How to Leverage Earned Media As Part of Your Growth Marketing Efforts in 2024
While many successful companies invest in paid marketing efforts, sometimes the most effective way to draw attention to your brand is through earned media.
Earned media refers to the unpaid press coverage or publicity you receive but did not pay for. Besides the fact that there is no up-front cost, earned media can also help you reach new audiences you otherwise may have missed. As a result, it is important to generate as much of it as possible, especially if you’re a bootstrapped startup or have a limited marketing budget to help generate publicity and growth.
Earned media has the added benefit of being an overlooked strategic tool to help organizations generate growth. Some common examples of earned media include social media shares, press mentions earned through media outreach, and organic search traffic
It is important to understand the difference between earned media, and what is known as paid media and owned media. Paid media refers to any kind of media that is paid for, like an ad that runs on Google, or a sponsored social media post. Owned media includes content a brand creates and oversees, such as its own blog or social channels.
Essentially, earned media is that it is neither paid for nor created by the brand itself. In this article, we will examine how your business can craft an effective earned media plan in 2024 while examining the various practices that your business needs to put into place to maximize the amount of earned media coverage you can receive. We will also cite different examples of earned media and examine what makes each of these especially effective. Beyond establishing this, we will analyze what makes earned media so effective, how it stands apart from paid and owned media, and how all of these can work in tandem.
What Sets Earned Media Apart and Makes it An Effective Part of a Growth Marketing Framework?
One of the biggest reasons why you should start giving greater consideration to incorporating earned media as part of your overall marketing strategy, if you haven’t already, is simply because of the credibility and trust your brand stands to gain from earned media
In an age where consumers are constantly being bombarded with advertisements left, right, and center, people are more likely to trust recommendations coming from their friends, peers, or credible media sources rather than messages coming from the brands themselves.
A Nielsen study found that 83% of consumers completely trust recommendations that come friends and family. Thankfully, in a world that is dominated by social media, the term “friend” has become very flexible. This means that the most trusted source of information about your business does not come from the messages your business disseminates to the public, but from what other people, namely previous customers, the media, and other influencers are ultimately saying about your business.
As an example, when satisfied customers leave positive reviews about your business or products, potential customers are more likely to be responsive than they might be to any hard sales message put out by your brand.
This is why your brand needs to put a lot of focus into nurturing good relationships with loyal customers, also known as brand advocates.
One of the reasons why consumers don’t trust messages from brands is because they know that ultimately, the brand is trying to sell its products and might therefore be not fully forthcoming with the truth when it comes to talking about their products and services.
However, when people who have previously used your products post reviews, ratings, recommendations, and stories about their experience with your business and products, their perspective feels more tangible as they have had experience with your business.
What’s more, according to AdAge, brands that focus on earned media see conversion rates of 5% or higher, compared to a conversion rate of just 1% or less for paid media.
However, it is worth noting that there are certain hidden “start-up” costs associated with earned media.
Brands have to put in time and energy to build strong relationships with their customers, brand advocates, or journalists. However, the investment put into getting earned media is more sustainable and long-term.
Are There Any Noteworthy Points of Caution Inherent in Incorporating Earned Media Into Your Overall Growth Marketing Strategy?
While earned media increases your brand’s credibility and has a higher conversion rate and ROI, it is not without its drawbacks.
The biggest one is that you have the least amount of control over earned media compared to paid and owned media.
When publishing content on media you own, such as your website or social media pages, you have full discretion over what content to put up and the message within the content.
When you pay someone to publish content about your brand, they might have their conditions, such as content type, length, and so on, but you still have control over the message within the content.
When it comes to earned media, you don’t have the luxury of control.
Customers who were not satisfied with your products might post disgruntled comments about your company.
Journalists who had a negative experience with your business or have a story to cover that might paint your brand in an unfavorable light can have a deleterious impact on your business. This is especially true if it goes viral.
There is no doubt that managing your overall brand reputation is a key factor in properly leveraging earned media.
What Are Some Good Examples of Earned Media?
Now that we have established what earned media is, what it entails, as well as the broader benefits and potential pitfalls when dealing with and trying to manage earned media, let us now examine some popular examples of earned media and how your business can best leverage them to generate growth.
Press Releases
Press releases traditionally have been one of the most effective methods for earning media coverage. However, they’re not as essential for generating media mentions as they used to be. Many businesses will issue press releases to share exciting news, research findings, new features, important hires, etc. Having media organizations pick up on the news will give your business exposure to a much wider audience. It is important to remember, however, that the true value of a press release is not in the writing or the sending, but in the follow-up, and in establishing relationships with journalists, hosts, and producers.
