your strategy is what’s known as evergreen content. It will most likely be relevant for a long period of time, meaning it can be reused and repurposed in order to increase impact without putting in more hours to do so.
Paid content, on the other hand, serves a more specific purpose. It’s only meant to be used for the hours, days, or weeks that your campaign is going on. Most likely, the posts and content that went along with it will be removed and stored away after its run is over.
4. Time and Effort
By its very nature, organic marketing content is painstakingly and meticulously created so that it resonates with audiences and adds value to their lives over time. It has a longer shelf life, so it tends to be longer in length. It will be highly researched, due to the fact that it should go in-depth on important topics.
Paid digital marketing content comes together more quickly. It’s short and snappy, and the main goal is to grab attention and get people to act in the moment. Since it’s something that will only be relevant for a short period of time, it’s often created in a relatively short amount of time.
In Summary
When deciding what’s right for your individual brand, it’s important to know the differences between the types of marketing strategies out there. While paid digital marketing is focused on immediate results and targeted messaging, organic marketing is focused on the relationships and building up partnerships.
At Vervology, we focus on organic marketing and making your small business successful within local SEO. If you are looking to build natural and authentic connections with your audience, get in touch with us.
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