Content Marketing and Digital Marketing are two internet-based marketing strategies. However, it will be wrong to compare the two.
Digital Marketing is the umbrella term used for internet-based marketing. Among others, it includes Content Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Newsletter Marketing, Pay-per-Click Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Website Advertising.
The correct definition therefore will be: Content Marketing is a subset of Digital Marketing. Another effective way of establishing a relationship between the two will be to state that almost all Content Marketing is Digital Marketing but not all Digital Marketing is Content Marketing.
So, which aspect of Content Marketing is not Digital Marketing? The answer is: when Content Marketing is used by traditional media to create sponsored content popularly known as advertorials.
It is also important to understand that the foundation of most Digital Marketing is content. Digital marketing uses advertisements to drive potential customers to a landing page which can be a website or a blog. Similarly, it uses Newsletters, which is nothing but content, to generate leads or sales.
This does not mean that that there are no differences between the two. In fact, there are three key differences:
# Difference 1: The main purpose of Content Marketing is to build trust and customer loyalty. It does not aggressively push content but wait for potential customers to find it.
The Digital Marketing techniques are more direct. They run advertisements to attract customers.
#Difference 2: Content marketing is indirect and long-term. The main expenditure is on creation of content and the goal is to attract organic traffic.
The other Digital marketing techniques are more direct. The investment is also higher as advertisements are being run to attract customers, and the traffic is largely paid traffic.
# Difference 3: The goal of Digital Marketing is to convert leads into sales whereas the goal of Content Marketing is to educate potential customers.
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