If you’ve been posting content, running ads, or collaborating with others but still not getting enough visitors to your website, it might be the time to take a step back and rethink your strategy. Trevor Crump, a digital marketer known on TikTok for sharing practical marketing tips, shared a useful framework that breaks down traffic generation into four simple approaches: paid traffic, organic marketing, borrowed media, and rented media.
I wrote this blog to further explain the concepts from his video and show how you can apply them to your own business. Understanding these four types of digital media marketing can help you drive online traffic to your website, whether you run an online store, provide a service, or promote a personal brand. Let’s explore each one and how you can use them to increase website traffic and get better visibility.
Paid traffic refers to visits that come from advertising. You run ads on platforms like Facebook, Google, TikTok, or YouTube, and you pay each time someone clicks or views your content. This method allows you to drive targeted traffic to your website fast.
Want to reach moms in their 30s living in Manila who are interested in kids’ clothes? You can do that with Facebook Ads. Selling productivity tools for remote workers? Google Search ads can help you get in front of people already searching for those tools.
What is the advantage of this approach? Speed. You can reach thousands of people in a few hours. But it also comes with cost. You need a good creative, an irresistible offer, and a well-structured campaign. Without those, your budget could disappear without results.
To make the most of paid traffic:
This is the long game. Organic marketing refers to content you create to attract people over time without paying for ads. It could be blog posts, social media content, videos, emails, or even podcasts.
Trevor Crump breaks this down into four goals: entertain, inspire, educate, and tell stories. Think of a reel that makes someone laugh, a post that motivates, or a guide that teaches a small skill. The more value people get from your content, the more likely they’ll remember your brand and eventually visit your site.
This method helps you generate organic traffic. And unlike ads, the effort you put into organic content can continue to bring in visitors long after it’s published. It builds brand trust and helps increase website traffic steadily.
Tips to improve your content marketing:
If you’re wondering how to increase website traffic without spending money daily, this is where you should spend your energy.
Borrowed media means reaching out to audiences that are already engaged elsewhere. Instead of building your own following from scratch, you borrow the attention of someone who has already built trust with their audience.
This could mean partnering with an influencer to create UGC (user-generated content), getting featured in a newsletter, or being invited as a guest on a podcast.
For example, if you run a skincare brand, you might send products to a skincare creator on TikTok who reviews them for her audience. That creator has built trust. Her viewers are more likely to check you out because the recommendation came from someone they already follow.
To make borrowed media work:
Borrowed media is especially helpful if you’re trying to drive targeted traffic to a website for a specific niche or campaign. You skip the time it takes to build trust by tapping into someone else’s credibility.
Rented media is about forming creative partnerships with other brands or entities that already have strong distribution power. Think of co-branded product launches, cross-promotions, or partnerships with bigger names in your industry.
Trevor cited examples like Olipop x Barbie or Sydney Sweeney x Dr. Squatch. In both cases, one party “rents” exposure through collaboration, gaining traffic, credibility, and social proof.
This is different from paid influencer posts or short shout-outs. Rented media is about forming a deeper relationship with another brand, where both sides benefit from the increased attention.
Ways to get started:
If you’re still learning how to drive online traffic to your website, rented media may seem too advanced. But even simple partnerships with local creators or micro-brands can bring measurable results.
Each traffic channel has its strengths. Paid media is fast and scalable. Organic content builds loyalty. Borrowed media introduces you to new followers. Rented media lets you share audiences with other brands.
You don’t need to use all four at once. Most businesses start with content marketing and slowly build up to paid ads or partnerships. What matters is choosing the mix that fits your time, budget, and goals.
Let’s say you’re an SEO specialist or someone offering SEO services. You could:
That’s how a blended strategy looks in action.
The goal isn’t just to increase numbers. You want to drive targeted traffic, the kind that leads to actual interest, inquiries, and conversions.
Keep testing, measuring, and adjusting. Most results don’t show up overnight, but consistent effort compounds. When you match the right strategy with the right message, people start showing up where you need them to.
And once they’re there, your content, service, or offer does the rest.
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