Content Marketing vs Digital Marketing — Which is Best for Your Business?

8 min readNov 12, 2020

Content Marketing vs Digital Marketing — Which is Best for Your Business?

Person using a laptop.

In modern advertising, terms like “digital marketing” and “content marketing” are commonly used, but the difference between them is still confusing for many. Using content in marketing your business is just as crucial as using digital marketing tactics. Companies use both types to share news and stories, promote their products and their brand, and connect with their audience. As these two types of marketing often intermingle, it may not be evident which strategies your business should be using and where to start. We’ll try to answer these questions for you. In this article, we’ll compare content marketing vs digital marketing to help you create a perfect marketing strategy.

Content Marketing vs Digital Marketing — Similarities and Differences

In simple words, digital marketing focuses mainly on sales and conversion, while content marketing focuses on engagement. Whether your marketing strategy is driven by content or digital marketing, there are endless opportunities to be creative.

Content marketing

The term” content” includes blog posts, videos, photos, infographics, educational articles, e-books, courses, webinars, etc. Content marketing aims to build brand awareness — making people aware of the products and services offered. Its objective is to attract and engage a clearly defined audience with the end goal of encouraging profitable customer action.

However, content marketing does not focus on the brand — the focus has shifted to the audience and their needs. Valuable, relevant content that answers specific questions has the power to engage people, make them eager to learn about your brand, and strengthen their relationship with you.

Digital marketing

Digital marketing is a marketing component that uses the internet to reach customers. It is a lot like traditional marketing, but it works in the digital world. It relies on strategies like SEO, social media advertising, and PPC, using digital channels such as search engines, email, social media, and other websites. Its main objective is to help people find your business. This is how you become a familiar brand and gradually gain people’s trust. Digital marketing offers many ways to reach customers regardless of your budget, which is excellent for new businesses trying to get off the ground.

Basic Types of Content Marketing

Blogs

As mentioned, content marketing uses different types of content to engage people. Blogging is a great way to improve your search ranking. If you do everything right, your site will appear at the top of the search result list. It is recommended to publish blogs on a regular basis. Make a posting schedule according to how often you want to publish blog posts. Some businesses do it as often as 2–3 times a week.

It is even more essential to make your blogs relevant and appropriate for the target audience. Good content is a result of thorough research and offers value to its readers. Make a list of topics that are relevant to your audience and stick to it. Make sure you include something your company is good at, write about the trends in your industry, answer customer questions and queries, and show your company’s story and culture. As long as you give them valuable content, you will build trusting and lasting relationships with your readers.

Photos

Uploading images and videos is a great strategy to increase your blog’s traffic. Photos are content too, and they also have to be relevant and of high quality, so choose images that are informative. They can also be entertaining or even funny if that is the tone you are going for. Creativity will help you stand out from the crowd in today’s insanely competitive business world.

Person looking at images on a phone.

Videos

The most common argument against videos and podcasts is that they are expensive and hard to make. However, this is a highly effective marketing strategy and a great way to level up your content. Many people find it easier to absorb content in this form and often take the initiative to learn more about a brand or make a purchase after watching an interesting video.

Infographics

Infographics are long, vertical graphics representing a brief overview of a particular topic by conveying essential information in a visually digestible format. They usually include statistics, graphs, and charts and should be attention-grabbing and engaging. They are versatile, and you can share them on social networks or post them on your company’s site.

Basic Types of Digital Marketing

SEO

This digital marketing strategy aims to help your site achieve a high ranking among search results, thus increasing the number of visitors and potential customers. If your site doesn’t appear on the first result page, very few people will see it, which means you are missing a huge opportunity to sell your products.

Since Google updates its algorithms constantly, optimizing a site for search engines is a complex and continuous process. Unfortunately, fraudulent activities are a big problem in the world of digital marketing. Note that no one can guarantee you the number one ranking, no matter what some digital marketing agencies claim.

PPC

PPC (pay-per-click) advertising is another way to grow your business with digital marketing. It is basically buying visits to your website. It involves a fee that brands pay each time their ad gets a click. If you invest in PPC advertising, your site can appear first in Google’s ad space every time someone searches for the keywords you chose. Make sure you create relevant, targeted PPC campaigns if you want search engines to reward you with a lower fee.

Social Media Advertisements

Social media advertising refers to ads a brand pays to be posted on social media platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The right choice of platform depends on the type of audience you are targeting, and the advertising cost depends on the platform. When planning a campaign, it is vital to research your target audience and create appealing content.

Icons of social media platforms used for content marketing and digital marketing

Content Marketing vs Digital Marketing on the Same Mission

These two marketing strategies can work well together. You don’t have to (and shouldn’t) choose between content marketing vs digital marketing. At the end of the day, they are on the same mission. You should integrate these two types of marketing and do your best to create a concept that makes sense for your brand. It takes patience, practice, and creativity, but it definitely pays off. When joining forces, content marketing and digital marketing can help you attract and retain customers, boost sales, and take your brand to the next level.

Author

Carissa Boyle is a content writer and digital marketing apprentice working on obtaining valuable experience within the industry. She lives in New York City and her hobbies include photography and watching old TV shows.

Photos used

https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-person-using-laptop-3184160/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-and-blue-smartphone-screen-5426401/

https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-using-a-smartphone-5082579/

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