Influencer Marketing vs. Paid per Click Advertising: A Comprehensive Comparison

Whether you’re an active internet user or not, there’s a high chance you’ve been faced with either a paid ad or an influencer trying to sell you stuff.

Influencer marketing and paid per click (PPC) advertising are two popular methods for promoting products and services online. These digital marketing methods are so successful, they’ve become massively popular in the last few years.

Both have their own unique advantages and disadvantages, and choosing the right strategy depends on a variety of factors such as your budget, target audience, and marketing goals.

What exactly is influencer marketing and paid per click (PPC) advertising?

Influencer Marketing

Let’s take a closer look at what influencer marketing is.

Here, brands work with individuals who have a large following (often millions) on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, to promote their products or services.

These individuals, known as “influencers”, use their platform to reach a large and engaged audience with content that is authentic, relatable, and often aspirational. They create sponsored content, like videos, images, or posts, and promote the brand on their profiles.

influencers are mostly active on social platforms and create digital content for their followers.

By working with influencers, brands can access a highly targeted and engaged audience, as well as leverage the trust and credibility these influencers have built with their followers.

Paid per Click Advertising

Paid per Click (PPC) advertising works by charging brands a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. PPC ads appear on a variety of platforms, such as search engines, social media, and websites. It allows brands to reach a targeted audience by placing ads in front of users who are searching for or have shown an interest in their products or services.

PPC campaigns can be highly targeted, allowing brands to reach specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. They also offer a measurable return on investment (ROI) by tracking conversions and other key performance indicators.

Disover the pros and cons of both marketing methods

Pros of Influencer Marketing

• High level of trust and credibility: Influencers have already established themselves as authorities within their niche, and their followers view them as a reliable source of product recommendations. This means that an endorsement from an influencer carries a lot of weight, and can lead to increased trust and credibility for the brand.
• Ability to reach a targeted, engaged audience: By working with influencers who have a large following within a specific niche, brands can reach a highly targeted and engaged audience that is more likely to be interested in their products or services.
• Opportunities for creative, authentic content: Influencers are often creative and innovative in their approach to sponsored content, and their unique style and voice can add authenticity and interest to a brand’s message. Additionally, it often allows for more natural and relatable promotion of the product.

Both influencer market and PPC ads come with their own pros and cons.

Cons of Influencer Marketing

• It can be costly: Influencers often charge high fees for sponsored posts or collaborations. Tiktok makeup influencer Mikayla Nogueira allegedly charges around $6,000 per post to her 13 million followers and is worth around two million dollars. High costs like this can make it difficult for small businesses or those with limited budgets to afford this type of marketing.
• Lack of control over the content and messaging: While brands provide influencers with guidelines and parameters, the influencer has the freedom to create sponsored content in their own style, which can lead to inconsistencies or deviations from the brand’s desired message.
• Difficulty in measuring the ROI: Measuring the return on investment (ROI) of an influencer marketing campaign can be challenging, as it can be difficult to attribute specific sales or conversions to an influencer’s promotional efforts.

Pros of Paid-Per-Click Advertising

• Allows for precise targeting: PPC advertising allows brands to reach highly targeted audiences by using keyword and demographic targeting, which can lead to a higher return on investment (ROI)
• Allows you to measure ROI and track conversions: PPC advertising platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads or Bing Ads, provide detailed analytics and metrics which can help track the performance of the campaign and measure its return on investment.
• Cost-effective for small businesses: PPC advertising is often more affordable than traditional advertising methods. You can run ads for as little as $20 and can scale up or down depending on budget constraints.

Cons of Paid-Per-Click Advertising

• Can be less effective: if the targeting is not precise and the ad is not relevant to the audience, it’s less likely to be clicked on, and therefore less effective.
• Risk of click fraud: Click fraud can occur when competitors or unscrupulous actors click on ads with the intention of driving up costs.
• Ads can be blocked, ignored or seen as a nuisance: Ad blocking software and privacy concerns are becoming increasingly prevalent, which can limit the effectiveness of PPC ads.

