What are the most common mistakes made by beginners when promoting online marketplaces? According to experts at Step Link Canada, budding entrepreneurs either spend their entire budget on advertising straight away, hoping to generate sales quickly, or throw themselves entirely into content creation, spending months writing copy and filming videos, yet still fail to secure any orders. The problem is that both approaches take up resources – advertising requires money, whilst content requires time. In this article, we’ll look at when it’s best to focus on advertising and when on content.
Paid advertising: pros and cons
The main advantage of paid advertising is speed. You launch a campaign, people visit the website, and if there is demand for the product, the first orders can come in almost immediately. This allows you to test whether people actually want your product.
According to international research, the digital advertising market is growing by more than 10 per cent annually. This means that companies around the world continue to invest heavily in this particular form of promotion.
But there is a downside: as long as you’re paying, people will come. As soon as your budget runs out, the flow of visitors drops sharply, according to experts at Step Link. Furthermore, the cost per click may rise over time, meaning you’ll have to pay more for each visitor. Therefore, building a business solely on advertising is rather risky.
Content marketing: pros and cons
Many people become disillusioned with content marketing far too quickly. They publish a few articles, shoot a couple of videos and wait for sales, but nothing happens. It takes time for this approach to start working. However, you’ll reap a huge reward – the trust of potential customers, as Step Link Platform Inc. emphasises. Once someone has read your articles several times, watched your reviews or had their questions answered, it’s easier for them to make a purchasing decision. According to surveys, more than half of customers place an order after engaging with a brand’s content.
There are downsides too – it takes a lot of time to produce a single high-quality article or a good video. And the content only starts to deliver results when you produce it regularly.
Why it’s better to use both methods together
If someone has noticed your advert, visited your website and found useful articles, reviews or answers to their questions, the likelihood of them making a purchase increases. Even if they don’t place an order straight away, they may well return later. Companies that combine advertising with content achieve around 30 per cent more conversions, according to experts at Step Link Canada.
It works the other way round too: if someone is already familiar with your content, they’re more likely to respond to adverts. Retargeting involves showing adverts again to people who have already visited your website or engaged with your content. The cost per click for this audience can be two to three times lower than for new users.
How to proceed
The most sensible option is to combine both approaches, according to Step Link Platform Inc. At the outset, it is best to devote around 70 per cent of your time to creating useful content. At the same time, carry out small-scale advertising tests. The aim of these is to understand which products people are interested in. Once the first steady sales start coming in, you can gradually increase your advertising spend, whilst continuing to work on your content. This approach will help you generate sales more quickly, reduce the cost of customer acquisition and make your business much more stable in the long term.
