We live in an immersively digital age and as such, we’re constantly being bombarded with either advertising or some kind of marketing messaging. According to global digital marketing agency, Digital Silk, it’s suggested that we are exposed to between 4,000 and 10,000 ads per day. Perhaps, but when you filter out subversive and unconscious messaging, a more accurate estimate would have us consciously aware of approximately 100 ads per day, based on inattentional blindness. This is still a staggering quantity of advertising material which means we’re becoming more and more desensitized to advertising.

Advertising has long been the standard and preferred platform to get in front of target audiences and decision makers. However, the scale of messaging we’re constantly confronted with on a daily basis has led to a healthy scepticism and an overall fatigue to advertising. Over time, this leads to an erosion of trust, hence, we’re now witnessing the gradual decline of advertising. In fact, Standard Media Index’s Guideline SMI reported a 1.6% decline in ad spend on last year’s record totals, signalling a downward trend.

Evidently, paid media doesn’t hold the power it once did, and brands now need to look to other, more effective ways to build trust and communicate with their target audiences. Paid, earned and owned media are the new “tres amigos” of the marketing communications world.

Paid media is simply any content that falls under advertorial content – i.e. paid for by the company for the exposure, like LinkedIn ads. Owned media is any content on channels owned and operated by that company, mainly social media and a company website.

Earned media, however, is content that is published by an independent, impartial third party that mentions your company or spokesperson’s name. Let’s dig deeper into earned media.

Journalists, reporters and producers are all considered as objective observers and storytellers. Hence, when they report on your brand in an objective way, it’s considered an unbiased and genuine affirmation of your business. This then lends third party credibility and builds up the trust and familiarity widely held by the public about your business. This is the best possible way to influence public opinion and maximise true exposure amongst your target audience, setting your brands aside from your competitors in an authentic way.

However, just because earned coverage can’t be purchased, doesn’t mean its free either. In order to generate earned coverage, your product, services or the message being relayed by your spokesperson must hold inherent value. This requires a significant investment into the quality of the offering and the curation of the official messaging.

Garnering earned coverage affords you the opportunity to build long term relationships with your most valuable prospects, leading to huge return on investment (ROI) and the chance to manage your corporate reputation in the most effective way possible.

Curated efforts to attain earned coverage, namely via media relations, should feature at the centre of your marketing communications efforts, but shouldn’t be operated in a silo. When integrated with owned media activity and, when applicable, paid media, is the best possible way to maximise the ROI of your public relations efforts.  

To harness the power of earned coverage for your business, engage one of our experts by contacting [email protected]