Written by: Brenna Finlay
Congratulations! You earned it. With all the customer reviews (hopefully good ones), organic tweets, and being listed in a “Top 10” article your company is now successful more than ever. The best thing about it? The publicity is free!
According to Cision , 81 percent of senior marketers believe earned media is more effective than paid media. Earned media is a pivotal part of any digital strategy. HubSpot believes that digital marketing is evolving earned media with social media as the main resource for publicity.
In today’s marketing world, consumers are heavily influenced by reading reviews online to make purchasing decisions. A study by Nielson and InPowered shows that content-credible, third-party, articles and reviews are the most effective sources in impacting consumers along the stages of the purchase process. Additionally, contributing your own content to bloggers, journalists, or publications industries help facilitate earned media.
But before you dive in, you need to anchor your influencer efforts around an objective. Marketers need to define their earned strategy and tie earned media campaigns to measurable outcomes in order to succeed.
What Is Earned Media?
Earned media is organically-received publicity that elevates your brand and marketing efforts. It’s the kind that you do not pay for. The media is earned by receiving press mentions, reviews, awards, article shares, tweets, etc.
Not only is it free, but the true value bofearned media is that it creates a sense of trust in your brand. When a third-party creates content about your product or company, you receive engagement and exposure from an entirely new audience. But earned media is only successful if your company is posting creative content, interacting with social media, and making customers happy.
Here are a few pros and cons to consider when evaluating if earned media aligns with your marketing strategy:
PROS:
CONS:
Earned Media Examples
So what does earned media look like? It can come in many forms including article shares and reposts, awards, influencer recognition, bylines, and guest posts. Here are a few examples:
INFLUENCER RECOGNITION
Neal Schaffer promoting Chad Pollitt’s Torchlite byline Influencer Marketing Templates – The Ultimate List on Twitter.
PODCAST INTERVIEWS
Salesforce interviewing Content Marketing Institute’s Joe Pulizzi on their Marketing Cloudcast podcast .
Chad Pollitt regularly contributing content to Hubspot’s blog .
Earned Media Strategy
Your earned media strategy should be driven by your marketing goals and objectives. Earned media campaigns are most often used to drive demand, build brand awareness, and acquire new leads. Once you’ve set a measurable goal for your earned media strategy, it’s time to launch your first campaign. Here are three campaign templates created by marketing expert Chad Pollitt to jumpstart your earned media efforts:
BYLINED ARTICLE IN A PUBLICATION
Get featured in a publication to increase brand awareness, leads, traffic, and awareness.
Start a Bylined Article Campaign >
GUEST POST ON BLOG
Get an article featured on your blog to increase brand awareness, leads, traffic, and awareness.
Start a Guest Post Campaign >
FACEBOOK ADS TO DRIVE EARNED MEDIA
Generate more earned media opportunities with Facebook ads targeting influential journalists and bloggers. This campaign is a paid media tactic used to drive earned media.
Start an Earned Media Ad Campaign >
Earned media begins with a winning digital media strategy. Whether you already have a digital strategy or you’re just getting started, we’ve broken down steps necessary to implement a winning digital strategy