Too many marketing professionals view content marketing and pay-per-click strategies as a one-or-the-other proposition.

Experts proclaim the organic search rankings generated by content marketing are more valuable, which is reflected in the number of businesses that plan to select inbound marketing as their primary strategy. However, there are others who insist an inbound approach is too time-consuming and doesn’t offer the same guarantee of return on investment as PPC.

Fortunately, there are also those who respond to both perspectives with a simple question: Why not both?

We’ve curated four key ways content-focused organic strategies and PPC campaigns can work together to make each other stronger:

1. Turn attention into trust

PPC helps bring traffic to a website. The content is what keeps them there.

Data shows the vast majority of Google’s total revenue comes from digital and display advertisements. The same goes for Facebook. Clearly, businesses are continuing to invest in driving traffic through paid ads. However, what are companies doing when visitors arrive?

It doesn’t matter how many people land on your website if their next action is to click away.

With so many websites competing for attention, a focus on crafting high-quality, authoritative content is the best way to show visitors your site is worth their time. Better yet, useful content that answers questions and provides valuable insights will work to establish trust with audiences.

Survey results from Reader’s Digest show 67 percent of U.S. adults pay more attention to trusted brands, with the same amount saying they’re willing to pay more money to support brands they trust. Past data also shows 78 percent of consumers are more willing to trust brands that produce unique content.

PPC may draw eyes, but it doesn’t demonstrate credibility. Content marketing does.

“Quality, authoritative content is the best way to show visitors your site is worth their time.”

2. Command search engine visibility

Quality content helps websites rank on SERPs, of course. Yet there’s plenty of valuable real estate on these pages beyond standard rankings. Every time potential customers view a SERP, they’re scanning not just organic results, but the areas of the page devoted to paid advertisements as well.

Companies that invest in both organic and PPC strategies have a better chance of dominating this space as a whole and increasing brand visibility. In order to maximize the number of eyes on your brand, carefully curate content that will rank along with advertisements.

This means not only consistently producing content, but also ensuring it follows SEO best practices.

Content marketing and PPC working in concert boosts visibility.Content marketing and PPC working in concert give a boost to visibility.

3. Strategically promote content

Creating high-quality content is only half the battle.

PPC represents an opportunity to promote content and increase engagement more quickly. Sharing content on social media is vital to building brand awareness and increasing viewership, but you can leverage paid options to kick things up a notch.

It’s important to think strategically when promoting content through paid options. You must analyze which content assets will benefit most from promotion and offer the highest return on investment.

Gated assets, such as eBooks and whitepapers, are prime candidates for PPC. The same goes for content that is more likely to resonate at specific times of year, such as content linked to seasonality or trending topics.

4. Plan out keyword usage

PPC opens the door to highly targeted keyword research, allowing you to see which keywords drive not only the most traffic, but also revenue.

You can take this data and apply it to content creation, focusing on keywords that have been proven to pique customer interest and lead to sales.

Certain keywords will be more expensive for you to use in PPC campaigns. Incorporating them in organic content efforts is a cost-effective way to leverage them while freeing up capital for more affordable words and phrases.

Cost and competition can also inform organic strategies. The more expensive keywords are, the harder they’ll be to rank for. Focusing on less competitive words and phrases that still hold significant ranking potential is your best bet.

In turn,oOrganic ranking can help with PPC strategies. If you find specific phrases or long-tail keywords are helping your site organically, leverage them in paid campaigns as well to maximize engagement.

It’s typically smart to avoid the most expensive, competitive keywords until you know they will provide a return on investment. Once performance has been determined, you can decide which keywords you’re willing to pay for.

Content marketing and PPC do not have to be at odds. When you combine them, they each grow stronger.

Eric Wendt is a writer and editor at Brafton. He discovered his love of words after realizing he was terrible at math. If he's not updating his Tumblr with poetry he's too embarrassed to share, there's a good chance he's out in search of the perfect pale ale.