There is a great deal of buzz among advertising and marketing types today about the synergies between paid media, owned media and earned media.
‘Paid’ media, of course, are the commercials or space advertisers pay for.
‘Owned’ media are newsletters, emails, websites, or any of the marketing communications vehicles that the advertiser produces and distributes themselves.
‘Earned’ media are the media exposures ‘earned’ by doing something newsworthy or ‘buzz-worthy’. Going ‘viral’ online, spreading a story via social media, or achieving traditional media news coverage, are all types of earned media.
Advertisers have total control over their owned and paid media messages. But it’s risky to rely upon earned media alone because they can’t totally control their earned media exposure.
While some might think of earned or owned media as ‘free’, they certainly are not. Paid media investments are obvious via invoices for spots or space.
Owned media often requires hidden expenses in man-hours, software, and expertise to produce and distribute, and earned media costs include the hours for planning, organizing, writing news releases, creating events, and managing the buzz.
Aristotle’s study of metaphysics noted that, "the whole is more than the sum of its parts".
The multiplier effect of utilizing two or three of these media forms in tandem is always more than the impact of any one of these media types in isolation….1 + 1 can equal 4, and 1 + 1 + 1 can equal 6 or more in terms of impact, awareness and results.
But many advertisers who use all three types of media, don’t do so with a synergistic strategy. Often their paid and owned media, sound or look like traditional advertising, and the message bears no resemblance to the more newsworthy or buzz-worthy content in their earned media.
When you can show your clients how to drive more traffic and awareness for their owned and earned media via your paid campaign, with content that is congruent with their earned and owned media goals, you will dramatically improve their results and capture more revenue for your stations