The rising cost of paid ads and the power of employee advocacy

The rising cost of paid ads and the power of employee advocacy

Reading Time: 4 minutes

This year, perhaps more than any other, businesses face the growing challenge of how to balance skyrocketing advertising costs with the need for more authentic (customer and prospect) engagement. While paid ads have long been a cornerstone of marketing strategies, their rising costs and diminishing returns are pushing brands to explore alternatives. Enter employee advocacy, a cost-effective and impactful way to amplify your brand’s message. In this post we explore how employee advocacy and paid ads can work together, why advocacy is becoming essential, and actionable steps to get started.

The rising cost of paid advertising

Since 2023, the cost of paid online advertising has surged across platforms, making it harder for businesses to justify their ad budgets. Here are just a few of the increases:

Google Ads CPC:
Has increased by an average of 10%, with some sectors experiencing jumps of over 25%. (Neil Patel)

Facebook CPCs:
Have risen by nearly 17% annually, driven by intense competition for limited ad inventory. (Social Media Examiner)

LinkedIn CPCs:
Have increases and now range from $5 to $15, with highly targeted campaigns exceeding $20 per click. (LinkedIn Marketing Solutions)

Yet, despite these rising costs, ads are becoming less effective:

42% of users find online ads annoying, and 70-80% ignore sponsored search results altogether. (eMarketer, Search Engine Land). Plus, nearly 26% of internet users now use ad blockers, and this number continues to rise. (Statista).

Why employee advocacy makes sense

As the cost of ads increases and effectiveness declines, employee advocacy offers a compelling addition to a brands marketing strategy. Here’s why:

Authenticity wins:
Content shared by employees feels more genuine and is far more likely to resonate with their networks.

Cost-efficiency:
Employee advocacy delivers significant results at a fraction of the cost of paid ads.

Trust and engagement:
Advocacy creates a human connection, building trust and driving engagement beyond what traditional ads can achieve.

Comparing employee advocacy and paid ads

While paid ads excel at precision targeting, employee advocacy amplifies brand reach in a way that is authentic and sustainable. Here’s a snapshot of the financial impact, using data from a variety of online sources (including Wordstream and Hubspot):

Paid advertising costs:

SME businesses:
Google Ads can typically cost $8000 to $9000 per month, totalling $96000 to $108000 annually.

Social media ads:
Monthly spends average $5500 to $9000, adding up to $66000 to $108000 per year.

Total costs:
Combining search and social media ads, paid advertising costs can easily range from $162000 to $216000 annually.

Employee advocacy’s potential:

Extended reach:
With 1000 employees each having 1000 connections, your brand can organically reach up to 1 million people.

Ad value:
At an average CPC of $3.00, 2000 employee-driven clicks translate into $6000 of earned ad value.

Cost efficiency:
Employee advocacy programs can typically reduce costs by 80% compared to paid advertising budgets.

The challenges of paid advertising

While paid ads remain a valuable tool for targeted reach, they come with significant challenges:

Declining CTRs:
Global social ad click-through rates have dropped by 30% year-over-year. (Statista)

Banner blindness:
The average user sees over 1700 banner ads per month, but most go unnoticed.

Ad fatigue:
As users are bombarded with ads, the struggle to stand out intensifies.

The employee advocacy advantage

Employee advocacy offers unique advantages that paid ads can’t match:

561% greater reach:
Messages shared by employees travel 561% further than those shared by brand channels. (MSLGroup)

8x more engagement:
Employee-shared content generates 8x the engagement of brand-only posts. (Social Media Today)

4x brand lift:
Earned media delivers 4x the brand lift compared to paid ads alone. (Bazaarvoice)

Advocacy not only enhances visibility but also drives trust, loyalty, and conversions in a way paid media often struggles to replicate.

A winning strategy: Combining paid ads with employee advocacy

Paid media has long been a cornerstone of successful marketing strategies. Its precision targeting, scalability, and immediate visibility make it an invaluable tool for raising brand awareness and guiding prospects through the sales funnel. However, the rising cost of advertising and growing ad fatigue among audiences highlight an undeniable truth: relying solely on paid ads is no longer enough.

To truly connect with today’s consumers, brands need a more balanced approach – one that pairs the precision of paid media with the authenticity of employee advocacy. This hybrid strategy combines the expansive reach and data-driven power of paid ads with the trust and human connection that only advocacy can deliver. Together, these strategies form a powerful, complementary duo that can drive exceptional results.

Here’s just a few of the ways avocacy can add real value:

Humanise your brand:
Advocacy fosters authentic connections with your audience, offering a personal touch that paid ads alone can’t achieve.

Expand organic reach:
Employees amplify your brand message across their networks, reaching wider audiences and reducing reliance on costly ad campaigns.

Enhance remarketing efforts:
Employee advocacy helps build warm leads, enriching your remarketing lists and improving ad effectiveness.

Actionable steps to get started

If you’re ready to embrace employee advocacy, here’s how to begin:

Repurpose your budget:
Allocate part of your ad spend to employee advocacy – it’s cost-effective and high-impact.

Educate your employees:
Provide training and tools to make advocacy easy and natural for your team. Platforms like Fetch – enable marketing and sales teams to easily share advocacy content across their social media channels.

Combine with ads:
Use paid ads for targeted reach and employee advocacy to build authentic engagement.

And finally….

As advertising costs continue to rise, businesses must rethink how they connect with audiences. Employee advocacy and paid ads aren’t competitors – they’re partners. Together, they form a powerful marketing strategy that balances authenticity with precision targeting.

Ready to empower your employees, amplify your brand, and lower your costs? Let Fetch show you how to unlock the full potential of employee advocacy. Contact us today to find out more.