The Case for Organic Content in a Pay-to-Play World

As a marketer, I’m not against paid content, but understanding the budget implications and trade-offs is a crucial prerequisite to making informed decisions about how to spend ad money on already-complicated platforms whose targets often change faster than the user market itself.

Paid Reach Is Rented but Organic Reach Is Owned

A quickly ad-converted sale is a sale, alright, but it has consequences. It’s money in your pocket, sure, but it can also damage your brand’s reputation if the relationship behind that sale isn’t managed properly. It’s for reasons like this that organic content is the more sustainable approach for brands that want to survive the passing glances of an already-overstimulated audience.

It’s my MO to first try to organically establish an unmistakeable brand voice, find the right audiences, consistently build rapport, and improve content with pliable strategies that move and grow with the brand and their audiences. Sometimes organic content can be more effective than paid advertising, and once that trust is established, it necessitates a different kind of effort—albeit, at times more effort in consistency and less risk—to maintain it, build upon it.

However, there are cases in which paid content is a follow-up, supporting, or sometimes even better approach for the goal at hand. Below is how I approach the balance between paid and organic strategies.

Paid vs. Organic: When to Use Each

Paying for content is a good way to reach more eyes in a shorter amount of time or when time is of the essence (and no, you can’t rely on that designation repeatedly), when you need to test the waters with a new market or new audience parameters, or when you need to jumpstart interest in waters that were once warm to your organic approach.

It’s important to remember, though, that when it comes to content that does the work for you, the goal is to create authentic relationships with your audience. It’s that organic approach that builds and grows when the marketing budget feels limited.

Mixing paid and organic strategies oftentimes proves to be the smartest and most balanced approach to content, but the decision should be purposeful and always in alignment with your overall goals.

The brands that last are the ones that built something worth coming back to, without paying for every click.

Excellent examples of approaches that toe the line between organic and paid strategies are influencer/personality partnerships and user-generated content campaigns. They reach beyond your existing audience, provide a built-in rapport thanks to the creators, and have a strong potential to create meaningful connections for everyone involved. That being said, influencer partnerships are more involved, requiring more research and sometimes greater investment, but the benefits can be substantial.

UGCs are a powerful way to leverage organic content and build community around your brand. For the right products/services and on the right platforms, the payoff could start sooner than you might expect, especially when promotions or incentives are involved for campaigns with brand loyalists. However, brands and creators must align their values and messaging for the campaign to be effective, while also playing within the regulatory guidelines of each platform.

Organic strategy starts with knowing who’s behind the brand.

Where to Put Your Energy

• Invest in content that answers real questions your audience is already asking.
• Build a consistent publishing cadence. Even once a month beats sporadic bursts.
• Repurpose well. One strong idea can become a blog post, a caption, and a short video.

At RJER Creative, I prioritize going organic-first because negative consequences often have the grace to transform into positive opportunities that go the distance. Organic content plays into the the greater long-term public relations strategy in ways that paid content simply can’t match but can always build upon.