The Three Pillars of Marketing: Owned, Paid, and Earned Media

 

Table of Contents

 

Introduction 📝

Defining Owned, Paid, and Earned Media in Detail 📚

- What is Owned Media? 📺

- What is Paid Media? 💸

- What Exactly is Earned Media? 🤝

The Vital Importance of Each Type of Media Explained ☝️

- Why Owned Media is Crucial for Brands ✨

- How Paid Media Provides Value for Brand Marketing 🚀  

- The Immense Value Earned Media Brings 📈

Crafting a Comprehensive Media Strategy from Start to Finish 🎯

- Setting Measurable Goals and Objectives 🎯

- Conducting In-Depth Audience Research and Analysis 🕵️ 

- Creating Diverse Content Optimized for Each Channel 📹

- Distributing and Promoting Content for Maximum Impact 🚀

- Implementing Effective Tracking and Analytics 📊

Navigating Common Challenges with Each Media Type 🛣️

- Producing Engaging, Valuable Owned Content 📝

- Optimizing Paid Media Spend and Results 💰

- Earning Media Coverage and Backlinks at Scale 🤝

Actionable Best Practices and Real Examples  ✅

- Crafting Compelling, Audience-Focused Owned Assets 📹

- Leveraging Paid Channels for Efficient Audience Targeting 🎯 

- Building Long-Term Influencer Relationships 🤝

Conclusion and Key Takeaways ✔️

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ❓

 

Owned, Paid, and Earned Media: An In-Depth Guide

 

Introduction to Owned, Paid, and Earned Media 📝

 

For modern brands, reaching and engaging with your target audience across channels is essential. However, the pathways to achieve this continue to proliferate. Simply creating content is no longer enough to cut through the noise. Companies must leverage owned, paid, and earned media as part of an integrated omni-channel strategy.

 

This comprehensive article will examine the definition and integral importance of owned, paid, and earned media channels. You'll learn step-by-step how to develop an effective, cohesive media strategy, including setting goals, analyzing your audience, optimizing content, amplifying reach, and tracking performance. We'll also explore common challenges with each media type and provide concrete best practices with real brand examples. By the end, you'll understand exactly how to incorporate owned, paid, and earned media together for maximum impact. Let's dive in!

 

Defining Owned, Paid, and Earned Media in Detail 📚

 

There are three core categories of media that modern brands rely on as part of their marketing strategies:

 

-         What is Owned Media? 📺

 

Owned media encompasses the platforms and content that a brand has complete control and ownership over. This includes:

 

- Company website and blogs

- Branded social media profiles on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc.

- Marketing videos, behind-the-scenes footage, webinars, podcasts 

- Presentations, whitepapers, ebooks

- Infographics, photos, GIFs, and other visual branded assets

- Mobile apps, games, and quizzes

- Email newsletters and loyalty programs

- Custom digital experiences like VR/AR

- Review and help sites, forums

- Branded physical assets - packaging, storefronts, swag

 

With owned media assets, brands have total creative oversight over messaging, positioning, aesthetics, and more. These properties can be explicitly leveraged to engage audiences.

 

-         What is Paid Media? 💸

 

Paid media encompasses any advertising channels and placements that require spending money directly to reach your target audience. Major paid media channels include:

 

- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising like Google Ads and Microsoft Ads

- Social media and display ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Quora

- Native advertisements seamlessly integrated into articles and newsfeeds

- TV commercials

- Radio spots

- Print ads in magazines, newspapers, brochures

- Out-of-home ads - billboards, tradeshow booths, posters, transit

- Direct mail campaigns

- Paid influencer posts and sponsorships

- Paid amplification of owned media content

 

With paid media, brands purchase ad inventory in front of specific target users based on defined goals, budgets, and other parameters. This allows for precise message targeting at scale.

 

-         What Exactly is Earned Media? 🤝

 

Earned media is comprised of exposure and coverage that is gained organically without direct financial exchange. Types of earned media include:

 

- Brand mentions, features, interviews, guest articles in online, print, and broadcast media

- Influencer social shares, reviews, references

- Organic engagement on owned social channels - likes, comments, reposts

- Favorable reviews and customer testimonials

- Industry awards and inclusion in rankings

- Word of mouth referrals and recommendations

- Backlinks and organic discovery through search engines

- User generated content featuring your brand or assets

- Social engagement driven by owned or paid efforts

 

While earned media can be influenced, it ultimately can't be explicitly purchased. It represents third-party validation and endorsement.

