Businesses can leverage many types of marketing strategies to help them achieve their brand or business goals. That includes organic marketing, a strategy that involves creating valuable and engaging content to naturally attract and retain your target audience. This can range from educational blog posts to visual content such as videos and infographics.

Read on as we explore what organic marketing is in more detail and look at the key differences between organic marketing vs paid marketing. We’ll also provide you with top tips on how to leverage organic marketing for your small business. Learn more with Adobe Express.

What is organic marketing?

Organic marketing is a term used to describe non-paid marketing activities. It essentially refers to the marketing strategies you use to acquire customers naturally over time, instead of through paid-media activities.

The strategy involves understanding your audience's preferences and needs so you can tailor your content to appeal directly to them. This could include creating educational blog posts such as how-to guides that address common pain points, or sharing thought leadership pieces about the latest developments and updates in your industry.

It’s all about creating lasting relationships with your audience in a way that feels more authentic and less pushy.

Organic marketing vs paid marketing.

Organic marketing and paid marketing can both increase your online visibility, but there are key differences between the two approaches.

Organic marketing uses non-paid marketing tactics to connect with an audience. This involves creating engaging content to help users organically discover your brand on their own terms. As such, organic marketing is often seen as a long-term strategy that can help you build lasting relationships with your audience over time.

Paid marketing on the other hand eliminates the need for you to wait for your target audience to organically discover your brand. Instead, you can leverage paid advertisements to place your content right in front of your target audience and drive immediate results.

While each of these strategies offer their own benefits, this doesn’t mean you have to choose between one or the other. Paid marketing and organic marketing can complement each other as part of a well-rounded marketing plan.

10 organic marketing examples.

There are lots of channels and strategies you can use for organic marketing, some of which include:

1. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising a website or individual webpages so they appear higher up in the search engine results page (SERP) – without paying for advertising.

This is important as the top organic results on Google tend to attract a lot of attention and get higher clicks. Organic search marketing strategies include keyword research and targeting, as well as user-first content.

2. Organic social media marketing.

Organic social media marketing refers to unpaid social media activities. This can include everything from responding to audience comments, to sharing brand updates on your social platforms. The people who see your organic social media posts are typically your followers, those who visit your profile, and anyone who the algorithm thinks will like your content.

You can still optimise these organic posts by targeting key terms or hashtags within the descriptions and using trending audio, so it's easier for users to find and interact with your content.

3. Email marketing.

Email marketing is a great example of organic marketing. This is because it uses unpaid, organic tactics to reach and engage with an audience. Examples of organic email marketing might include welcome emails giving new subscribers an exclusive discount, or monthly newsletters where you share regular updates and content with your audience. This can help build brand loyalty among your customers.

4. Live events.

Live events can be a great way to create meaningful content for your audience as they can help foster real-time interactions with your brand. They don’t just have to be in-person either, you could host a virtual webinar instead. Live events could range from product launches to online conferences.

5. Podcasts.

With an estimated 15.5 million podcast listeners in the UK, there has never been a better time to host a podcast. Podcasts can be a great way to engage with your target audience, especially if you use the opportunity to interview them or talk about a subject they are interested in.

6. Blog posts.

Writing engaging and educational blog posts is another form of organic marketing. Blog content can range from how-to guides to business updates and thought leadership pieces. The idea is to address common concerns and provide reliable, accurate information for your customers on relevant subjects. This can help establish your brand as a trusted expert in the market.

7. Customer testimonials.

Customer testimonials are popular tools for enhancing brand trust. In fact, they can make a significant difference in how people see and communicate with your brand. You can gather testimonials from direct customer surveys to feature on your product pages and social channels or include a link to reviews from third party sites. Similarly, engaging and responding to customer reviews on these forums and third party channels is another way to boost your brand visibility organically online.

8. Case studies.

Case studies are a great example of using content to engage audiences in organic marketing. They offer a useful way for your brand to demonstrate your expertise by showcasing real-world success stories. These pieces can delve into the challenges faced by customers or clients, the solutions you provided, and measurable outcomes. They’re especially useful for business-to-business (B2B) brands that want to showcase their work for recognisable clients.

