Paid Search vs Organic Search: Which Is the Better Option?

We often get prospects reaching out, asking for the best strategy to grow their audience, leads and sales. they’ll ask:

Should I be running paid ads vs organic search for search engine optimization (SEO)?

For most businesses the answer is rather simple. Of course there are nuances which I can get into during a complimentary marketing consultation, where I’ll provide a specific recommendation for your business.

Now let’s dive into the scenarios to see which one applies to your business!

You are profitable yet are still in the early phases of growing your business.

Definitely go with paid search vs organic search. Paid ads are like hunting which bring immediate rewards.

If you are looking for your next meal, farming just won’t cut it. You’ll have to eat the seeds before your crop is ready to harvest.

Facebook/Instagram is still the most cost-effective lead generation platform for the majority of small businesses. This most likely applies to you.

If you have to work around certain restrictions, are in a more complex B2B market or have a long sales cycle (this doesn’t apply to content and course creators) then you may want to consider Google Ads or LinkedIn Ads.

If you are amazing on video TikTok Ads is a serious contender, while if you have a professional videographer you may want to jump into YouTube Ads. Most businesses don’t have the production quality required to YouTube ads so you likely want to stay away from them.

Circling back, the majority of businesses will want to choose Facebook/Instagram to run their ads.

Your business has strong stable revenue streams and wants long-term consistent growth.

Investing in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the best direction for your business. That means choosing organic search vs paid search.

Content Marketing is an excellent way to drive sales as it brings qualified prospects to your website that are searching for your solution to solve their most important problems.

A typical SEO project takes 8 months to yield reliable results which is similar to farming. As you provide useful information, based on common questions and search queries of your prospects, you’ll attract a growing number of website visitors.

Your website becomes increasingly relevant which makes it easier to rank for additional search terms. This is the powerful snowball effect of SEO.

Your content has the added benefit of showcasing your expertise which will increase lead conversion and make it easier for your sales team to close on a deal.

The Hybrid Model

Of course, you can always run paid ads and SEO simultaneously–it doesn’t always have to be organic search vs paid search. One of our best clients did exactly this.

She started out with a Marketing Intensive where we mapped out her marketing strategy for the next 12 to 18 months, we created a new product offering, and jumped into both paid ads and SEO while launching a new website.

We were comfortable with this approach as there was a strong value proposition for her course offering and she was willing to put the work in.

When using a hybrid approach, the paid advertising campaign brings in revenue to sustain the business and pay for the SEO project as well as the growth of the team. As the business matures, the SEO farm draws in a large volume of prospects while the paid ads bring in multiple six figure revenue.

The major benefit is the much faster pace at which the business brings in more clients rather than using the sequential approach of paid ads followed by SEO.

Do you want an implementation partner to work with your team to grow sales?

Our client love how our team works hand-in-hand with their existing team, provides how-to videos which serves as training material, and fill in execution gaps to keep their business growth on track.

Whether you are looking at growing through paid ads, email marketing, SEO or just aren’t sure on the best route for your business, the first step is to schedule a complimentary consultation.