Media Outreach
This follows from the previous item. Companies increasingly realize the value of contacting a journalist directly instead of relying on a press release syndication platform like PR Newswire to distribute your news. When you have research findings or news that might be worth covering, rather than writing a press release route, it is better to search for journalists who’ve covered similar topics in the past and reach out directly. You aren’t going to have a 100% success rate, but earning a single mention in a major publication or a website (that in turn gets shared on their social media networks) can be an absolute game-changer.
Organic Search Traffic:
When someone has questions about a topic or pain they’re looking to solve, Google is usually their first destination. If you’re ranking near the top of the first page with an answer to their question, your chances of bringing them to your website organically (without having to pay for Google Ads) are high. To get started, review your most popular pages and blog posts to make sure they’re up-to-speed on SEO best practices. From there, use a tool like Ahrefs or Google Search Console to monitor how your content is performing over time.
Social Media Shares
When other people share things that you have created, whether that’s a blog post, webinar, ebook, infographic, or other type of content, it qualifies as earned media. One of the most surefire ways to extend the life of a piece of content is to retweet or share when people mention it. Moreover, do not be afraid to engage them in conversation about what they liked or didn’t. This allows you to extend the value of your content, and potentially through the interactions you have with those who share your content, it allows you to come up with additional ideas (which in turn helps to serve as future content and starts this cycle off once again).
Online Reviews
Every company likes to promote its products, but not every company earns a positive review. Consumers often rely on reviews from customers to gain insights before trying a product or service. ConsumerReports, Angi, Yelp, and Glassdoor are examples of sites where consumers may go to learn what others have to say about your business.
Moreover, businesses can make their online reviews count as earned virality by encouraging their sharing of them. E-commerce businesses can use Shopify apps such as Loox Reviews to enable reviews.
Getting featured on a Podcast or a YouTube channel
When one of your employees appears on a podcast in a YouTube video or on a streaming service such as Spotify, your business can gain huge earned media exposure.
To help with this you can pitch your expertise to relevant podcasters and offer them access to exclusive insights or sneak peeks. Putting forward your most charismatic and knowledgeable team members will also keep them coming back for more.
Several cosmetics brands have successfully increased their earned media by making the expertise of their best makeup artists available to content creators. YouTube is especially effective in this due to its visual nature, particularly the fact that it is easy to follow along, re-watch, and engage with the video long after it has been posted.
Influencer marketing
While influencers are compensated for the fact that they are advocating for the product or service your businesses provide, their efforts can morph into earned media through social sharing as was mentioned previously. Influencer marketing splendidly demonstrates the intrinsic intersection between paid, earned, and owned media.
What Are the Main Benefits of Earned Media Being Part of Your Growth Marketing Fundamentals
Several benefits come from earned media. Most of these stem from the nature of earned media. Most notably, the fact that it is not paid for, that it spurs word-of-mouth communication and general virality, something that arises in large part from the fact that well-executed campaigns have reverberations or generate traction across multiple channels. With that in mind, here are 5 benefits to consider.
1️⃣ Earned Media Helps Build Credibility
Genuine information about your product or services coming from a third party feels to many people more like a friend’s recommendation, which is in marked contrast to paid or sponsored content.
Your readers expect you to be biased and therefore try to find more impartial info on Google or in relevant offline media. It’s here that PR activities can bring you earned media and provide relevant, credible sources for your potential clients to consider what you offer.
2️⃣ Earned Media Helps Provide Greater Brand Visibility & Awareness
Earned media helps you gain visibility for your brand exactly where you need it. The logic that stands behind this is simple: you get earned media from outlets that know their audience would be interested in your story.
Moreover, you can gain additional visibility from search results. When your product or service is a part of the best category article or feature, you’re more likely to reach a new or wider audience as these posts are considered higher authority and are likely to be considered more credible by search engines and as a result, rank higher.
3️⃣ Earned Media Helps to Establish Greater Credibility for Your Business
Getting featured by reliable sources (even in niche communities) helps in positioning your brand as an authority. As they can’t afford to lose their hard-gained reliability, they’re usually cautious when sharing others’ materials.
That’s why when they finally share yours, your brand gets a share of that authority.
4️⃣ Earned Media Helps Your Business Be Perceived as Being More Trustworthy
Think about a scenario when you’re about to buy a coffee machine. There’s one option you like better, judging from their homepage, and another one that is okay, and backed by several (positive, of course) opinions across different sources. If the stakes are high, like with your money and the day-to-day comfort of making a good coffee, you’ll probably go with a more popular choice which is seen by most as being the safer choice.
Enhancing trust is the direct benefit of earned media.
When your brand appears in multiple, reliable places, like services with verified reviews, bloggers specialized in a given industry, or YouTube reviews, it’s a signal to potential customers that your product (and by extension your business) is trustworthy.
5️⃣Earned Media Is a Cost-Effective Promotional Tactic
What does earned media mean for business? The placements are free, which, compared to regular ads, helps you save on budget.
