For example, someone might tell you, “content marketing is what will give you continuous results.” And on the other hand, someone else might tell you, “ads can bring fast and reliable results.” But who is right?
We would like to argue that both approaches are valid and that neither should be run exclusively. In fact, why not combine a content marketing strategy with your AdWords advertising efforts and create a 'hybrid' digital marketing campaign?
If you think about it, it's a win-win. That's why we invite you to continue reading this article so you can learn how you can combine both strategies to get better results.
What is Content Marketing?
Some experts consider Content Marketing to be the art of communicating with customers and prospects without the need to always try to sell to them. According to Hubspot, it is “a strategic approach, focused on the creation and distribution of valuable, relevant and coherent information to attract and retain a clearly defined audience.”
Typically, the goal of this approach is to use posts to drive organic website traffic, search engine rankings, increase qualified lead generation, and (ultimately) empower your sales team to close more deals faster.
Benefits of Content Marketing in your Digital Marketing Strategies
Now that you know the definition of this important concept in Digital Marketing, it is important to determine what benefits your business can obtain from Content Marketing:
It is the best way to reach the target audience, offering relevant and quality content.
It is the perfect technique to improve the positioning of your website, blog and business proposals in search engines.
It allows you to transmit the value of your brand.
It helps you attract and retain potential customers.
Creating articles and content that are relevant to your audience allows you to use SEO techniques that help boost your appearance in the top results of Google searches.
Types of Content Marketing
More and more companies are understanding the importance of this strategy as a means of reaching their audience on the Internet. It is for this exact reason that Content Marketing is becoming an irreplaceable tool for brand positioning.
But what platforms can be used to complete this activity to reach a particular target audience?
Articles on the website and/or blogs.
Email marketing
Videos
Social networks
Graphic pieces (infographics, illustrations, GIFs)
Webinars
Podcasts
Content Marketing has many possibilities, making it one of the most flexible and adaptable techniques for your business. However, if you want to give your digital marketing strategies a boost , you should also learn about Google Ads to make the most of your content.
What is Google Ads for?
Unlike Content Marketing, whose main intention is to generate traffic and qualify leads organically, Ads is a paid strategy that provides results more quickly. The purpose of Google Ads is to attract the attention of potential buyers and generate short-term conversions.
As a business, you can invest a certain amount of money so that a certain segmented audience can find you. Think about the product or service that your business offers. You will get more benefit if you show yourself to a certain number of people who are really interested in you, than to thousands of users who simply ignore your ad.
How to use Google Ads
In order to publish an ad, you first have to choose the keywords you will use so that your digital marketing strategy or strategies correspond to those terms. Then, you have to visualize the cost of each word to proceed with the creation of the ad content . Once you have the content ready, you select the segmented audience you want to appear for and then determine the daily budget and the time that the ad will be active .
You will then be presented with the option of how it will appear on the Display Network, which will show you advanced options where you can choose the campaign objective , audience targeting, and ad formats and dimensions .
Once your ads are running, you can measure their performance by looking at metrics like CTR (Click Through Rate), which is a percentage number that indicates how many clicks you've received based on the number of views.
Also consider which payment and ROI option is right for you: CPA, cost per acquisition; CPC, cost per click; or CPM, cost per thousand impressions.
How to combine Ads and Content Marketing?
No matter the scale of your business or the industry you operate in, it pays to keep an eye out for new ways to market your brand. Advertising with Ads represents one of the most popular ways to make the most of your content and engage new and existing audiences online.
Ads can be a powerful advertising tool at your disposal when combined with the right content marketing strategy. That being said, we can take a look at several steps that can help you integrate a Google Ads strategy into your content calendar for higher engagement rates and revenue.
Segmenting the audience
Knowing which channels to target with Ads will allow you to better tailor your content to meet the needs of your audience. It's worth noting that you can adapt the same content for different platforms with editing tools available on the web.
Social media, for example, focuses on short-form content, while articles or blog posts require more time to read, allowing for more in-depth content for Ads. Once you know who your target audience is for your content marketing strategy, it will be much easier to implement your Ads campaign.
Create your Ads strategy
Content plans or matrices can help you differentiate the types of content, messaging, and look and feel of your marketing pieces. This will allow you to cater to different audiences during the same marketing campaign, as well as avoid appearing spammy or intrusive advertising after multiple visits.
It’s a good practice to rely on a platform like Google Ads to gambling data malaysia phone number provide a constant stream of fresh content for your audience. Once your content plan is in place, it will be much easier to create relevant Ads content that will encourage users to click and engage with your services.
Valuable content
Even though ads can drive traffic, you need to engage your audience enough to achieve conversion . To do this, you need to provide your visitors with high-quality, trustworthy content above all else.
Make sure to brand your content with industry-specific keywords, product placement, internal links, and most importantly: original and reliable information . As a recommendation, you should follow news sites related to your company, social media pages, and industry leaders to gain insight into trends, developments, and advancements.
Stay ahead of the curve and stay informed about the latest things happening in your niche . That way, your ads will add tangible value to visitors, adding Content Marketing efforts to your digital marketing strategies.
Integrate calls to action
Calls to action are a tried and tested marketing tool that can be seamlessly integrated into paid advertising. Calls to action can be used in written content, blog posts, and meta descriptions.
Write your headings and meta descriptions in a way that will entice the reader to click on the link and visit the website as a result . You can do this in a number of ways, most notably by asking interesting and relevant questions related to the topic of the content.
For ads, don't provide final information or answers to your target audience in your promoted content . Instead, offer a glimpse of what they can discover if they follow the link and visit your website. Also, try not to resort to clickbait titles that trick viewers into clicking on the link only to find misinformation or inconclusive data.
Find a healthy balance of sales pitch and marketing, and your Ads budget will be put to good use quite easily.
Follow up
Finally, the best way to maintain your credibility as a business with an online presence is to keep track of your ads . If you promote e-commerce store discounts and product sales, make sure those sales are ready to go once potential customers come calling.
Products, services, and any form of corporate interaction advertised on Google Ads must be true to what is being promoted. If you fail to provide that level of quality to your audience, your paid efforts will soon lose value and credibility.
Ads are a valuable tool, but they are just that – a tool. So make sure you support your digital marketing strategies with content that is relevant to your stakeholders and long-term company goals. Combine ads and content marketing in a smart way and you will reap all that paid advertising has to offer on Google and other search engines.
If you want to know more about this topic, we invite you to contact us. We would love to help you achieve your business goals.
