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Capable of reaching audiences around the world, modern marketing is far more powerful than the marketing standbys of the last century and growing ever more powerful as technology and specialized services advance. When discussing online marketing, two key terms are commonly used: Digital Marketing and Content Marketing. Sometimes used interchangeably, these two forms of advertising do feature some overlap, but are actually different methods of building awareness that requires different skills.

In this guide to content marketing vs. digital marketing, we’ll be covering the various aspects of each method, how they overlap, and what their key differences are to help you choose which strategy is right for growing your business.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing is a term used to refer to any type of content creation with the intention to raise awareness, draw in customers, or sell a product or service. Examples of content marketing include everything from blogging and creating educational articles to posting photos, videos, and some forms of social media advertising. Content marketing can be shared on your company website, your social platforms, or on third-party websites in the case of guest or featured content. While most content marketing today is done online, content marketing can also include print ad campaigns.

What sets content marketing apart is information and value. Content marketing should be rich in educational content and information whereas regular marketing campaigns focus more heavily on drawing attention.

Benefits of Content Marketing

• Increase Engagement: Content marketing naturally invites potential customers to stick around and engage with your website by digging deeper into the information you’ve shared. Far more interesting than the usual ads folks are inundated with daily, original ideas, and cleverly developed content that offers something of value to your visitors and improves the overall customer experience. Remember, your content is tailored to your target audience, so they’ll always be interested!

• Build Loyalty: Customers like to feel like the brands they purchase from care and put effort into their branding and customer outreach. Content marketing is a great way to demonstrate just how passionate you are about your industry, and prove that you’re the expert your customers need. By sharing creative ideas and informational content, you’ll show customers that you are the leading authority, and encourage them to remain loyal to your brand.

• Cost-Effective: Content marketing – blog posts, articles, and social media posts in particular – are a highly cost-effective option for brands and marketers seeking increased engagement. Many of the tools used for content marketing are free or inexpensive and allow for easy scaling to meet increased demand.

What Is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a term used to refer to any kind of advertising done online, including online content marketing. Examples of digital marketing include SEO (search engine optimization), video marketing, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising, and so on.

Benefits of Digital Marketing

• Versatility: Digital marketing encompasses a wide range of tools and strategies for building brand awareness, and doesn’t limit you to just one approach. Marketing teams can enjoy virtually endless possibilities for creative ideas and digital marketing campaigns since the internet itself is ever-expanding and improving.

• Flexibility: Thanks to the versatility of digital marketing, it also offers brands the chance to be incredibly flexible. By learning to pay attention to how customers interact with and receive your various digital marketing campaigns, marketers can determine which campaigns are most successful, and adjust accordingly. Digital marketing offers so many avenues for advertisement, allowing you to change as necessary to match market trends.

Content vs. Digital Marketing: Key Differences

Put simply, content marketing refers to a creative marketing strategy designed to increase brand recognition, while digital marketing simply refers to the many ways advertising can be done online. Content marketing is often also considered digital marketing, but only some digital marketing is considered content marketing.

The biggest difference between these two creative approaches to marketing is value. Content marketing always includes valuable or educational information, whereas digital marketing often contains very little valuable information at all.

Necessary Skills

Other than the material differences between content and digital marketing, it’s important to note that these two strategies require different skills and expertise. A content marketing expert is typically a professional writer with excellent literary, editorial, communication, and research skills required for creating informational content. Digital marketing professionals often have a more in-depth knowledge of advertising, data trends, programming, and analysis.

Which Should You Choose?

So, which should your marketing team be focused on: content marketing strategy or digital marketing?

In truth, these two creative strategies can’t be entirely separated, and are always better together!

Content posted online does far better than content created for print, and digital marketing that includes some amount of information/education typically does better than without. By sharing informative, carefully created content online, you’ll help build your reputation and authority while introducing your brand to people around the world. So, try to create a strategy that incorporates the best of both worlds, and you’ll find that your content begins appearing in more search results than ever before!
Ready to start working on your digital content strategies? Visit Markerly online to learn more about how we can help you take your brand’s online presence to the next level!