There’s an important thing to note, though. Even though you don’t pay for the placement, you still need to invest to get earned media opportunities. For example, by pouring your time into PR activities and using tools such as Prowly that support them.
That being said, a well-executed earned media plan can bring you immense results and support your business’s paid marketing tactics.
8 Practices That Will Help Your Business Generate More Earned Media in 2024 That Need to Be Incorporated Into Your Overall Growth Marketing Process
Now that we have established some key benefits of incorporating earned media into your growth marketing mix, let us now go over 8 things that your business needs to do regularly to help itself generate more potentially favorable earned media coverage.
1) Create Compelling Content
Content marketing is the cornerstone of any earned media strategy. It's what attracts attention, sparks conversations, and encourages sharing.
To create compelling content, you need to understand your audience. What are their interests, needs, and pain points? How can your brand provide value? Once you have these insights, you can create content that resonates with your audience, that is unique, engaging, and ultimately compels them to share it.
It should be well-researched, well-written, and visually appealing.
2. Leverage Influencers
Influencers can play a crucial role in your earned media strategy. They have a large and engaged following, and their endorsement can significantly boost your brand's visibility and credibility.
To leverage influencers, you need to identify those who align best with your brand values and have a following that matches your target audience. Examples of how your business can work together with influencers could involve having the influencer review your product, hosting a giveaway, or creating content that features your brand.
It is important to always keep in mind that authenticity is key. The influencer should genuinely like your product and their endorsement should feel natural, not forced.
3) Monitor Your Mentions on Social Media
Monitoring your mentions on social media is also a part of cultivating earned media. Using the right media monitoring tools such as Sprout Social makes this task easy. Moreover, by actively tracking social media mentions and reviews on review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, as well as those specific to your industry, you gain insight into customer sentiments.
Responding promptly to positive reviews acknowledges and appreciates satisfied customers and encourages potential customers who come across these endorsements. Likewise, addressing negative feedback demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction and allows you to manage your online reputation effectively. More importantly, you ought to potentially use the insights you gain from these interactions to remove pain points and simplify your customer journey.
4) Engage with Your Audience
As an extension of the previous point, engagement is an extremely critical component of earned media. It's not enough to just publish content; you need to interact with your audience, respond to their comments, and encourage discussions.
This engagement can help build a community around your brand, foster loyalty, and generate more earned media.
You can also use social listening tools such as Hootsuite to monitor conversations about your brand and proactively identify opportunities for engagement.
5) Build Strong Industry Relationships
Fostering relationships with key figures like journalists, bloggers, and industry experts is important for your earned media strategy. Take time to engage with these partners on social media platforms. Your thoughtful interactions online now can lay the groundwork for meaningful connections in the future. By participating in relevant discussions, sharing valuable insights, and acknowledging their work, you position yourself as a genuine, trusted contributor to the discourse.
Attending industry events can provide further opportunities for outreach through face-to-face interactions.
6) Offer Exclusive Content
The allure of exclusive content is incredibly compelling. By offering exclusive access, insights, and overall unique content, you incentivize your audience to share their unique experiences. This can be a great tool to generate organic referrals, retweets, and endorsements. This exclusivity can even prompt influencers to share their positive experiences with your brand, generating authentic product reviews and industry coverage.
7) Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)
It is becoming increasingly common for potential customers to seek out UGC before buying a new product.
User-generated content (UGC) reflects customers’ positive interactions and satisfaction with your products or services. The ripple effect of user-generated content extends beyond traditional marketing efforts. It creates a dynamic network of trust that generates reposts, retweets, and even viral memes that drive brand awareness.
8) Monitor and Continuously Improve Your Strategy
You need to continuously monitor your results and adjust your approach based on what's working and what's not.
You can use analytics tools to track your brand mentions, engagement rates, and the reach of your content. You can also monitor the sentiment around your brand and identify any potential issues that need to be addressed.
Based on these insights, you can refine your content strategy, improve your engagement tactics, and build stronger relationships with influencers. Under no circumstances is earned media a set-and-forget strategy.
8 Key Factors to Help Your Business Craft An Effective Earned Media Strategy
Now that we have established some practices that can help your growth-focused business generate more earned media coverage, let us now examine 8 key factors that will help your business develop a strong earned media strategy.
1) Identifying your target audience and where to find them
Who are you selling to and where do they spend their time? It’s best to do proper research for this critical step of your earned media strategy instead of relying on hunches and assumptions.
For example, your target audience could be very active on Twitter (X), Reddit, or LinkedIn. Or maybe TikTok is their preferred channel for consuming content.
The easiest way to find out? Monitor some keywords related to your brand, your competitors, and your industry. With just a few days of research, you will see which channel comes up with the most results.
2) Getting on the first page of search results
Many earned media campaign examples start with high visibility in search engine results. If you rank well for a variety of keywords, there is a good chance that journalists, websites, and business outlets will catch on and share those content pieces.