Are they related? similarities and differences between the two methods

Now that we understand what you stand to gain or lose with these forms of marketing let’s examine the similarities and differences between Influencer Marketing and PPC Advertising.

Similarities between Influencer Marketing and PPC Advertising

• Both methods involve promoting products or services to a targeted audience
• Both methods require a budget
• Both methods have the potential to drive conversions and increase brand awareness.

Differences between Influencer Marketing and PPC Advertising

• Audience reach and targeting: PPC advertising allows for precise targeting of specific demographics, interests, and behaviors, while influencer marketing is more about reaching a targeted, engaged audience who is interested in the type of products or services being advertised, but through an influential person.
• Cost: While PPC advertising can be cost-effective for small businesses, influencer marketing can be quite expensive as influencers often charge a high fee for sponsored posts or collaborations.
• Control over content and messaging: Influencer marketing often offers less control over the content and messaging as influencers create posts in their own style, while PPC advertising allows brands to have more control over the ad copy, images, and targeting options.
• Measuring ROI: PPC advertising allows brands to track and measure conversions, while measuring the ROI of influencer marketing campaigns can be more difficult.

In summary, PPC advertising provides more precise targeting, more control over ad creative and messaging, and more detailed analytics and metrics to measure performance, while Influencer marketing provides a more relatable and credible means of product promotion, as well as an opportunity for unique and creative content, but it is more expensive and harder to measure the ROI.

Both strategies can be effective when executed correctly, and the choice between the two will depend on a variety of factors, including budget, target audience, and marketing goals.

Here’s some things to consider when choosing between influencer marketing and PPC advertising

So you’ve decided to try one of these two amazing styles of advertising. However, you may be wondering which one is best for your business. When deciding between influencer marketing and PPC advertising, there are several important factors to consider, including:

Deciding between PPC and influencer marketing be tricky if you don’t know what factors to consider.

Target audience

Understanding the demographics, interests, and behaviors of your target audience is key when determining which strategy will be most effective. If your target audience is engaged with social media and trusts influencers, then influencer marketing might be the way to go. But if your target audience is actively searching for specific products or services, then PPC advertising may be more effective. Other factors such as age, languages and location of your target audience can also influence which advertising style you go with.

Budget

Both influencer marketing and PPC advertising require a budget, but the costs can vary significantly. Influencer marketing can be expensive, as influencers often charge high fees for sponsored posts or collaborations, while PPC advertising can be more cost-effective for small businesses as you only pay for the clicks that generate traffic to your website.

Goals

Before deciding on a strategy, it is important to consider what you hope to achieve with your marketing campaign. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or generate leads? Depending on your goals, one strategy may be more effective than the other. Working with influencers can be better for awareness campaigns while PPC advertising may be more suitable for conversions.

Product or Service

The type of product or service you are promoting will also be a factor in the decision. For example, if you are promoting a fashion brand, then influencer marketing may be more effective as it can help to create a sense of aspirational identity for the audience. But, if you are promoting a B2B service or technical product, then PPC may be more effective. It’ll be geared towards the target audience who are actively searching for solutions in their field.

Measuring ROI

Both influencer marketing and PPC advertising can be effective in driving conversions, but measuring the return on investment (ROI) can be difficult for influencer marketing. PPC platforms offer detailed analytics and metrics to track performance, and measure ROI, which can be an important consideration when deciding which strategy to use.

Creativity and Authenticity

Influencer marketing often allows for more creative and authentic ways of promoting a product, as influencers can use their own personal style and tone of voice, while PPC adverts tend to be more formulaic and direct.

It is important to carefully weigh the factors above and understand the audience you are trying to reach and what goals you want to achieve, that will help you make the best decision for your campaign.

This topic is quite broad so it’s going to be a two parter. I’ll be posting the next part tomorrow so stay tuned for that!

*all images are sourced from Freepik.com