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You are here:   Home Blog The 4 Major Differences Between Content Marketing and Advertising

The 4 Major Differences Between Content Marketing and Advertising

May 25, 2018 by Carrie Powers Leave a Comment

Even though content marketing is not new, those who are new to it (and even some who aren’t) often have trouble pinpointing the difference between it and advertising.

After all, both can use text, images and videos to promote your company.

Once you scratch the surface, however, it becomes clear that content marketing is much different than traditional advertising. Let me explain.

1. Attraction vs. Invasion

One of the key differences between content marketing and advertising lies in the difference between inbound and outbound marketing.

This graphic from SEOPressor does a great job at quickly illustrating that difference:

In essence, inbound marketing is all about letting new customers come to you, while outbound marketing is all about interrupting potential customers in an effort to (loudly) convince them that you’re worth checking out.

Inbound marketing includes:

  • General content creation
  • SEO
  • Blogging
  • Social media posts

Outbound marketing includes:

  • Traditional advertising (print, television, etc.)
  • Social media advertising
  • Cold calling/emailing
  • Interstitial web pages

One advantage of inbound marketing is that potential customers are much more open to it. After all, they’re not being interrupted to be forcibly told how great your company is–instead, they’re seeking out information and stumbling upon your company (and all its offerings) in the process.

2. Show vs. Tell

With traditional advertising and marketing, companies use words and promises–whether they’re true or not–to tell customers how great they are. With content marketing, companies use high-quality content to show customers how great they are.

Think of it this way: If you pay for a television ad, whether local or national, you’ll have about 30 seconds to tell customers that your company is trustworthy and knowledgeable and that your products or services will add value to their life.

On the other hand, if you write a series on in-depth blog posts, you’ll have a much longer period of time to show customers that your company genuinely knows what it’s doing, cares about its customers and is proven to be provide effective products or services.

3. Personalization vs. Generalization

With advertising, your goal is to reach as many people as possible in a universally appealing way. Think Super Bowl ads: whether they’re funny, emotionally stirring or serious, they’re all created in an attempt to resonate with all of the game’s 100 million or so viewers. To put that in perspective, that’s the equivalent of trying to appeal to approximately one third of the United States’ population.

With content marketing, however, your goal is to appeal to people who are already seeking out the kind of information you’re providing. Think an online SEO class: the people who enroll in it aren’t going to be people who have no interest or use for SEO. Rather, they’ll be people who have already decided that SEO would be useful for them and want to learn more about it.

This also applies to more common types of advertising, like email campaigns. The traditional way to approach email campaigns is from a “one size fits all” perspective–this might be effective in some situations, but it also tends to lead to a much lower click through rate (CTR) than you want.

From a content marketing perspective, however, email campaigns are as personalized as possible, and not just on a superficial level (using a person’s first name at the beginning of the email doesn’t necessarily count as true personalization). Although you may reach a smaller amount of people, the people you are reaching will be much more receptive to what your company has to offer.

4. Quality vs. Quantity

With traditional advertising, the bigger your budget is, the more people you’ll be able to reach. With content marketing, the better your content is, the more customers you’ll intrigue.

This sums up one of the most important differences between content marketing and advertising: talking at people vs. talking with people.

Although traditional advertising provides companies with a good way to spread the word about their products or services, content marketing is one of the best ways to ensure that your company is memorable.

If you publish three high-quality pieces of content, potential customers will be much more likely to remember your name than if they randomly saw 10 pop-up ads promoting your company (and much less annoyed, at that).

In the end, while great content may produce fewer short-term results than a large amount of ads, quality will always trump quantity.

So, while both traditional advertising and content marketing can be valuable tools to nearly every company, don’t forget that the two are very different, and that the power of content marketing is not to be underestimated.

If you need help creating high-quality content that will draw potential customers to you, you might want to check out bizbuzzcontent’s content creation services.

What results have you seen from traditional advertising vs. those you’ve seen from content marketing? Which one have you found to be the most valuable so far? Let me know in the comments below!

Carrie Powers
Carrie Powers is a content writer for bizbuzzcontent. She loves reading, iced coffee and scruffy dogs, and is on a neverending quest for the perfect burrito.

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Professional content agency

Jessica leads one of the most professional content agencies I’ve ever worked with. We target a very niche industry, and Jessica and her team were very thoughtful in their approach. From planning thoughtful pieces, to researching and interviewing SMEs, to brainstorming promotion strategies, Jessica and her team maintain a high degree of professionalism and efficiency.