 

The Vital Importance of Each Type of Media Explained ☝️

 

Owned, paid, and earned media channels serve distinct strategic purposes. Let's examine the core value that each brings to brand marketing:

 

-         Why Owned Media is Crucial for Brands ✨

 

Owned media provides numerous benefits:

 

- **Full control over messaging** - Brands craft narratives on owned platforms that align with positioning and persona without relying on third-parties.

 

- **Direct audience engagement** - Owned properties allow brands to foster loyal communities and facilitate immersive interactions through content.

 

- **Brand authority and trust** - Consistently publishing high-quality, audience-focused content on owned channels establishes credibility and authority.

 

- **Lead generation** - Gated assets on owned properties capture contact data for lead nurturing.

 

- **Audience insights** - Brands can gather first-party data on owned channels through pixels, surveys, and more to inform strategies.

 

- **Lower cost per impression** - Reaching audiences through owned platforms is typically cheaper than paid advertising.

 

- **SEO benefits** - Optimized owned content helps search visibility by driving links, engagement, and rankings for relevant topics.

 

In summary, owned media provides the content foundation for brands to directly express their identify while engaging audiences.

 

-         How Paid Media Provides Value for Brand Marketing 🚀

 

Paid media delivers significant advantages:

 

- **Precise audience targeting** - Paid ads allow brands to serve messaging to exact segments across channels based on demographics, interests, behaviors, lookalike modeling, and more.

 

- **Campaign scale** - Budgets can be rapidly allocated across paid channels to achieve significant reach quickly.

 

- **Full control over placement** - Brands choose exactly where their ads will be displayed across platforms.

 

- **Performance tracking** - Robust analytics provide visibility into paid campaign results and ROAS to optimize spend.

 

- **Awareness and discovery** - Paid ads facilitate discovery of brands, products, and owned content by new audiences.

 

- **Video storytelling** - Paid video ads enable memorable and engaging storytelling on platforms like YouTube.

 

- **Audience growth** - Retargeting past visitors across channels brings new users into the funnel.

 

- **Maximizing conversions** - Paid ads help capture leads and site actions from buyer-ready segments.

 

In summary, paid media allows for precise, scalable, and measurable audience targeting to achieve branding and direct response goals.

 

-         The Immense Value Earned Media Brings 📈

 

Earned media delivers incredible value through:

 

- **Credibility and trust** - Mentions by influential platforms, media, and individuals establish credibility and trust.

 

- **Increased brand awareness** - Audiences learn about brands organically through earned media.

 

- **New audience reach** - Earned media introduces brands to new audiences outside existing channels. 

 

- **Higher conversion rates** - Earned media drives more qualified traffic that converts better.

 

- **Lasting impact** - Unlike ads, positive earned media creates enduring awareness and associations.

 

- **SEO boost** - Links, citations, and authority gained from earned media improve search rankings.

 

- **Cost savings** - The value gained from earned media comes free of charge.

 

In summary, high-authority earned media coverage builds credibility, expands reach, improves conversions, and powers SEO.

 

Crafting a Comprehensive Media Strategy from Start to Finish 🎯

 

To properly leverage owned, paid, and earned media, brands must take an orchestrated approach. Here is a step-by-step process:

 

-         Setting Measurable Goals and Objectives 🎯

 

Every successful media strategy starts by defining goals and KPIs. Consider the following:

 

- What specific business objectives do you want to achieve - sales, traffic, leads, awareness?

 

- Set quantifiable KPIs for each goal like increasing site conversions by 15% or acquiring 5,000 new email subscribers.

 

- Do you have objectives for reach and engagement on owned, paid, and earned channels?

 

- What timeframe do you want to accomplish the goals within - monthly, quarterly, annually? 

 

Having clearly defined goals and targets provides direction and focuses efforts.

 

-         Conducting In-Depth Audience Research and Analysis 🕵️

 

The next step is thoroughly analyzing your target audience across channels, including:

 

- Who is your ideal customer - demographics, psychographics, needs, behaviors?

 

- Where does your audience actively spend time online and offline?

