There are several differences between content marketing and traditional advertising and all marketers accept that they are two completely different marketing approaches. However, the goal of both is the same: increase brand awareness and promote sales.
Given below are 12 key differences between content marketing and traditional advertising:
#1. Marketing strategy: Traditional advertising is direct. Companies use advertisements to tell customers about their products or services. This form of advertising can be called outbound marketing because the company pushes its messages to the customers.
Content marketing brings in customers without making a direct sales pitch and then nurtures them. Customers find the brand through content that is evergreen. It is like a marketing quid pro quo. Brands provide customers or potential customers with relevant information and customers, in turn, reward the company with a relationship that can translate into sales. This is why content marketing is also called inbound marketing.
# 2. Delivery mode: Traditional advertising uses paid channels to run the advertisements. The advertisements are run as prints ads in newspapers and magazines, as radio jingles in radio programmes and as television commercials on television channels. The advertisements are also displayed on billboards or hoardings, distributed as flyers or direct mailers and printed in company or product brochures.
As against this, content marketing is conducted through owned or earned media such as blogs, websites, social media platforms, newsletters and apps. A small percentage of content marketing is also conducted through traditional media, largely through advertorials which are promotional messages displayed as editorial content in newspapers. However, the shelf life of such content marketing is low. It is not long-term when compared to content marketing done on the internet.
#3. Forms of Content: Traditional marketing uses advertising content that is specific to a media. For instance, text ads will be created for newspapers or magazines, audio ads will be created for radio programming and video ads will be created for television channels.
Content marketing is much more versatile and muti-faceted when it comes to content creation. The content can be fashioned as a web article or a blog post, an infographic, an audio story, a video story or a mix of two or more formats.
# 4. Purpose: The purpose of traditional marketing is hardsell. It is like salesmen calling out to customers in a crowded street market inviting them to come to their store. Content marketing is much more subtle, muted and soft. It is like browsing products in a departmental store and deciding what to buy without being stampeded by commercial messages.
# 5. Duration of exposure: Traditional marketing has well-defined time windows. The number of insertions in a newspaper and their frequency is decided beforehand; the airtime on radio or television channels is similarly fixed based on the company’s planned ad spend; even the billboard space is available only for the duration for which it has been bought. The exposure depends upon time or space bought by a company.
In contrast, content marketing is not limited by time constraints. It is more evergreen in nature, and can be accessed by customers over long periods of time. This allows brands to stay in front of their target audience and reap continued rewards.
# 6. Interaction: Traditional advertising is a form of communication where all communication is one-sided. The customer reads the ad or watches it or hears it but is unable to participate. There is no interaction between the customer and the company.
Content marketing is very interactive. It offers the customers an opportunity to provide feedback or connect with the company’s representatives through email, social media platforms, comments section or feedback forms.
The conversation helps the company to resolve customer queries. This, in turn, builds customer trust and confidence. The company also learns more about its customers, and can use this information to launch better campaigns.
# 7. Targeting of customers: Traditional advertising is broad-based. The message is broadcast to a very large audience, and not necessarily to a specific, narrow targeted customer base. Companies are unable to control who will read, hear or watch their message. For example, an advertisement published in a newspaper is carried to all the readers of that newspaper. Similarly, an advertisement telecast on a TV channel becomes available to all the viewers of that channel, irrespective of whether they are likely to purchase the company’s product or not. Also, the advertisement may be aired at a time when the customer may be away. The wastage therefore is very high.
In the case of content marketing, companies can define their target audience and create content that caters to their requirements. Such content is then published on platforms where it is available for long periods of time and becomes available to targeted customers relatively easily.
# 8. Sharing of content: In traditional advertising, the marketing team decides the media where the advertisement is to be run. It also decides the frequency, place and the time when the advertisement is to be run. The audience has no role in promoting it.
In the case of content marketing, the marketing team decides what kind of content to produce and the platforms where it should be published. But the reach or visibility of that content does not end there. The customers may share this content with their friends. Further, the algorithms of social media platforms or search engines on noticing interest of their subscribers may distribute it even further.
# 9. Customer convenience: Traditional advertising is thrust upon a customer, and interrupts the customer experience. The customer has no control over such advertising. It cuts into his television viewing time or radio programming. That is why traditional advertising is referred to as interruption marketing.
Content marketing is subtle. It is not forced upon the customers. The customers have the option to click on the headline and read or view the content or continue scrolling. Even the customers who opt for company newsletters have the option to opt out. They can move away from the article, podcast or video story if it does not interest them. The 24/7 availability of content empowers them to read or watch the content at a place and time of their choice. Marketers therefore refer to content marketing as permission marketing.
# 10. Audience involvement: Traditional advertising may reach a vast audience but they may not necessarily be connected with the company. A large part of the audience, at best, can be called passive consumers.
As against this, customers are more involved in content marketing. Content marketers provide the audience something they want or need, a practice that builds loyalty.
# 11. Advertising costs: Traditional advertising is expensive. Companies pay large sums of money to advertising agencies to create eye-catching advertisements and even more to newspapers to publish those advertisements or to television channels to broadcast them.
Content marketing is relatively inexpensive. Companies spend a fraction of the money in creating content, setting up websites, launching newsletter campaigns or promoting content. It is a much more affordable form of marketing.
# 12. Content and creative changes: Traditional advertising does not allow real-time edits. Even for minor changes the creatives have to be reworked. This is both a time consuming and expensive process. Companies prefer to continue with existing creatives than tweak them midway or alter them substantially.
Content marketing is easier to manage. Content that is not delivering the expected returns can be easily modified. The costs too are negligible.
Summary: Traditional advertising builds brand awareness and reaches large audiences but is expensive and companies need deep pockets to benefit from it. Content marketing builds relationships and engagement with a specific target audience and is extremely cost-effective.
Based on their specific goals, marketers should use a mix of paid, owned, and earned media so that they can leverage the strengths of both content marketing and traditional advertising.
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