Steven S., Senior Manager, Demand Generation, Rentlytics

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2018-07-31T17:22:53-04:00

Steven S., Senior Manager, Demand Generation, Rentlytics

Jessica leads one of the most professional content agencies I’ve ever worked with. We target a very niche industry, and Jessica and her team were very thoughtful in their approach. From planning thoughtful pieces, to researching and interviewing SMEs, to brainstorming promotion strategies, Jessica and her team maintain a high degree of professionalism and efficiency.
https://www.bizbuzzcontent.com/blog/testimonials/professional-content-agency/

Tailor-made content strategies

Jessica dedicated her time as a pro-bono volunteer with VolunteerMatch to help us with some key content marketing needs. What impressed me most about working with Jessica was the way she tailored her approach to accommodate the needs of our nonprofit with the resource constraints of our team. Jessica developed personas, one-pagers, case studies and website content that has resulted in an increase in traffic to our site and improved our ability to communicate to our key audiences.

Bree v.F., Director of Marketing and Engagement, VolunteerMatch

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2018-07-31T17:22:20-04:00

Bree v.F., Director of Marketing and Engagement, VolunteerMatch

Jessica dedicated her time as a pro-bono volunteer with VolunteerMatch to help us with some key content marketing needs. What impressed me most about working with Jessica was the way she tailored her approach to accommodate the needs of our nonprofit with the resource constraints of our team. Jessica developed personas, one-pagers, case studies and website content that has resulted in an increase in traffic to our site and improved our ability to communicate to our key audiences.
https://www.bizbuzzcontent.com/blog/testimonials/tailor-made-content-strategies/

Highly targeted and relevant content

I've worked with Jessica at her company bizbuzzcontent for years. It's my go-to provider whenever my team is looking for high-quality content. What differentiates bizbuzzcontent is that they not only have superior writing skills but a rare ability to completely understand our industry, our company positioning, brand voice and tone, and customers. This just makes the content highly targeted and relevant, and goes a long way in achieving our marketing goals.

Nag P., Sr. Manager, Product Marketing, Salesforce

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Nag P., Sr. Manager, Product Marketing, Salesforce

I've worked with Jessica at her company bizbuzzcontent for years. It's my go-to provider whenever my team is looking for high-quality content. What differentiates bizbuzzcontent is that they not only have superior writing skills but a rare ability to completely understand our industry, our company positioning, brand voice and tone, and customers. This just makes the content highly targeted and relevant, and goes a long way in achieving our marketing goals.
https://www.bizbuzzcontent.com/blog/testimonials/highly-targeted-and-relevant-content/

Compelling content that drives results

I love Jessica and the team over at bizbuzzcontent. Within just a matter of a few interactions, she was able to understand, in depth, our complex solution and business model. Since then, she's been critical to us in driving compelling, engaging content via our blogs and white papers. She's a wonderful, thoughtful person to work with, and the work she's done has been a key factor in increasing our conversion rates.

Collin S., Angel Investor and Technology Executive

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Collin S., Angel Investor and Technology Executive

I love Jessica and the team over at bizbuzzcontent. Within just a matter of a few interactions, she was able to understand, in depth, our complex solution and business model. Since then, she's been critical to us in driving compelling, engaging content via our blogs and white papers. She's a wonderful, thoughtful person to work with, and the work she's done has been a key factor in increasing our conversion rates.
https://www.bizbuzzcontent.com/blog/testimonials/compelling-content-that-drives-results/

Outstanding process

bizbuzzcontent helps me efficiently leverage my own subject-matter expertise to create original content on timely topics. Together, we are able to distill complex topics into client-friendly articles that I can use across multiple platforms. I especially appreciate bizzbuzz’s super-efficient process because it keeps me on track for timely production of new content. Jessica Lee is a pleasure to work with, and I rely on her to bring a strategic eye to my publication efforts.

Priya H., Partner, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

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2018-07-31T17:23:04-04:00

Priya H., Partner, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

bizbuzzcontent helps me efficiently leverage my own subject-matter expertise to create original content on timely topics. Together, we are able to distill complex topics into client-friendly articles that I can use across multiple platforms. I especially appreciate bizzbuzz’s super-efficient process because it keeps me on track for timely production of new content. Jessica Lee is a pleasure to work with, and I rely on her to bring a strategic eye to my publication efforts.
https://www.bizbuzzcontent.com/blog/testimonials/outstanding-process/

Strong content values

Jessica is a great content creator, writer, reporter and partner to work with. Highly articulate with strong content values and work ethos, Jessica adds great value to all projects she works on. I would happily recommend Jessica to people who wish to scale their content marketing efforts.