 

- What social platforms and communities do they engage with?

 

- Which websites, publications, and blogs do they regularly visit?

 

- What topics and conversations interest them?

 

- How do they consume information and make decisions?

 

- What motivates them to take action?

 

- Who do they look to for recommendations?

 

- What messaging best resonates with them?

 

- What are their pain points you can address?

 

Conduct surveys, interviews, focus groups, social listening, community analysis, and competitive research to uncover insights that will inform your strategy.

 

-         Creating Diverse Content Optimized for Each Channel 📹

 

Next, develop content tailored to the strengths of each media channel.

 

For owned media, create assets aligned with buyer journeys like:

 

- Educational blog posts and videos to attract new audiences

- Case studies and testimonials as social proof

- Demos and free trials to nurture prospects

- Reviews and comparisons for evaluation stage 

- FAQs and guides to assist during decision process

 

For paid media, craft compelling ads with:

 

- Attention-grabbing creative across platforms

- Video storytelling that engages

- Concise, benefit-driven copywriting

- Dynamic elements tailored to target segments

- Direct response messaging and calls-to-action

 

For earned media, pitch and produce:

 

- Trend stories tied to current events

- Data-driven announcements and company news

- Expert contributor articles

- Real customer case studies

- Infographics, reports, and statistics media can feature

- Engaging videos that media outlets will gladly share

 

Create sufficient assets to sustain always-on content marketing across channels.

 

-         Distributing and Promoting Content for Maximum Impact 🚀

 

To optimize reach and engagement, actively amplify content distribution through:

 

**Owned:**

 

- Email lists and newsletter featuring new assets

- Social promotion across owned profiles

- Paid ads pointing to owned content

- Website cross-linking to related owned assets

- Syndicating posts on third-party platforms

- Recurring social series like #FollowFriday profiles

 

**Paid:**

 

- Retargeting visitors with tailored ads across channels

- Leveraging website audiences for lookalike campaigns

- Sequential messaging guiding audiences through funnel

- Expanding to new platforms and placement types

- Testing higher funnel awareness vs lower funnel conversion objectives

 

**Earned:**

 

- Multi-channel influencer partnerships 

- Persistent (but personalized) media pitches

- Contributing guest articles to trade publications

- Issuing press releases for announcements and data releases

- Satellite media tours (SMTs) for major company news

- Media delivery of valuable owned assets for pickup

 

Amplification sustains momentum and maximizes audience reach across channels.

 

-         Implementing Effective Tracking and Analytics 📊

 

The final piece is comprehensive tracking and optimization through:

 

- UTM campaign tagging to measure channel impact

- Web analytics to quantify site actions taken

- CRM analytics to monitor pipeline progression

- Social and ad analytics for owned and paid data

- Media monitoring and links analysis 

- Sentiment analysis and text mining

- Multi-touch attribution to model media synergies

- ROI analysis on conversions driven by channels

- A/B testing of assets and campaigns

- Analyzing trends and performance gaps to reallocate budgets

 

With robust analytics, you can quantify engagement, attribute conversions, identify optimization opportunities, and prove ROI.

 

Navigating Common Challenges with Each Media Type 🛣️

 

While owned, paid, and earned efforts all contribute immense value, marketers should be aware of common difficulties:

 

-         Producing Engaging, Valuable Owned Content 📝

 

- **Takes significant resources** - Producing regular, high-quality owned content requires time, talent, tools, and budget. Many brands underestimate this.

 

- **Promotion is still essential** - With fragmented audiences, owned content visibility requires active promotion via paid and earned channels.

 

- **Measuring impact can be difficult** - While vanity metrics like shares are easy to track, quantifying owned content's business impact remains challenging.

 

- **Keeping content evergreen** - Once published, updating older owned content to keep it relevant involves additional effort.

 

- **Standing out requires innovation** - For ongoing owned content, continually innovating with new formats and ideas is essential but difficult.

 

-         Optimizing Paid Media Spend and Results 💰

 

- **Platforms change algorithms** - As platforms like Facebook and Google evolve, marketers must adapt strategies to algorithm shifts.

 

- **Increasing costs** - More competition has led to higher ad prices and bids across auction-based platforms.

 

- **Ad saturation and fatigue** - The average user sees thousands of ads daily, making engagement and ROI harder without continual testing.

