Content Marketing vs Digital Marketing – Which is Better for Your Business?

Marketing nowadays has evolved in many ways, and there are some that you didn’t recognize that it’s already a marketing strategy. But the common thing is that when you think of marketing, it would always come along with sales. Common marketing terminologies used are digital marketing and content marketing, both are often intermingled and can be confusing knowing the difference between the two. 

What is the difference and which strategy should your business be using? In this article, we will give you answers that will give you an idea of which perfectly suits your business.

Content Marketing

As defined by the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is a technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.

The strategy for content marketing is different from traditional marketing where it focuses on product-specific info to gain more sales. This type of marketing includes things like educational articles, e-books, videos, courses, entertainment, and webinars that answers specific questions from people. Content marketing shifts away from focusing on the brand, products or services, however, its focus is more on to your audience and on what they care about. Therefore, valuable and relevant content really matters since the goal is to provide as much value to your target audience. You’ll know if your content isn’t valuable when people won’t seek it out or they’re not consumed to it. 

Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing is defined as all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or internet. Businesses use digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and other websites to connect with customers where they spent most of their time online. Many of these businesses use top Digital Marketing Companies to manage their campaigns.

With digital marketing, there are endless possibilities and strategies to use to get creative and experiment with marketing tactics on a budget. It is similar to traditional marketing, but it only uses digital devices. Digital marketing is considered a form of inbound marketing and its goal is for people to find your business. The more they will see you online, the more familiar they will become with your brand and they will eventually develop trust and rapport with you through this online presence.

Content Marketing Types vs Digital Marketing

How can your brand use content and digital marketing strategically? Which of these marketing strategies are more effective?

Content marketing uses content to engage the audience and listed below are the basic types of it:

 Blogs

Speaking of content, the first thing comes first is the blog. Our company, 99Robots ensures that we produce blogs on a regular basis that are appropriate for our target audience. If you produce properly researched and quality content, then your audience will trust and consider you as an expert on the field. Blogging can help increase your rank in search. If it’s done correctly, then your blog will show up at the top of Google search’s result. As you work regularly with the blogs, schedule them accordingly which includes how often will you blog in a month and also list potential topics that you want to include. 

There may be several topics to include, but always consider that you should include what your company does best, discuss the trends in your industry, and you can show to your audience the story and culture of your company. The most important thing about blogging is that you give your audience information that is valuable to them. 

Post Photos 

In content marketing, it’s not just about words but photos are content as well. When posting on any of your social media platforms, use high quality and relevant photos. The picture needs to tell a story or be informative as well. Don’t just post randomly, but take time to curate your post well and see the difference in your ROI.

Be creative and entertaining as well with your photos, especially on posting in social media. You can include memes, Instagram stories, and more. Come up with something that can stand out against other social media posts. 

Infographics

These are generally long, vertical graphics that include statistics, charts, graphs, and other information that gives an easy-to-understand overview of a topic. The most visually unique and creative are often the most effective because they grab attention, but infographics must do more than excite and engage. It must help the audience understand and remember the content of the infographic.

Videos

Videos and podcasts are a largely untapped form of content marketing because people think it’s expensive and difficult to produce. However, most customers would purchase a product once they have seen the video about it. YouTube as being the top and is the second most used search engine next to Google. You can use videos depending on your brand and audience so you can level up your content.

Digital marketing is where sales come in, they need to be effective in content marketing as well. Below are the listed types:

Search Engine Optimization

SEO is a digital marketing strategy that maximizes the number of visitors to your website by ensuring that your site appears high on the list of results on the search engine. You will optimize Google search results, however, this is not a one-time step that can be achieved right away. It takes a process, investment of time and effort in making this happen. When you optimize your site the right way, your company will show up when your customers search for your chosen keywords. You need to optimize your website, if not, your audience will not see your website, then there will be no sales.

Pay Per Click

PPC (pay-per-click) is a paid form of search engine marketing, where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. Essentially, it’s a way of buying visits to your site instead of attempting to earn those visits organically. If you have funds allocated for PPC advertising, you can show up number one in Google’s ad space for your keyword every time it is searched. Search engines will reward PPC advertisers who can create relevant, targeted PPC campaigns by charging them less for ad clicks. Isn’t that rewarding enough? So in doing PPC, you have to do it right. 

Social Media Advertising

All social media platforms have pay-per-click advertising options to fit a wide range of budgets along with opportunities to boost the content. On social media advertising, sponsored ads are used wherein the brand pays to promote their social media posts and it will reach specific targeted people and locations. The goal is to make your customers see the ad and eventually they shall make the purchase. 

An example of a Facebook Sponsored Ad

An example of an Instagram Sponsored Ad

Content Marketing and Digital Marketing

So, have you decided which one to use? Which is more effective for your business? Well, the truth is you don’t have to choose. Integrating these marketing strategies will boost engagement and sales when used together properly. Regardless of what type of marketing strategy you will use, content marketing should always be part of the process. Quality content is part of all forms of marketing. To distribute the content, you will need the help of digital marketing to reach its target audience and create sales. 

Combining both of these strategies requires an investment of time, effort and creativity. Digital marketing and content marketing should not be used separately, but they always intertwined with each other. Create a strategy that will suit your brand’s goal and your audience.