Advertising
Organic vs Inorganic Marketing: Which Strategy is Right for Each Brand?
Marketing used to be straightforward. There were only a handful of ways for a brand to promote its products and services. Those days are long gone. Thanks to Beyonce’s internet, brands can reach consumers anytime and anywhere in the world. However, to do this effectively, brands must decide whether organic or inorganic marketing or a combination of the two is best for their business.
Here are some details on each strategy, which ones work for different kinds of brands, and advice on how to choose the marketing strategy that fits the brand.
What Are Organic and Inorganic Marketing?
Understanding the benefits and disadvantages of each marketing strategy is the first step in deciding which one works best for a brand. Both organic and inorganic marketing have significant benefits, but they each have disadvantages as well. Here’s a breakdown of the difference between the strategies.
Organic Marketing
Organic marketing refers to any form of marketing that does not have a budget behind it. The most common and familiar form of organic marketing is search engine optimization, or SEO. When brands optimize the content on their website, blogs, and social media pages so search engine algorithms favor them, they’re using an organic marketing strategy.
This strategy also encompasses marketing campaigns built and distributed via zero-cost platforms, like social media. These campaigns rely on consistent, aligned marketing messages delivered over time to build an audience and engage with that audience. For example, a brand may start an Instagram page and post photos and videos emphasizing its values. This content could include images of quotes, relevant memes, videos of employees, infographics related to causes they care about, or anything representative of their ethos.
Organic marketing on social media can also include information about new products, special sales, and events the brand is participating in or hosting. However, focusing entirely on products and sales isn’t an effective social media strategy. Today’s consumers are more moved to purchase when they know about a brand’s story and its ethics than when it’s having a sale.
The downside of organic marketing is that it takes time to deliver results. Increasing search rankings from SEO efforts or significantly growing a brand’s follower base on social media through organic content can take months.
However, organic marketing has a significant advantage. It helps brands build a loyal audience base. More about this later.
Inorganic Marketing
Inorganic marketing refers to marketing campaigns that require a budget. Examples of inorganic marketing include paid ads on search engines and social media platforms, influencer campaigns, display ads, affiliate marketing, and search engine marketing campaigns.
These paid strategies are highly targeted and meant to drive high-quality leads to the brand. While organic marketing focuses on building a broad audience over time, inorganic marketing focuses on acquiring people within the target audience who are ready to take a conversion action. These actions could include signing up for a newsletter or email list, accessing an exclusive limited-time deal, or completing a purchase.
The obvious disadvantage of inorganic marketing is that it’s expensive. Brands must be willing to allocate a decent portion of the marketing budget to these campaigns. The advantage is also obvious, though. Inorganic marketing attracts customers who are most likely to convert. More about this below.
Is Organic or Inorganic Marketing Best For Business?
This is actually a trick question! An effective marketing strategy shouldn’t just include organic or inorganic marketing; it should consist of both. The key is figuring out how to deploy each strategy in a way that makes sense for the brand and optimizes advertising spend.
Organic Marketing is Time Intensive, But it’s Time Well Spent
Creating high-quality content requires time. So, organic marketing not only takes longer to show results, but it also takes time on the front end.
Because consistency is the key to organic marketing, brands need to invest in people who create and distribute high-quality content regularly. This might involve posting to each social media platform 3 to 5 times per week, or even daily, creating a blog post every week, and sending out an email newsletter every week. Yes, it’s a lot of work. However, organic marketing is the best way for a brand to get its marketing messages to its target audience in an unobtrusive, authentic way that builds consumer trust.
Brands can steadily grow an audience that resonates with their message or seeks a solution to the problem they address. Organic marketing can also help a company establish itself as a credible resource.
Over time, effective organic marketing attracts consumers who become invested in the brand. Hopefully, this emotional investment means they’ll repeatedly return to the brand’s content. An average consumer typically encounters a brand or product several times before they’re moved to make a purchase decision. So, the more a customer interacts with a brand’s content, the more likely they are to convert. Brand loyalty, built through compelling content, can also drive repeat business.
While effective, organic marketing is slow. As social media’s algorithms become more competitive and the digital space welcomes more players, it can be very difficult to compete for viewers’ attention. It may take months of weekly podcasts or weeks of daily social media posts to finally reach the desired consumer.
Although it requires time and effort, successful organic marketing is far from impossible. A well-planned, long-term strategy with realistic expectations for the results will make organic marketing work for nearly any business.
Inorganic Marketing is Capital Intensive, But Worth the Spend
Inorganic marketing leverages data from digital behavior, allowing it to deliver fast results. This highly targeted method uses audience insights to place content in front of the right people at the right time. The objective of inorganic marketing is visibility, which makes it great for campaigns advertising time-sensitive promotions or events.
This marketing strategy is also highly effective at capturing people who are looking for a specific product or service. Paid advertisements that appear on search engines when people search for products or services, or on sites where people read product reviews, reach customers further down the purchase pipeline.
Although inorganic marketing produces noticeable results quickly, it is costly. Companies often find themselves burning through ad spend budgets more rapidly than expected without receiving the results they’d hoped for. So, inorganic marketing campaigns must be carefully planned and budgeted before rolling out.
Another thing to remember about inorganic marketing is that the results usually cease after the budget is cut. Financial investment is required to sustain engagement levels, so it’s a good idea to plan for short bursts of engagement rather than expecting that level of engagement to continue long-term.
When brands execute a well-thought-out strategy for inorganic marketing, they usually find that the campaign’s return on investment is well worth the spend.
Blending Organic and Inorganic Marketing
Both organic and inorganic marketing have their place in any brand’s marketing strategy. Organic marketing builds long-term brand loyalty and credibility but takes time, while inorganic marketing drives quick results but requires ongoing investment. The most effective approach requires a strategy that leverages the advantages of each while minimizing the disadvantages.
By understanding the audience, analyzing data, and refining strategy, brands can create a marketing plan that balances cost efficiency with growth, ensuring scalability and lasting success.