 

- **Scaling quickly cuts efficiency** - It's easy to scale paid media rapidly, but hard to maintain return on spend at higher budgets.

 

- **Multi-channel expertise required** - Optimizing across a fragmented paid landscape requires both specialized skills and overarching strategy.

 

-         Earning Media Coverage and Backlinks at Scale 🤝

 

- **No guaranteed pickup** - Pitching earned media doesn't necessarily mean you'll secure placements and links. Outreach takes perseverance.

 

- **Limited control** - Unlike owned and paid, brands don't dictate how their brand is presented through earned media.

 

- **Labor intensive** - Personally pitching reporters, influencers, and publications is manual and time-consuming without paid tools.

 

- **Changing preferences** - Earning media requires adjusting outreach and assets to align with evolving media preferences.

 

- **Proving attribution** - While earned media clearly provides value, quantifying the direct business lift it delivers remains a hurdle.

 

Understanding challenges across channels helps set realistic expectations and inform strategies.

 

Actionable Best Practices and Real Examples ✅

 

Let's explore tactical best practices and real brand examples for making the most of owned, paid, and earned media:

 

-         Crafting Compelling, Audience-Focused Owned Assets 📹

 

- Provide consistent value on company blogs by publishing 50+ in-depth, useful articles annually like HubSpot.

 

- Produce engaging explainer and tutorial videos optimized for organic search and social sharing, like Slack's lively animated shorts.

 

- Create visual assets like Canva's curated Instagram carousels and Pinterest pins with tips formatted for their community.

 

- Develop genuinely helpful tools like calculators, assessments, and quizzes that provide utility while capturing lead data.

 

- Innovate with new content formats like podcasts, Clubhouse discussions, and Reddit AMAs tailored to each platform community.

 

-         Leveraging Paid Channels for Efficient Audience Targeting 🎯

 

- Structure paid campaigns to reach audiences across funnel stages, from discovery to retention.

 

- Test the optimal mix of brand versus direct-response messaging for each scenario.

 

- Leverage intent signals like searches and site engagement for laser-focused paid targeting.

 

- Analyze metrics like view-through-conversions and multi-touch attribution to right-size budgets across channels.

 

- Make paid ads more consumable through short, serialized video content optimized for mobile and social feeds.

 

-         Building Long-Term Influencer Relationships 🤝

 

- Provide influencers with VIP experiences to organically integrate into ongoing content. GoPro sends influencers on enviable adventures to earn aspirational coverage.

 

- Rather than one-off sponsorships, cultivate influencer relationships through recurring value exchange. Provide long-term access, exclusives, or co-marketing opportunities.

 

**Optimizing Owned Media for Business Impact**

 

- Implement tracking like UTMs and marketing automation to quantify conversions driven by owned content. This proves ROI and helps optimize.

 

- Tie owned content directly to your customer journey. Create assets to attract, nurture, convert, and retain clearly mapped to funnel stages.

 

- Promote owned content through on-page SEO optimization. Include target keywords in titles, URLs, meta descriptions, alt text, schema markup, etc.

 

- Cultivate user-generated content with hashtag campaigns, reviews/testimonials, refer-a-friend, social sharing incentives, and proactive outreach to customers.

 

- Use owned analytics to identify top-performing owned assets. Double down on content formats and topics resonating with your audience.

 

**Driving Performance from Paid Media**

 

- Set up A/B testing for ad creative, copy, placements, landing pages, and calls-to-action to continually optimize performance.

 

- Analyze click-through-rates and effective cost-per-click (eCPC) to diagnose issues with relevance and bid strategies.

 

- Review auction insights and competitor landscape across paid platforms to adjust targeting and bids accordingly.

 

- Use custom intent audiences of current high-value site visitors to find more prospects with similar attributes.

 

- Funnel prospects into owned channels post-click to continue engagement, rather than treating ads as one-off touchpoints.

 

**Amplifying Reach Through Earned Media**

 

- Proactively build relationships with press and influencers by engaging with them on social media, commenting on articles, facilitating interviews, and providing personalized value.

 

- Pitch exclusive data, announcements, insights, and owned content assets that media outlets will find novel enough to share with their audiences.

 

- Conduct PR stunts and experiential events that get your brand in front of media and influencers in unique ways. Invite them behind-the-scenes.

