Advertising and public relations can work together to find the perfect balance of paid, owned and earned media for a company to effectively communicate its messages to each of its audiences.
One of the most important decisions a company can make while constructing its media strategy is to decide the type and location of content that will have the greatest influence on its audience. For many, the first question that comes up in making this decision is whether to focus on creating paid, owned or earned content.
Paid and owned media, such as advertisements, brochures or newsletters gives the company full control over the content included in the media. These forms are great for targeting internal audiences or broadcasting self-promotional information. However, when targeting external audiences such as potential customers, earned media gives the audience a sense of trust.
At Franco, we generate earned media for our clients in a variety of ways. Through media relations, we are able to work with reporters to spread the word about their businesses without the use of paid or owned media.
In addition to working with traditional media, social media posting can help generate earned media. Social networks allow users to take posted information, whether it comes in the form of owned media (posts to your own page) or paid media (sponsored posts or site advertisements), and share it with their friends and connections. Each time that post is shared, it becomes earned media.
The combination of traditional media relations and an effective social media strategy allows your messages to reach to audiences through a variety of trusted third-party voices.
Dan Horn is an Account Manager at Franco.