9. Videos.

Videos can be an engaging way to connect with your existing audience online. You could upload a YouTube video demonstrating how to use your products. Or you could upload fun day-in-the-life style videos to your social media channels such as TikTok and Instagram.

10. Interactive content.

Interactive content such as polls and quizzes can encourage your audience to actively engage with your brand. It can help foster stronger relationships with your audience and keep them coming back for more. Interactive content such as quizzes can also provide valuable insights on your audience’s preferences and overall sentiment towards your products, which you can use to inform future strategies.

Editable organic marketing assets for your UK business.

5 organic marketing tips for small businesses.

Kickstart your organic marketing strategy with these five tips:

• Define your audience. Take some time to define your target audience. Ask yourself, who is most likely to be interested in your brand? Think about audience demographics here too such as age, gender, and location.
• Know your audience. It’s not enough to simply define your audience, you also need to understand their behaviours and preferences too. You can do this through focus groups, market research and in-depth audience analysis. This is vital to creating content that resonates with your consumers.
• Create valuable content. Creating content that is relevant and useful is key. There are various ways to ensure your content is valuable– from keeping up with trending topics to social listening.
• Choose the right platforms. Focus your organic marketing efforts on platforms where your target audience spends most of their time. For example, if you’re trying to reach a younger audience like Gen Z, you might want to consider using TikTok or Snapchat.
• Leverage lead magnets. Lead magnets are free assets or special deals you can offer to customers in exchange for contact information. This could be a discount code, or access to an e-book. You can implement these tactics in your organic strategies to turn organic traffic into leads.

How can Adobe Express help you create your own organic marketing strategy?

Adobe Express offers a range of tools to help streamline your organic marketing strategy. Check out some of the free tools and templates available to help make engaging content.

1. Optimise and enhance your web pages to increase organic traffic.

Build web pages from scratch with Adobe Express’s free web page maker. Optimise your content and test out different creatives and visuals to see what works for your customers. Take advantage of the endless customisation options available, from fonts and colours to photo grids.

2. Boost your presence on social media.

Elevate your organic social media marketing with the online social media graphic maker. Create unique social posts using free templates and trending design assets.

3. Schedule your organic social media posts for consistency.

Save time on your organic marketing by scheduling your social media posts with the Adobe Express content scheduler. Create, plan and preview your posts, then schedule across your various social platforms.

Pitch your organic marketing plan with ease using the AI Presentation Maker.

Once you’ve perfected your organic marketing plan, easily pitch your ideas to your team or clients with the Adobe Express AI Presentation Maker.

To get started, open Adobe Express on your desktop or mobile. Then import your presentation into the AI maker, pick a template, or begin from scratch. Add in your own images, graphics and icons to enhance your design, and customise further with AI tools.

Just enter a prompt and watch your creative visions come to life. When you’re done, hit download or present your ideas directly from Adobe Express. You can make as many presentations as you like.

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Good to know.

What is organic traffic in digital marketing?

Organic traffic refers to the visitors who come to your site through unpaid, organic results. For this reason, organic traffic is sometimes referred to as ‘earned traffic’. This is the opposite of paid traffic, which consists of visitors acquired through paid ads such as sponsored social media posts and Google shopping ads.

What is organic content marketing?

Organic content marketing is a form of organic marketing that involves creating and sharing valuable content. This can include blog posts, videos, and podcasts. The aim is to create meaningful and valuable content. For example, a beauty brand may create a free makeup tutorial showcasing how to apply popular products.

How long does organic marketing take?

Unlike paid media advertising, it can take a while to see results from organic marketing. For example, it can take up to 12 months for some websites to benefit from SEO. However, because organic marketing is less costly, it can be a useful approach to invest in over the long-term – especially if your business is just starting out.

Is Adobe Express free?

Yes, our free plan offers many core features including thousands of templates, photo editing and effects, animation, and 5 GB of storage. See our pricing page for details and to compare plans.