Organic Vs. Paid Marketing: What's the Difference?

There’s a big difference: Organic (SEO) and paid (SEM) advertising are separate marketing approaches that can be used alone or together depending on factors like time, budget, and goals. 

Organic Marketing vs. Paid Marketing: Which Is Better?

Now that we've gone over the basics of organic and paid marketing, it's time to answer the big question: which is better?

The answer is that they're both effective marketing tools depending on your business goals. That said, we can help you make a more informed decision by comparing both approaches from a few different angles:

Upfront Costs Vs. Potential for Return on Investment (ROI) 

When done correctly, both organic and paid marketing can be potent drivers of traffic and conversions. But each approach has a massive difference in terms of potential return.

Why?

Paid marketing ROIs are always linear, but organic marketing ROIs are potentially exponential.

Suppose you spend $200 on a paid marketing campaign targeting a keyword that costs you $2 per click. It doesn't matter how amazing your ad is, you're only going to generate 100 clicks (unless you raise your budget).

Now, let's say you spend $700 on a blog post that ranks 1st for a keyword. Depending on the number of people searching for the keyword, your post might get 50, 5,000, 500,000—even 5,000,000 clicks. The point is there's no limit to the amount of traffic you can generate.

So, if you're looking for huge potential ROI, deploy organic marketing. 

Time Commitment

That exponential ROI comes at a cost, though. Organic marketing isn’t a one-and-done task. It takes much more time, effort, and maintenance than paid marketing. It's essentially the difference between long-term planning and short-term gains. 

To rank in SERPs, you need to create high-quality content optimized for search engines and users. This means keyword research, understanding search terms, link building, audience segmentation, and more. All of this takes knowledge of how SEO works and how to make it more effective—usually 3-6 months to start seeing results, though it can take longer. For organic marketing, time and patience are key factors to success. 

Paid marketing, on the other hand, can provide results much more quickly. You can create an ad campaign, tweak it as needed, and start seeing results almost immediately.

So, if you're looking for a quick fix or want to test a new marketing strategy, go with paid marketing.

Risk

Of course, nothing in life is free—and that includes marketing.

Organic marketing requires time and effort, but it can be a risk-free approach to marketing your products and services. Many tools for organic marketing are free: adding a blog to your website, creating a Google Business Profile, or signing up with social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, or TikTok. 

Paid marketing always comes with a certain amount of risk. You're gambling your money on an ad campaign, and there's no guarantee you'll see any return on your investment. If your ad points to a shoddy landing page with a low conversion rate, it could be an inefficient way to allocate ad spend. 

So, if you're looking for a low-risk, budget-friendly marketing strategy and have the time and patience for it, go with organic marketing.

Cost

Organic marketing can be free in the same way that it can be risk-free—but you must understand how SEO works and what to do to make it more effective. you can focus on optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP), blog, post on social media, and do other things to improve your SEO without spending a dime. That said, many business owners choose to hire marketing agencies due to the work, time, and expertise required. 

That outsourcing usually comes at a considerable upfront cost—a single, high-quality blog post might cost you a bit of money, especially if the writer understands SEO. Paying up to $750 is not out of the realm for this type of content development. However, the ROI on these articles can be exponential, so they may eventually pay for themselves.

Paid marketing requires an upfront cost as well, but it's usually much smaller than organic marketing. For example, a $200 Facebook ad campaign is within the realm of possibility for most businesses.

So, where does that leave us? Well, DIY organic marketing is free if you have the time and expertise. If you don't, it's going to cost you. Paid marketing is also going to cost you, but the barrier to entry is much lower.

Summary

Using paid or organic marketing comes down to your needs as a business owner. While it’s best to blend these strategies in ways that reflect your goals and budget, sometimes you have to choose between one over the other.

If you're looking for a huge potential ROI in the long run and have more time than money, go with organic marketing. Unlike paid advertising, organic marketing is there for the long haul and doesn’t stop working just because you stop paying money. 

If you need quick results for short-term goals, such as trying to get sales during the last two weeks before a big holiday, go with paid marketing. It reaches your target audience faster, quickly increases traffic, and helps boost conversion. 

Decisions, Decisions…

Still trying to decide which approach is right for you? Feel free to reach out and we'll be happy to chat about your options. When it comes to paid advertising, our experienced team will work with you to create ad campaigns that are targeted and effective. We also have in-depth experience with organic marketing and can help you grow your online presence through SEO and content marketing. No matter what your needs are, we will work with you to create a customized plan that fits your budget and objectives. Contact PW Media today!