3) Creating shareable content
To get people to talk about you, you first need something worth talking about. This can be many things, such as:
in-depth industry research
a new tool or product
a podcast or an interview with someone famous in your industry
an ebook or a lead magnet with valuable information
All of these are inherently shareable and provide numerous opportunities to demonstrate the value that your business provides and give your business a chance to generate earned media coverage.
4) Amplifying your content strategy with earned media
Content is a part of owned media and can have a massive impact on your PR, marketing, and sales efforts. However, content works even better when it is amplified with earned media.
For example, if you’ve created amazing research on trends in the AI industry and how it impacts the workforce, you can do more than just post it on your blog. Instead, find journalists covering artificial intelligence and language learning models and get in touch with them to cover your story.
5) Positioning your Business as a Thought Leader and providing commentary that demonstrates your expertise:
Providing expert commentary is an investment that requires time, but comparably very little upfront investment in terms of monetary cost. Of course, there is an investment in terms of blogging regularly or in terms of creating videos as part of your content strategy that over time can help establish your expertise on a subject or subject range. That being said there is also value in terms of commenting on a subject within different forums or community groups, such as Linkedin Groups or Facebook community pages. Doing so can help to develop a groundswell of awareness of you. In addition, platforms such as HARO (Help a Reporter Out) have tons of questions from reporters who are asking for expert insights. Look for those questions specific to your business, and reply to those questions on subjects. There is a good chance of them using your quote in their articles. Not only will you get a quote with a brand mention, but you will also get a backlink to your website (which improves the SEO value of your site).
6) Participate in Trend Jacking
Whenever a new trend happens, it’s the perfect opportunity to get more eyeballs on your brand. Be it a meme, a new hashtag, a new content format, or a completely new platform, you should not wait. Get on the bandwagon and capitalize on it. A prime example of this is Semrush using a popular Halloween costume meme that has been floating around the past couple of years around every October. This is a prime earned media example as it got them 1,300 reactions and 130+ shares, just on LinkedIn.
To discover these trends, keep an eye out for your direct and indirect competition and see what kind of topics and trends they are covering. This will give you ideas as to what is trending. Of course, you can also do this proactively by listing subject areas that correspond to your areas of business focus and finding suitable trends to try and generate buzz for your own business
Keep your ears on the pulse of social media and journalist outlets to find news, trends, and events worth following. There is no time to rest in PR, as social media trends and algorithms change, and new trends spread like wildfire.
7) Combining Earned and Paid Media:
While earned media and paid media have their unique advantages and disadvantages, combining the two can create a powerful and effective marketing campaign that leverages the benefits of both.
One way to combine earned and paid media is to use earned media to boost the effectiveness of paid media. For example, a brand might use a positive review or mention from a major publication or influencer as the basis for a Facebook or Instagram ad. This can help increase the credibility and trustworthiness of the ad, and potentially lead to higher conversion rates and ROI.
However, it’s important to remember that combining earned and paid media requires careful planning and execution. Brands must ensure that their messaging is consistent across all channels and that they are targeting the right audiences with the right messages.
8)Measure and analyze results
This is a point that was mentioned before and is worth continuing to harp on. The only real way to know your earned media strategies are working is to take a look at the performance of your campaigns. Depending on your goals, you can track one or more of these metrics:
media mentions
impressions and reach
social media engagement
new backlinks
sentiment analysis
website traffic
Keep in mind that the brand mentions that you get will not always be inherently positive. Sometimes, an avalanche of negative comments can come pouring in. Unless your social media marketing and PR teams are prepared, you could face a proper crisis. However, by monitoring any or all of the above metrics, you will be better prepared should a crisis arise.
Earned Media: A Potentially Powerful Part of Your Growth Marketing Framework in 2024
Earned media can be a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. It can boost your brand visibility, enhance your credibility, and drive customer engagement.
However, it requires a strategic approach. You need to create compelling content, leverage influencers, engage with your audience, and continuously monitor and improve your strategy.
With the right tactics but more importantly, with the help of a comprehensive approach like the one outlined above, you can maximize your earned media and reap the benefits of this cost-effective marketing strategy.
With that being said, there is strictly speaking no earned media strategy template that will work for every business. That is where our earned media specialists can step in. If leveraging earned media to the benefit of your business is something that you are currently struggling to achieve, then our specialists can examine your overall content framework as well as previous earned media campaigns to evaluate your past efforts for areas of improvement, while simultaneously seeing areas where potential opportunities already exist.
In addition, given that earned media is something that requires a more comprehensive marketing strategic and tactical mix to leverage effectively, perhaps having growth marketing consulting services available to your organization is something that your organization should consider. It is something that few organizations (including your competitors) truly take advantage of. So why not reach out to our growth marketing experts for a free initial consultation and get a leg up within your industry?