 

- Monitor brand mentions, links, and engagement across the web to quantify earned media impact and double down on high-value placements.

 

- Respond to and engage with positive and negative reviews to acknowledge feedback and show customers you listen.

 

Conclusion and Key Takeaways ✔️

 

An effective omni-channel marketing strategy requires incorporating owned, paid, and earned media in complementary ways. Each channel serves important functions for brands:

 

**Owned media** establishes brand identity and facilitates direct audience engagement through valuable content.

 

**Paid media** enables precise audience targeting at scale to achieve specific branding and response goals.

 

**Earned media** builds credibility and expands reach through third-party endorsements.

 

A comprehensive approach includes:

 

- Setting measurable objectives for business impact

- Researching target audience behavior and interests

- Creating high-quality, audience-focused owned assets

- Distributing and promoting content across the entire media ecosystem

- Implementing robust analytics and optimization

- Being aware of potential challenges and mitigation strategies

 

While difficult, optimizing your integrated owned, paid, and earned media presence can significantly boost brand affinity, engagement, and customer acquisition. Earn consumer attention by delivering value and relevance across channels.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) ❓

 

What are some best practices for creating compelling owned media content?

 

Some best practices include consistently publishing high-quality, in-depth content (50+ articles, videos, etc. annually), innovating with new engaging formats, promoting assets across all owned channels, directly tying content to the buyer journey, optimizing for organic search, and tracking business impact through goals/conversions.

 

How can brands maximize the impact of paid advertising?

 

To maximize paid media, focus on precise audience targeting using rich data signals, robust creative testing and optimization, aligning messaging to stages of the funnel, analyzing performance metrics to optimize spend, using multi-touch attribution to model channel synergies, and funneling audiences into owned ecosystems post-click to continue engagement.

 

What earned media strategies should brands prioritize?

 

Top earned media strategies include proactively building relationships with press and influencers, pitching exclusive and novel content announcements that grab attention, conducting experiential PR stunts, responding to reviews and leveraging user generated content, monitoring brand mentions to quantify impact, and promoting earned media achievements across owned channels.

 

How important is owned media for brand building?

 

Owned media is tremendously important for brand building by providing a platform to directly control messaging and express brand identity through content, while engaging audiences and establishing credibility as an industry thought leader. Consistent, high-value owned media cultivates loyalty and community.

 

What types of content work best on different social media platforms?

 

Long-form blog posts and videos tend to work best on LinkedIn, podcasts and live streaming video on YouTube, short videos and Stories on Snapchat and Instagram, viral memes and trending hashtags on Twitter, curated image collections and Canva graphics on Pinterest, and Q&As and AMAs on Reddit. Match content formats to each platform's primary use case.

 

How do you calculate the ROI of your media campaigns?

 

ROI is calculated by totaling the measurable conversions generated across owned, paid, and earned media based on analytics and attribution modeling, then comparing that revenue/value gain to the resources invested into content production, advertising, PR, and related efforts. Look at ROI holistically across the integrated media strategy.

 

What are some challenges brands face with reliance on paid media?

 

Overreliance on paid media poses risks like steadily increasing ad costs across auction-based platforms, more competing brands leading to ad fatigue amongst consumers seeing thousands of ads per day, algorithms changes by social platforms disrupting strategies, diminishing returns as budgets scale up, and the need for ongoing testing and optimization to earn user attention.

 

Should companies focus on one type of media over others? Why or why not?

 

Rather than overly prioritizing one media type, brands should leverage owned, paid, and earned in balanced, complementary ways. Each channel serves different but equally crucial goals in engaging audiences - take an omni-channel approach.

 

How can you expand the reach of owned media content?

 

Expand owned media reach by actively repurposing it across channels through social promotion, email, influencer partnerships, contributing articles to third-party publications, using snippets in paid advertising, pitching it as earned media exclusives, optimizing it for search discovery, linking internally to amplify related content, and recycling evergreen content on new platforms.

 

What metrics are most important in measuring overall media effectiveness?

 

The most important metrics are direct business goals/conversions tied to media - leads, sales, email subscribers, app downloads, etc. Supporting metrics include impressions, engagement, web traffic, backlinks, social growth, and audience reach across channels. Proper analytics and attribution models quantify media impact.

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