The Key Differences Between Content Marketing vs Advertising
With the world becoming more digital all the time, brands are trying to find better ways of building audiences and creating leads that convert. This is where content marketing vs advertising comes in.
While content marketing and advertising serve different purposes, they all work together to support your digital marketing goals. Content marketing helps you gain a competitive edge through organic traffic while advertising drives qualified leads to your site. Where advertising promotes your brand, content marketing develops relationships.
Instead of seeking people’s attention, content marketing brings people to you because you’re offering them what they want. So, what do these two terms entail? Let’s break it down.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing involves creating an element of trust between you and your audience. As the name suggests, it’s a marketing strategy of funneling leads toward your brand by creating and sharing relevant, valuable, and reliable content.
Brands use various methods and types of content marketing as a strategy to build an audience. For instance, this blog you are reading is an example of content marketing. Other types of content marketing include:
- Video content
- Whitepapers
- Articles
- Podcasts
- Infographics
- Ebooks
- Webinars
What is Advertising?
Advertising has been in existence for as long as anyone can remember. The only difference is modern-day marketing takes twists and turns to fit into current demands. Advertising is a marketing strategy where brands directly influence their audiences by calling attention to a product or service to promote its sale.
Advertising has evolved, and it does not just exist within the scope of tv, radio, and print media. Some of the types of advertising that brands leverage within social platforms include:
- Pay Per Click
- Display Ads
- Social Media Ads
- Video Ads
- Native advertising
- Retargeting
The Differences Between Content Marketing Vs Advertising
To understand the key distinction in content marketing vs advertising, let us again break down the two under different objectives.
Brand vs Product Recognition
Content marketing focuses a lot on brand recognition, which flows toward product recognition. For instance, if a brand deals with animal care products, they will create content, perhaps using videos that show how taking care of animals is good. Therefore, while the audience leans their emotions toward the content, they also concurrently build trust in the brand and might eventually purchase the product or service.
On the other hand, marketing focuses on direct product recognition. Consequently, brands will tailor their marketing strategies directly to appeal to the audience to purchase their product. Advertising also entails brand recognition but not as the top priority.
Cost Demand
Both content marketing and advertising require brands to incur costs. However, advertising may sometimes demand more cost compared to content marketing. Advertising on social platforms requires brands to pay to reach their target audience.
On the other hand, content marketing requires more effort in curating relevant content before the audience finds their way to your brand. As such, advertising costs you money to reach your target, while content marketing costs you effort and strategy to reach your target audience.
Work with Pink Dog to Streamline Your Content Marketing and Advertising
At Pink Dog digital, we understand how challenging it can be to develop creative and quality content for your brand. We have a team of experienced copywriters with expertise in content marketing and can help you create compelling content that will attract the right audience.
As your digital advertising partner, Pink Dog Digital will examine all the available angles to help you determine the best option for you, your intended audience, and your budget. We aim to put you on the most appropriate platform without breaking the bank.Get in touch with us today through the contact form on our website, email us at pinkdogdigital@gmail.com, or give us a call at (410) 696-3305.