Comparing content marketing to pay-per-click marketing is like like comparing sport fishing to large net fishing.
What can we say? It's spring and we have fishing on the brain. Who wouldn't after this past winter?
Back to digital marketing metaphors. With sport fishing (you know, with a pole) you put all of your resources into catching one fish-- hoping that one fish will be the ideal fish to bring into the boat. But, when bringing the fish in the line could break, or the fish could spit out the hook and then all of your energy and time and resources were wasted because it was not the ideal fish, or, because you didn't land it.
When fishing with a net the larger the net, the more fish you can catch. And, you can bring them into your boat nearly simultaneously, with less risk, less cost and fewer resources. When you are finished building your first net you could even start working a second and be fishing with multiple large nets-- all at the same time.
Pay-per-click marketing is like sport fishing; it is very effective when you do land the right fish. But, if you tie up all of your budget every month trying to catch the one large fish (this is a metaphor, obviously, did we mention that?) you are forgetting that a professional fisherman needs to catch more than one fish to keep his business afloat. Just like you need to land many prospects, or at least get bites, and bring many fish (customers) into the boat.
Which is not that easy, even if you are a trained professional, as this video of outdoorsman Bill Dance demonstrates.
To catch more fish, sports fishing style, you need more people to hold more fishing rods and probably more boats with more sport fishing chairs. It can get very expensive, very quickly, to catch more of the right kind and amount of fish.
Just ask anyone who owns a boat and hits the water the first day of the season.
With content marketing and blogging you are building a large net, not just dangling one hook in the water. The more content you create the larger your net, and when your first net is large enough you can start working on a second net and then fish with multiple nets at the same time.
You can use your net, or series of blog articles, for years to come-- making your investment and content much more cost-effective than pay-per-click marketing, with a much higher return on investment. You can even pick where you drop your net-- your website, your Facebook page, an e-blast- to make sure you are fishing in the right water for the fish you want.
This is where an inbound marketing methodology comes into play. Inbound marketing constantly creates ways to engage with your prospects when they do arrive on your content, no matter where they are in the buyer's journey, or the funnel.
There's a salmon swimming upstream metaphor here, but this blog is rated PG.
Not every prospect is going to be ready to buy, or schedule an appointment, or call, or be called, when they arrive on your content. You need to engage them as a prospect and then nurture them during the buyers journey until you convert them to a customer. A nurtured, engaged, customer or ten? That's quite a catch!
