If you follow this blog regularly, you know I’m a big fan of content marketing (AKA inbound marketing). What is content marketing? In a nutshell, it means providing digital content that allows you to attract new visitors and build relationships over time, converting strangers into sales leads.
Does content marketing work better than pay-per-click advertising? Often it does. Don’t get me wrong – paid search will always have a place in marketing. But before you spend another dollar on paid search, consider whether you’re spending your money wisely.
Let me offer two examples of companies who learned this lesson the hard way – and then came to OSD for help:
Company A spent about $4,500 a month on a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign involving 200+ keyword phrases and multiple landing pages. But those pages were all style and no substance. They didn’t do anything to explain to users why it was worth their time to take action. The result: lots of money down the drain.
Company B spent more than $1,000 a month on PPC and got few good leads. The problem: their keywords focused on competitor-related terms, but they drove traffic straight to their home page – where those terms didn’t exist. Visitors arrived at the site, didn’t see what they were looking for, and left immediately.
I could give other examples of companies that used PPC incorrectly, resulting in embarrassing and sometimes hilarious results (see: Dear eBay, Your Ads Don't Work Because They Suck). But I won’t. I’d rather tell you how to use your money wisely.
First, if you’re using PPC, create a path for visitors. It starts with your landing pages, which should answer the questions below. The answer may seem obvious to you. But to someone who has 10 seconds (or less) to decide whether they’re in the right place, it’s not so obvious.
- Who are you?
- How do you relate to the term I was searching for?
- Why is it worth my time to go deeper into your site or to click that button?
Second, consider whether to shift some of your PPC spending toward content marketing. Content marketing can outperform even a well-executed PPC campaign for several reasons:
- Content marketing speaks to the person you want to speak to, not the masses – You can reach a very specific persona based on needs, motivations and curiosities. It’s a great fit for those “long tail” terms that rise to the top in organic search.
- Content marketing builds relationships – Rarely do you close a deal with one click. It takes time and it takes trust. When you use content marketing, you present your company in a helpful way (not a selling way), which helps to build trust.
- Content shortens your selling cycle – One of OSD’s content marketing clients recently told us their B2B selling cycle has shortened by 2-3 months. Thanks to their content marketing, prospects know who they are and what they do – and they have very specific questions or, in some cases, are ready to buy.
- Content can be leveraged across channels – Sure, it takes time to plan and develop content. But think about all the ways that content can be repurposed, expanding points of entry. Today’s case study becomes tomorrow’s blog post and next week’s training presentation. (And don’t forget video! As Dan Brinkruff explained in his recent blog, video content ranks high in search.) You can’t do that with a landing page.
PPC is not dead. But there may be a better way to bring your story to life: a content marketing plan that delivers the high-quality leads you’re looking for.
-Andy
