You may have heard of the terms paid, owned and earned media in relation to digital and content marketing strategies. In this post, we will explain what the differences are between the three forms of media and consider how you can utilise them to help grow your online presence.
What is owned media?
Owned media refers to any web property that is owned and controlled by your brand. The most obvious example of owned media is your company website. Other examples of owned media include a company blog and social media pages on platforms such as Facebook, X, Instagram and Pinterest.
Having owned media allows you to boost your brand presence online. Your owned media is unique to your brand and forms the foundation of your digital marketing strategy.
What is paid media?
The term paid media refers to marketing that you pay for in order to gain sales or drive traffic to your owned media pages. Examples of paid media include advertising on sites like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as influencer marketing.
The benefit of paid media is that it can help to create more brand exposure and drive highly targeted traffic to your site, which can then be converted.
What is earned media?
The term earned media refers to exposure or publicity gained from alternative methods to paid advertising. A good way of thinking about earned media is like word of mouth, except that it happens in the digital sphere. Examples of earned media include recommendations and reviews as well as content engagement in the form of shares, likes and comments.
The biggest drivers of earned media are quality brand content and strong search engine rankings. Earned media is important because it helps to spread brand awareness. Having compelling content and SEO strategies can help to put your owned media in the right position to garner higher engagement rates.
Which type of media is right for my business?
Owned media should form the basis of your digital marketing strategy and online brand presence. Both paid media and earned media are effective ways to gain additional exposure for your owned media pages.
Earned media should be a goal for any business with a content marketing strategy because it helps to grow brand awareness and can provide a good return on investment. Well-targeted, quality content can help you garner earned media.
Whether paid media is right for your business will depend on your budget and digital marketing goals. It can be a highly effective way of spreading brand awareness, driving traffic to your site and garnering sales. If you have not tried paid advertising before, do further research before investing to determine which platforms are the best fit for your brand and products.
Wrap up
Understanding the differences between paid, owned, and earned media is crucial when developing a marketing strategy because it helps marketers to allocate resources effectively and create a well-rounded, integrated approach to reach their target audience.
Paid media, which includes advertising like PPC, social media ads, and display ads, offers a fast and scalable way to increase brand exposure and reach potential customers.
Owned media, such as a brand’s website, blog, and social media profiles, provides a platform to control the message and build long-term relationships with customers.
Earned media, including word-of-mouth, customer reviews, and media coverage, is a testament to a brand’s credibility and can significantly influence consumer trust and purchase decisions.
By leveraging the strengths of each media type and understanding how they complement each other, marketers can create a synergistic effect that maximises the impact of their marketing efforts, drives brand awareness, and ultimately contributes to business growth and success.
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