Should You Focus On Paid Or Organic Marketing?

Should You Focus On Paid Or Organic Marketing?

So, your business is up and running, and you’re ready for those leads or sales to start pouring in. 

The trouble is, that isn’t really happening. At this point, you might be looking for the silver bullet that will drive hordes of customers to your business. 

Is paid advertising the answer to all your prayers?

At the risk of being blunt – it’s not. At least not on its own.

In order to create successful results with your marketing, you need to do more than simply throw money at some ads.

You need to build a total marketing strategy, and that does include generating organic traffic.

So, which should you focus on? Organic marketing or paid marketing?

Let’s explore the answer to that question now.

Paid Ads Can Boost Your Brand Quickly

When considering where to focus your marketing energies, paid advertising is a good option to consider. After all, paid ads can bring immediate visibility results. It can help get you closer to the top of Google results or put your brand front and centre in people’s Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn feeds.

But. Paid ads only boost your brand if you have a solid marketing foundation to begin with. Because paid ads are just that – paid, they cost you money, and that’s something that is often tight for small businesses. So you need to use your paid advertising wisely.

There’s no point in having an ad for someone to click on it and be immediately disappointed with what they see on your website or social feed. People need somewhere great to go when they click on your ad – otherwise, you are just wasting money.

That means building up some organic marketing touchpoints. Your website needs to share what your brand stands for and explain why your products or services are so great. You’ll also need those social media channels humming by posting on them regularly to engage with your audience.

Organic Marketing Builds A Brand

So, if organic traffic is so powerful for brand building, should you avoid paid marketing altogether and just focus on organic marketing?

The short answer is it depends. if you have a cracker of a product offer with a very engaged customer base providing you with great reviews or social engagement and sharing (what is known as the digital equivalent of word of mouth) you’ll be in a really good place to continue growing from that and can look to paid advertising when you are ready to scale.

If not, then building your business by organic marketing alone can be a long process. You also need to be willing to put in the time, and it will take quite a bit of time. Writing copy for your website, blogging, posting, and engaging on social media are all time consuming tasks. And time is not always something you have a lot of as a small business owner.

But, What About The Algorithms?

Ahh yes, the A word – Algorithms. Organic marketing does leave you somewhat at the mercy of algorithms, whether those are Google’s or your chosen social media platform. Unless you hit the mythical sweet spot or get a lot of engagement, your posts may not deliver the reach you need to for your audience

Despite that, organic marketing helps you build a more rounded brand. It means that when people do find your website or social pages, they feel like they have struck gold with what they see.

When you market organically, you need to consider  taking  time to create content that is about more than just driving sales. Rather, it gives your visitors a real experience and feel for your product or service. And you can form better connections by being present on social media to share your ethos and help them get to know you as the business owner too. 

Striking The Right Balance

Confused by what you should focus on yet? Really you need to strike a balance of both organic and paid marketing to achieve your desired results.

Paid ads can help to amplify your brand. But, you need the brand to be solid first, and that’s where your organic efforts come in.

Make sure your customer service processes are in place so that when someone contacts you or places an order, everything happens just how they would expect. And make sure your offer fits with where you are targeting ads.

When your business’ vision and offering are great, paid ads can help sell it to the world. That’s why ads worked so well for Unde. Their vision, product offering  and customer experience were strong, they  just needed a little help to get to a wider audience.

Ready To Get Your Marketing Off The Ground? 

If your brand is built and you are ready to amplify it, then I can help you target your ads in the right way. 

Remember, there is no one size fits all when it comes to marketing. We’ll look at the best channels to place your ads on, the budgets that work and how to put together a great ad that will meet all the rules and generate results. We’ll also look at how you can measure those results to ensure you are getting the right benefits from your paid ads.

You can get it all done for you, or we can work together to identify any gaps in your customer journey so you can learn how to craft the correct type of marketing campaign for your business.