Earned Media Last - Mike Doria Media

Of the three (some now argue four) ways that a company can get marketing and media attention, there’s one in particular a company should hold off on. Earned Media. This type of media is any attention a company attracts that it didn’t have to pay for. It’s “earned.” It could be a reporter using the businessowner in a story about the economy. It could be shares and linkes on digital platforms from shoppers or bloggers. But the reason to wait for to happen is simple. A company doesn’t want to look sloppy or foolish if the other “media” channels are in top shape.

Paid Media: Paid media refers to external marketing efforts that involve a paid placement, such as pay-per-click advertising, branded content and display ads. Paid media is an essential component of revenue growth and brand awareness for online businesses.

Owned Media: Anything under a company’s direct control such as websites, newsletters, catalogs, and blogs. Social media is usually treated as owned and earned. The rationale is that brands own their own social channels and audiences, then try to earn sharing and word-of-mouth.

Earned Media: Again, this is attention that came free. No money was exchanged but the brand or business got “buzz” or some type of publicity or marketing boost.

Shared Media: Shared media refers to content which is shared across third party platforms, such as social media, or shared between multiple owners, including people liking, commenting on or sharing someone’s social media posts – it is the result of a shared interaction. Example platforms include: Facebook. Instagram. Twitter.

As you can see, shared media also overlaps some into earned. However, earned can also happen through paid media. For example, people sharing or commenting on a Facebook ad. Below is chart created by “Crazy Egg” explains the purpose of each of these media types in greater detail.

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Uniquely matrix economically sound value through cooperative technology. Competently parallel task fully researched data and enterprise process improvements. Collaboratively expedite quality manufactured products via client-focused results.

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So, why should “earned media,” especially if it’s free, be the one to wait on? Simply put, you don’t want attention on your brand or business if it’s sloppy. Earned media could bring more visitors to your website (owned media.) If your website is riddled with spelling errors or images aren’t optimized, that could leave people scratching their heads. If your paid media strategy is troublesome, that might raise eyebrows about your inventory or product. Marketers glean a lot of data from their paid campaigns to learn more about the audience. If you don’t know who your customer is, or who your secondary markets are, how are you going to intelligently explain that to a reporter?

Generally speaking, the “media” types are aligned and this won’t be an issue. But for a new business or company, there’s both a benefit and wisdom in waiting.