With so many marketing strategies, it begs the question, which is better?

In this article, two are put against each other: content marketing and advertising.

Content Marketing VS Advertising: The Financial and Non-Financial Returns

Content marketing has grown extensively with the dawn of the internet. As a matter of fact, it has become the norm for every marketer.

On the other hand, advertising is the traditional way to market and is still widely practiced in different industries.

What is Content Marketing?

To pin the two against each other, each should first be defined on what they really care about.

Content marketing is a strategy that capitalizes on content. It can come in the form of articles, videos, and images. However, it is more than just creating content, but curating ones that hold value.

In essence, you create helpful content that your audience will search for. Through this, you increase your brand visibility in the market, create loyal customers, and be a trustworthy figure in the industry.

What is Advertising?

Before the dawn of the internet, anything related to marketing was called advertising. Now that there is more than one way to advertise, it is categorized as anything that you forcefully put in front of an audience to introduce your product or service. More specifically, this is called traditional advertising.

Content Marketing Financial Return: Cheaper

One of the reasons why content marketing is the talk of the town is because of how economical it is. Compared to traditional advertising and other outbound marketing strategies, content marketing is perceived to be 62% cheaper.

Other than spending less, content marketing brings in the most outcome. At a much cheaper cost, it brings in more than three times as many leads.

In the business sector, anything that is cheaper is better. The smaller the operational costs, the more money that translates to revenue. That’s why content marketing is continuously becoming harder to resist for any business in any industry.

Content Marketing Non-Financial Returns

For a much cheaper price, content marketing brings a lot to the table. As a matter of fact, there are three main reasons why it can bring the most change and improvement to your business.

Changeability

Content marketing is not about forcing material in front of an audience but waiting for the right people who need your content to find it. It then sparks conversations which helps you to further understand your market.

So, content marketing is not a one-sided marketing strategy. You are able to learn what to do better from the people who are purchasing your product or service.

Therefore, you can make necessary changes from the statements of the people who are actively using what you are offering.

Creates Interactions

As mentioned, content marketing is all about creating conversations with your customers. But other than allowing you to learn from them, there is another thing that you can benefit.

The more people talk about your content, the more frequently your brand and product gets mentioned. When that happens, you get more visible in the market, and also, you become more relevant. This then drives the growth of your positive reputation.

Creates Loyalty

If there is one thing that helpful content does, it is making your customer feel that they matter. They feel the need to give back and that mostly translates to loyalty.

Advertising Financial Returns: Faster ROI

While content marketing may be the cheapest, advertising can bring a faster return on investment. Even if it costs more, advertising brings the product in front of an audience, instead of waiting for them to search for it. So, the outcome is much more instantaneous.

Advertising Non-Financial Return: Faster Audience Engagement

The goal of both marketing strategies is to get your brand in front of an audience and get seen. However, content marketing concentrates more on creating quality leads. On the other hand, advertising is all about acquiring more and in a much faster way.

When opting for advertising, the waiting time for success is much less because you bring your product to your audience. So, it exponentially grows engagement unlike any other.

Which is Better?

At this point, you have read that both content marketing and advertising have their fair share of benefits. As a matter of fact, what they bring to the table are quite different from each other. With that said, no one is better than the other, but instead, they are great and stand out in their own right.

This is what explains why even until now, traditional advertising is still being widely practiced, even for massive corporations. While it may have been the marketing of yesterday, it still has its fair share of benefits when applied alongside content marketing.

When performing content marketing, you are able to create a group of quality and repeat customers. However, in order to increase that size and reach a certain level of success in a short period of time, advertising needs to be a part of the picture.

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