Digital Marketing Vs. Content Marketing Explained

Move over, apple pie and baseball, the internet is America’s new favorite obsession. The average American adult spends the equivalent of 18 years online. This means that your business needs the right online marketing strategy to reach customers. One of the most important factors is whether to prioritize digital marketing or content marketing.

What Is the Difference Between Digital Marketing and Content Marketing?

Digital marketing services include content marketing, but also many other options. For example, pay-per-click advertising and search engine optimization are types of digital marketing. Content marketing is always digital, but blogs are only one piece of the advertising puzzle.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing involves reaching customers through blog articles, videos, guides, and other types of online media. Content marketing is an inbound channel, meaning that you attract customers to your website instead of spending money advertising to the masses.

An effective content strategy has at least five goals:

1. Attracting visitors: When potential customers search Google for answers, solutions, instructions, or tips, your online content can bring them to your site.
2. Engaging your audience: The average website loses 40% of users instantly and only keeps visitors interested for about three minutes. With high-quality content, people stay on your site longer, view more pages, and have a higher chance of converting.
3. Building trust: Friendly, easy-to-understand, and accurate content shows readers that you know what you’re talking about. Without realizing it, visitors start to like you.
4. Driving sales: Visitors are 60% more likely to buy after reading custom content, and 8 in 10 users prefer high-quality blogs instead of ads.
5. Increasing customer retention: Content marketing that appeals to your target audience also helps you stay in contact with past clients, increasing the possibility of return purchases.

Not all content is created equal. Some companies take shortcuts using cheap, mass-produced articles. But just like fake designer clothing, you can’t impress customers or build a good reputation with terrible quality.

Types of Content Marketing

Online content comes in many flavors:

• Blog posts: Website articles answer frequently asked questions, explain topics, and share tips.
• Guides: In-depth content helps readers compare different options, understand pros and cons, and make smart decisions.
• Videos: Helpful YouTube videos grab attention, simplify complex topics, and present information in an attractive, easy-to-remember way.
• Infographics: Combining graphics and data in a condensed, shareable format delivers your message quickly and clearly. 
• Podcasts: Audio content episodes can take a deep dive into industry topics, appealing directly to audience niches and slowly building a loyal following.
• B2B content: E-books, whitepapers, and newsletters are popular with business owners and executives, supporting your lead gen efforts.

The incredible variety of content marketing makes it one of the most versatile ways to connect with particular audiences. YouTube content marketing is an ideal format for buyer’s guides, great for reaching everyday families and nurturing business leads.

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a large category that includes all of your online marketing efforts. It’s the opposite of “traditional” or print marketing avenues like newspaper ads, billboards, and flyers.

Digital strategies include both inbound and direct advertising methods. Some methods (e.g., social media) are more useful for capturing the interest of top-of-funnel customers, and others excel at delivering that final nudge toward making a purchase (Google Ads, etc.).

Digital Marketing Options

Many types of digital marketing use content, but they’re distinctive enough to fit into their own categories:

• SEO: Researching the keywords and topics your audience cares about helps you create web pages and articles that reach the right people online.
• Paid search: PPC advertising involves bidding on keywords and displaying your landing pages or products in prime position above search results.
• Social media marketing: Social media posts connect with users on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and similar platforms.
• Email marketing: Sending deal alerts, reminders, and marketing emails can help you persuade past customers to visit your site or use your services again.
• Affiliate marketing: Partnering with social media influencers, industry leaders, trade journals, or well-known websites can help your brand get noticed by a wider audience.
• Social media advertising: Some social media platforms offer direct advertising options with sponsored posts and demographic targeting.

These aren’t the only options available. The Google Display Network can even open up advertising options on third-party websites and in apps.

What Are the Advantages of Digital Marketing Vs. Content Marketing?

When choosing between content marketing and other digital marketing avenues, it’s helpful to compare the advantages.

Lightning-Fast Results

Paying for advertising allows you to reach your audience quickly, often in days or weeks. In contrast, SEO and content marketing are like the tortoise that eventually wins the race. It can take six months or more to ramp up traffic. On the flip side, good SEO content keeps delivering results years later, long after ad campaigns.

Precise Targeting

Paid search lets you set precise characteristics for the people who see your ads. For example, you can display ads to users who have purchased products similar to yours in the past, or target specific demographics (e.g., “women age 45 to 55”).

Content marketing usually has a broader focus. You can target your main customer groups, but it requires analytics and keyword research.

Brand Recognition and Reach

Social media marketing is an excellent way to show off your brand, build an online reputation, and interact with potential customers. And there are a lot of opportunities:

• Between 60% and 80% of U.S. adults use Facebook.
• Over 75% of 18 to 29-year-olds are on Instagram.
• About one-third of business professionals in the U.S. have a LinkedIn account.
• More than 90% of Millennials and Gen Z use YouTube.

Content marketing and SEO attract visitors to your site. With social media, you go where your customers are.

Is Digital Marketing or Content Marketing Best for Your Business?

For many businesses, the right answer is to combine different types of digital marketing and content marketing. At BKA Content, we’re experts in customized digital marketing solutions, from SEO to paid search — and everything in between. Discover our top-tier content marketing services and build a strong customer base today.

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