Content Marketing is King: 10 Reasons Why Content is Better for Your Business than Ads

Entrepreneurs experience many challenges as they try to expand their business visibility either physically or digitally, improve brand awareness as well as build a bottom line.

However, they can achieve these goals using various forms of content marketing or through paid ads on social media platforms and search engines. The challenge is finding a better choice between the two.

Creating unique content is time-consuming, and a lot of effort is needed to regularly generate high-quality posts.

On the other hand, you have to pay for a premium spot for your ads to be seen by your target audience. Also, people are routinely skipping paid listings while others are using plugins to block them. Worse still, some casual browsers don’t even see them.

It’s evident that both content marketing and ads have their unique challenges, but their objective is to attract, engage and persuade the target audience to take action such as engage, purchase or even advocate.

The post will review the two methods and tell you why you should opt for content marketing over ads to drive traffic and increase sales.

Content marketing is King

Content marketing involves creating content specifically for your target audience. Readers can find your articles online when they browse on search engines, social media, or as links from other bloggers or sites.

The approach of generating high-quality content takes longer before you start seeing good results. However, once it begins working, content marketing will pay back your initial investment multiple times over. Content marketing is comparable to building your house versus renting one. Owning a home has long-term gains the same way optimizing for organic search is effective years later.

Pros

It Generates Better Leads

You get higher quality leads with content marketing than with any other method such as ads. Organic search traffic is very effective because it generates a huge volume of leads and has a higher conversion rate.

So, content marketing brings in high-quality leads that are more likely to buy your offerings.

More Cost-Effective

Content marketing requires a single upfront investment, and you’re good to go. When you publish a unique post, it begins to climb the search engine result ranks. Thus content generates leads and clicks, which you don’t pay for.

Plenty of Content Creators

There are so many agencies with experienced content creators that fit your brand voice. They will create good content worth your time and money, as well as that can drive traffic.

You Have More Control

Content marketing gives you more control over certain elements such as image dimensions, word count, and more.

This freedom allows you to create content that resonates with the target audience; thus, they can truly engage, progress through the funnel, and increase your ROI.

Cons

It Takes Time to Generate Reasonable ROI

Content marketing may take several months before you can begin to notice any substantial results. However, when they start streaming in, they will be good enough.

A good post with an evergreen topic may require reasonable internet traffic before attracting the target audience and growing your Google rankings.

So, content marketing takes time before it builds momentum, but the ROI will come hard and fast once it starts happening.

Paid ads for Immediate Visibility

The paid advertising entails paying for views and clicks every time a user clicks a link on the content online, search engine, and social media ads to buy a product. These paid ads get your products in front of your targeted audience, thus giving your brand immediate visibility.

Pay-per-click ads have immediate benefits, but they are short-lived. The business owner is charged when a user clicks on the SERP listing. However, it’s a great way to reach and remain at the top of Google, but you have to continue oozing money because you don’t have a decent content marketing campaign.

Pros

Paid Ads Place You at the Top

Paid-per-click instantly takes you to the top of the search results. However, you have to have a relevant page and bid your keyword on Google Adwords. Google will place your ad at the top only if your bid is high enough.

This will give you incredible visibility, which makes up for the investment you are putting to be at the top of Google’s search results.

Cons

They Require a Lot of Money

You have to drown in money for you to maintain that good long-term PPC strategy because you’re charged when a user clicks on the SERP listing.

So you have to spend money to be at the top of the results in order to generate more traffic.

Visibility Disappears When You Stop Paying

Your visibility vanishes when you fail to pay for the pay-per-click. This is different with content marketing, where your site climbs to the top of SERPs slowly, but it remains there as long as the content remains relevant.

The Ads can be Costly Based on Your Niche

The amount paid for the pay-per-click varies from industry to industry. For instance, some niches have highly competitive keywords such as legal hence higher pay-per-click. The average cost can be as high as $5.88 per click for this industry.

Other industries such as ecommerce, employment, and education have an affordable price which is around $2.32 per click.

Conclusion

The article has reviewed the pros and cons of both content marketing and paid advertising. Content marketing involves giving your target audience high-quality blog posts that attract their trust and loyalty. Such content keeps them coming for more, thus increased profits.

Paid advertising involves paying to get that prime spot which generates a lot more traffic. However, you have to pay to remain at the top of the search engine results page.

Content will not give you instant success, while ads don’t always mean crap. They will both be effective if and only if they remain relevant and add value to the target audience.

All the same, content marketing is more beneficial than ads because it offers you long-term results and better ROI. But you should choose the right method for business based on your situation. At times, it’s best to combine the two strategies.