Reaching a Quality Audience through Custom Content Creation

When it comes to the ongoing debate between content marketing and pay per click (PPC) marketing, there may never be a final answer to which is the better strategy. And when it comes to business, the last thing you want is ambiguity. But while there may be no ‘correct’ answer, that doesn’t mean you can’t find the right option depending on your company’s goals and budget. To help reduce that dreaded ambiguity, we’ll discuss some of the ways content marketing, like the one offered in our CM 2.0 services, can be more beneficial than its PPC counterpart.

SEE ALSO: 5 Tips to Create a Winning Content Marketing Strategy in 2016

Sprint Vs. Marathon

Which is a better athlete, a sprinter or a marathoner? At the highest level, this is what a content marketing versus PPC campaign debate boils down to. There’s no denying the benefits of PPC ads. As soon as you place your ad, your company rises to the front page of Google ahead of your competition. The effect is immediate, but it’s not long-lasting. You have to keep paying for the ad to keep running.

Meanwhile, a content marketing campaign tends to take longer to produce results. First an editorial calendar is created around key phrases that are important to the client (home automation, home security, etc.) Original blogs are then written with those key phrases incorporated within the copy. When Google crawls your website, it will recognize the page is relevant to people searching for that phrase.

These results are much more lasting despite only paying once for a specific piece to be written. As long as you have content focused on a specific key phrase, it will continue to rank in search engine results unlike PPC ads which require a continuous investment. If you keep producing fresh, quality content, you’ll keep ranking. To learn more, you can read our blog on how to craft a successful content marketing campaign.

Paid Vs. Organic Search Results

At the top of a Google search result page you’re going to see paid results—usually the first, three or four entries. You’ll notice they’re paid because they have a yellow “Ad” label underneath. Sure there’s a benefit to being at the top of the page. But let’s be honest, how many times have you purposely bypassed the ad results when searching for something?

Though it may not always be the case, people are likely to believe a paid search result is not as good since it had to pay to be there. Internet users also don’t want decisions to be made on their behalf. This means they’ll likely to jump to the first organic result that comes after the paid searches.

Benefits Of Editorial Content

Let’s say users do decide to click on one of your PPC ads. What is the ad linking to? Pay per click campaigns can have extremely high bounce rates. This means people click on the result and immediately either close the window or return to the previous page. This is because these ads generally lead to home pages, e-commerce pages or contact pages.

Organic search results tend to have lower bounce rates since they link to much more relevant and engaging content. A new study from MDG Advertising found that 70 percent of Internet users are more likely to make a purchase when they can learn about products through content rather than regular advertising.

A Comprehensive Solution

PPC can be efficient as a secondary option, but you need to have a strong foundation first. When people click on your paid searches, make sure they’re being taken to the right place. This is why you should invest in a well-designed website and quality content before deciding to take on a pay per click campaign.

Do you want to learn more about our content marketing solutions? Check out our list of creative services to find out some of the ways we help you distribute your content and enhance your brand. If there are any questions that weren’t answered, feel free to leave a comment below.