Organic marketing or paid marketing?
Let’s settle the debate once and for all.
Social media managers and paid marketeers have been debating this for ages. One says that organic marketing is dying and the other says paid marketing is ‘too salesy’. Let me chime in on this never ending discussion in hopes of clarifying this discussion once and for all.
It’s true that organic marketing is taking a hit on platforms like Meta, it’s also true that lots of paid marketeers focus on being too salesy with their ads. So what really is true?
Organic marketing is still a must. Why you ask? Because you need to nurture your audience that lands on your social profiles.
If you invite someone into your house, would you do it while having no furniture? No, right?
Even if organic is taking a hit, you should put your focus towards it. Instead of choosing between one of the two, focus on implementing both of these ways.
Organic marketing is there to nurture & grow your audience. This is where you can excel and show what your company is and what it stands for. This is where your branding shines in and differentiates you from your competitors. If you walk this route, you won’t have advanced options like targeting. So you are left at the mercy of the algorithm, and it’s always guess-work when the next lead or sale comes in. My opinion is that we should take away the need for sales/leads with organic. It removes a lot of stress from your marketeers and let’s organic be what it was intended for; building meaningful connections that serve your brand and your audience over a longer period of time.
Paid marketing is there to accelerate your sales objectives, with focussing on ROI/ROAS and getting you more leads if you have a service based business. With this route, you can focus more reaching the people you want, with advanced targeting options and creating custom audiences. But again- the audiences won’t convert if you have no ‘house’ built.
It’s like yin-yang, one cannot exist without the other.
We are seeing better results however for social media managers that use boosted posts on Instagram. This is because Meta is a company that needs to make money, so they’re rewarding those that spend money on their platforms. It doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to grow organically, it just takes a lot more time than a couple of years ago. Us being marketeers, we have to be open to change and embrace it, instead of fighting it and complaining about the algorithm. Because the algorithm is ‘always against us’ right?
Focus on implementing both organic and paid marketing and you will see your brand or company soar to new heights.
Since we’ve been at both sides of the coin, we can speak on the pro’s and con’s of both ways of using online marketing.
The pro’s of paid advertising:
Advanced targeting options
Ability to create warm audiences and retarget them
Predictability where sales/leads come from
Ability to use automations with tools like Zapier or Make that connects directly into your CRM
Testing out different types of content to see what resonates more with your audience and what drives more sales
You’re running on the ‘premium’ version of the algorithm, since you’re paying a company like Meta lots of money
The con’s of paid advertising:
Not budget friendly. You do need a dedicated advertising budget set away for ads
It’s very harsh, either your ads work or don’t. You have to be prepared to lose some money
Learning curve. It’s sometimes hard to have an in-house team that can take care of the ads for you
If you’re always focussing on your ads, you may forget to connect with your audience. Your audience is key, now and always
The pro’s of organic marketing:
It’s free and you get to be at the forefront of building connections with your audience
Creating content that explains your brand in detail
You get to do everything in-house
Learning curve is not that steep
Building your brand online in a way that’s everlasting
The con’s of organic marketing:
You do need a solid social media strategy for it to work. You cannot just ‘wing-it’
It’s high effort low reward. Meaning at times you will create content that just won’t move the needle. It’s a process you have to get through
Not advanced options to reach the person you want. You have to pray that the algorithm rewards your efforts
It’s very time intensive. If you’re a small business owner with a couple of employees, you will have to allocate resources so they can spend more time creating content
Paid marketing gets rewarded better by the algorithm. So let’s say you’re in an industry that has lots of competitors that do both organic & paid marketing, you’d find it harder to gain traction.
Content has a very low life cycle depending on the platform you choose.
No predicability where the next sale or lead comes from
No proven way to increase your revenue
Our conclusion is that you should not focus on one or the other, focus on both and you will get rewarded. If you are someone who’s reading this and thinking ‘I do organic already but I need some help with paid’, take a look at our services.