Both organic and paid marketing platforms attract traffic. The difference between them is just that organic (non-paid) marketing is done for free, while paid marketing needs a particular cost to be paid, to get it done.
You cannot compare both of them because they are inherently different from each other. That is why they both have been categorized differently in the digital marketing arena.
First, let us understand more about both of these digital marketing mediums which have drained huge traffic for those who have optimized them.
Organic or non-paid marketing – Organic/non-paid involves natural strategies to gain traffic on the content. The strategies used are cost-free yet effective in promoting the brand, product or services. With good content and proper SEO techniques, your content can flourish online without paid marketing. Along with this social media marketing, email marketing adds colours to it, through this you can drive traffic, generate leads and cultivate brand awareness among the audience.
Paid marketing
As the name suggests itself, paid marketing is the process of attracting traffic to your website through paid advertisement. This happens where a particular brand or business wants its product or service to reach out till its target audience. That’s why they prefer spending their money on various platforms, which are specially available for paid promotions. Some of the platforms are as follows :
- Pay-Per Click Advertising
- Display Advertising
- Social Media Advertising
- Video Advertising
- Affiliate Marketing
- Influencer Marketing
Differentiating them will help us understand their functionalities and characteristics individually. Since both of them have their own pros and cons and we are differentiating them based on certain factors which are as follows
| Factors | Organic Marketing | Paid Marketing |
| Cost for Marketing | Non-paid marketing | Includes cost for marketing |
| Advantages/Benefits | Better at Building Customer Loyalty Long-Lasting Results Customer Retention Cost-Effective | Advanced Brand Marketing Wide and accurate reach Faster & measurable results Flexibility |
| Marketing Tools | Blog posts on your website Search engine optimization (SEO)Unpaid social media posts YouTube videos | Google Ads Paid Social Media Ads Remarketing Ads |
Can we Conclude between Organic and paid marketing which one is effective/better?
It is not possible to conclude it directly because both of them have their own features. It’s the client which decides what to use when! Based on the requirements budget, goals and audience. As both these approaches have their advantages and disadvantages it is necessary to study them thoroughly before matching your needs with any one of them.
Know your needs! Choose your audience wisely and then go for them. Both marketing mediums have the capacity to change the cards for you in this digital landscape