Andy B., C-Level Marketing and Strategy Consultant

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Andy B., C-Level Marketing and Strategy Consultant

Jessica is a great content creator, writer, reporter and partner to work with. Highly articulate with strong content values and work ethos, Jessica adds great value to all projects she works on. I would happily recommend Jessica to people who wish to scale their content marketing efforts.
https://www.bizbuzzcontent.com/blog/testimonials/strong-content-values-highly-recommended/

Added value

Jessica is a guest speaker of Microsoft internal training program. She made an awesome presentation of how to create marketable web ages to Microsoft Bing Ads product team and services team. Attendees found Jessica very engaging during the presentation. Microsoft Bing Ads is eager to apply the learning in our daily works, and look forward to partnering with Jessica to bring more value to digital advertising community.

Ping J., Product Manager, Microsoft Bing Ads

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Ping J., Product Manager, Microsoft Bing Ads

Jessica is a guest speaker of Microsoft internal training program. She made an awesome presentation of how to create marketable web ages to Microsoft Bing Ads product team and services team. Attendees found Jessica very engaging during the presentation. Microsoft Bing Ads is eager to apply the learning in our daily works, and look forward to partnering with Jessica to bring more value to digital advertising community.
https://www.bizbuzzcontent.com/blog/testimonials/added-value/

Critical extension of the marketing team

Jessica has been instrumental in building our content strategy from ground up, educating our stakeholders and increasing our exposure across all lines of insurance. I can say with confidence that she has been a critical extension of the marketing team, always producing timely deliverable. She has always been enthusiastic about creating new formats for us and new vehicles of information to help the marketing team raise awareness and drive internal adoption. Her most impressive feat from my perspective is how quickly and seamlessly she dived into our 12 lines of insurance. The dexterity and the level of expertise she demonstrated although she had never worked with insurance B2B client was absolutely incredible.

Stephanie M., VP Marketing Communications, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

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Stephanie M., VP Marketing Communications, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

Jessica has been instrumental in building our content strategy from ground up, educating our stakeholders and increasing our exposure across all lines of insurance. I can say with confidence that she has been a critical extension of the marketing team, always producing timely deliverable. She has always been enthusiastic about creating new formats for us and new vehicles of information to help the marketing team raise awareness and drive internal adoption. Her most impressive feat from my perspective is how quickly and seamlessly she dived into our 12 lines of insurance. The dexterity and the level of expertise she demonstrated although she had never worked with insurance B2B client was absolutely incredible.
https://www.bizbuzzcontent.com/blog/testimonials/critical-extension-of-the-marketing-team/

Excellent content program

We can't imagine how we managed without bizbuzzcontent before! Working with Jessica Lee is a dream. She is very creative and understands new concepts quickly. The content creation process at bizbuzzcontent is the most efficient we have come across in our many years of working with other writers and agencies. If you want an excellent content program and a company that goes above and beyond, hire bizbuzzcontent today!

Pauline J., CEO, Group Twenty Seven

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Pauline J., CEO, Group Twenty Seven

We can't imagine how we managed without bizbuzzcontent before! Working with Jessica Lee is a dream. She is very creative and understands new concepts quickly. The content creation process at bizbuzzcontent is the most efficient we have come across in our many years of working with other writers and agencies. If you want an excellent content program and a company that goes above and beyond, hire bizbuzzcontent today!
https://www.bizbuzzcontent.com/blog/testimonials/excellent-content-program/

Trusted partner for years

Jessica and her team at bizbuzzcontent have been a trusted partner for years, and have helped us with our blog, web copy and email marketing, in addition to providing lots of guidance on other content projects. The team is able to quickly get up to speed on any content project's requirements and create quality content that's on target. Over the years, they've helped us educate, drive brand awareness and website traffic. I would definitely recommend bizbuzzcontent for content services.

Ashley G., Digital Ad Management, SearchForce

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Ashley G., Digital Ad Management, SearchForce

Jessica and her team at bizbuzzcontent have been a trusted partner for years, and have helped us with our blog, web copy and email marketing, in addition to providing lots of guidance on other content projects. The team is able to quickly get up to speed on any content project's requirements and create quality content that's on target. Over the years, they've helped us educate, drive brand awareness and website traffic. I would definitely recommend bizbuzzcontent for content services.
https://www.bizbuzzcontent.com/blog/testimonials/trusted-partner-for-years/
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