Paid vs. Organic Marketing: And Why You Need Both
For years, paid advertising has been sold as the fastest path to growth. Designer brands often think that they can turn on ads, dial up spend and watch the revenue roll in. And sometimes, that works…for a bit.
In 2026, brands that solely rely on paid ads as their strategy are going to feel the pressure. With rising costs, volatile and unpredictable performance, paid ads are simply not the solution they used to be.
We look at paid ads differently. Paid is a channel, not a strategy. Without a strong organic foundation, it’s one of the least reliable places to build long-term growth. Here’s why organic marketing and paid are more powerful as a pair.
The Problem with Paid
Paid ads can feel like a catch all solution, or in some cases, a bandaid to cover up a much larger issue - an undeveloped organic marketing plan. Most of the time, they’re asked to do way too much. They’re somehow expected to create demand, drive awareness, build trust and drive purchases. The truth is, that’s not what they’re designed to do.
When brands neglect powerful foundational tools like brand positioning, content, email and social, ads quickly become a crutch. You’re paying to introduce yourself over and over and over again to an audience that doesn’t really care, instead of reinforcing a story people already recognize.
What Ads Should Do
Paid ads work best when they amplify something that already exists. They can be an excellent tool for:
Distribution: Putting your best-performing creative in front of more people
Acceleration: Speeding up the demand organic marketing has already created
Retargeting: Staying top of mind to the audience that already knows you (and has, or has not yet purchased from your brand)
Testing: Gauging the effectiveness of creative, copy and offers
You can’t argue with all of the benefits of paid advertising, but there’s something glaringly missing from this list — building trust. Organic marketing is the foundation of brand building.
Your organic channels — email, SMS, social, content, website, etc. do the heavy lifting that ads alone cannot. When organic marketing is strong, paid ads don’t need to work so hard.
How can Organic and Paid work together?
The healthiest brands treat organic and paid as a system, not silos. Organic content tests messaging, and reveals what truly resonates through social, email and community engagement. The strongest messages are then amplified through paid advertising, scaling what’s already been proven instead of relying on guesswork. Traffic from paid channels then feeds into owned channels like SMS and email, empowering those channels to drive retention and increase lifetime value. As lifetime value increases, a more efficient and sustainable growth strategy is born.
Paid ads can absolutely play a role in your marketing mix, and they should, but only when they’re treated for what they are — a channel. The real strategy lives in your content and the relationship you’ve built with your audience. When you get it right, paid ads stop feeling like pressure, and start feeling like a true boost.
Are you ready to get off the paid ad hamster wheel, and start making true impact with your organic marketing strategy? Let’s chat.