30-second summary:
- Many businesses opt for content marketing because organic traffic is free. But, this strategy makes them miss a great opportunity to grow fast because combining SEO-optimized content with PPC speeds up the lead generation process.
- Online businesses need to know specific use cases for content marketing and PPC to assess the value of the strategy.
- Less than half of small businesses (45%) invest in PPC.
- PPC and SEO content marketing can bring in more leads by capturing more quality traffic with more effective keyword optimization of blog content, lead magnets, and landing pages.
- To get the most value from content marketing and PPC, businesses need to master keyword research, searcher intent, and the consistency between the landing page and ad optimization.
As someone who primarily engaged in SEO and content writing for small businesses, I didn’t really care about PPC advertising.
Maybe because of people like me, only 45% of small businesses invest in PPC[1].
I thought that the best way to bring high-quality leads was with super optimized content, so paid advertising was the realm of bigger companies. That’s the mindset of many small business owners. With teeny tiny marketing budgets, they have to choose between SEO/content and PPC.
SEO/content often becomes their choice, especially of those with interest in content creation and a lack of real marketing experience.
SEO was my preferred choice, too, and I saw PPC as something secondary.
Boy, was I wrong about this!
After a couple of projects involving PPC promotion, my view of the strategy completely changed. No, they didn’t change how I thought about SEO, but they showed how amazing the results could be if you combine the power of both strategies.
To all SEO specialists still not using PPC and the other way around, here’s what you’re missing.