Influencer Marketing vs. Content Marketing: Choose the Right One for You

In today’s competitive environment content writing is probably the most cost-effective method to generating brand awareness for you. According to statista.com, Content marketing alone is going to generate revenues of $300 billion this year.  Now that we know about its potential one question that bothers us is whether content marketing or influencer marketing are the keys to success. Influencer marketing is not an alien concept either and lets us have a look at a brief comparison of the two.

Influencer marketing

If we analyze the concept for you, Influencer marketing is using a celebrity or influencer to vouch for the integrity of your brand. Marketers use the credibility of the influencer to ensure that their product gets an advantage too.

Pros

• Brand awareness and authority– By using an influencer we are easily able to establish our brand as being a trustworthy one.
• Increase brand reach– When an influencer says he trusts your brand all the people who trust him get convinced too. This means that on his saying they would consider your product leading to a visible increase in reach.
• Customer trust– The voice of the influencer makes your customer believe that he can trust you. This automatically converts into more leads which convert.
• SEO– These days SEO is the key to be noticed. Fortunately, when your blogs are published in influencer’s blogs you generate backlinks which ensure a high reach for your website.

Cons

• Demand for transparency- It is not easy to convince your customers to make a move towards your product. Celebrity endorsements are losing favor and that is a major drawback here.
• Costs– Since most brands are using influencer marketing the cost of using the same is rising. In the last year, brands spend around 1 billion dollars on the same and this belittles the purpose of its use.

Content marketing

Content marketing is when you use blogs, research reports, webinars, presentations, infographics, etc. to create a particular image of your brand. This enforces the customer to gain insight using your knowledge and develop a bond with your brand.

Pros

• Improved customer relations– Any kind of authoritative content influences the way the customer thinks about your brand. Further, it also increases the loyalty they feel for your brand.
• Increase in brand credibility-When you post interesting and engaging content on your website customer tends to hold you and your brand in high esteem.
• Brand positioning– An exceedingly unique content will make your brand stand apart from other competitors. You get an image which is difficult for others to beat.

Cons

• Barriers to making an entry– It is next to impossible to insert your brand messages on outside platforms. Guest blogging is one strategy which may work but then your off page SEO goes for a toss.
• Authenticity– You cannot keep producing unique content all the time. It is usually better to hire the services of a content marketing agency to guide you into doing the same.

Influencer Marketing vs. Content Marketing

In this year which one of the two should be given a priority is a million dollar question. As can be seen from above both have their own positives and negatives. The key would be to find a balance between the two as both are absolutely necessary elements of your marketing campaign. You need to contact a trustworthy agency like PRchitects to handle your influencer marketing as that requires careful planning and precision.

On the other hand, great content may form a solid base but that is not sufficient to ensure complete branding solutions. It is better to build authoritative content which is enticing to grab the attention of influencers and customers alike. When you engage, concentrate your marketing, and network you would get the influencers talking and that is how the ball would get rolling for you.