In terms of media success and your company, you’ve probably heard of different types of media you can obtain. There are generally three types: paid, earned, and owned media. Here at HC we specialize in earned and owned media, so we’re going to focus on the latter two types. (Looking to place ads? Learn more about paid media in this article here.) 

Earned media. What’s that about? Earned media is public exposure your company gets through word-of-mouth from third parties. This includes company or product reviews, social media mentions, and – notably – news coverage. There are plenty of ways to increase customer reviews and social media mentions – offering an incentive to customers that leave a review or running an online contest to promote social shares.

Press coverage, on the other hand, tends to be more time intensive and long term. Yes, it does happen that a media outlet gets wind of a story organically and reaches out to the company out-of-the-blue, but, more often than not, media coverage is carefully timed, pitched, and planned with the help of public relations strategies. In many cases, individuals spend weeks, months, or even years building relationships with high-value journalists and media outlets before securing that prized media coverage – and other times the story catches on the next day. The fact is, a lot needs to line up in order for the coverage to take place – you need to find the right outlet, at the right time, and with the right compelling story for that journalist and audience.

While news coverage may sound daunting, there are several clear benefits of expanding your story reach to an exponentially larger audience than normal for your organization. The news exposure for your company lends itself to convincing third-party validation that is all too important for future publicity and coverage – and advancing your organization’s goals now and in the future.  

Owned media. These are platforms where you fully control your story. Owned media takes many forms, such as blogs, print newsletters, email newsletters, and your own social media posts. As opposed to earned media where you’re counting on other people to spread positive messages about your company or organization, with owned media you have complete control of what is said.

You get to say the exact message you want to say. That’s the big plus here! And it’s ripe for thought leadership opportunities. Getting those thoughts out to the right people is a little trickier – some challenges to overcome include building your newsletter distribution list or social media following, and for blogs knowing and using the right key words so that you have a high SEO score and are, therefore, easier to find in searches. Despite its challenges, maximizing use of owned media is an excellent way to increase organic exposure of your company as well as customer engagement.    

Both earned and owned media strategies provide opportunities for smaller investment from you that can lead to an incredible, more genuine payoff in terms of connecting with your audience. Knowing and understanding that there’s more than just paid media opportunities out there gives you and your company the ability to increase the reach of your message and have your organization stand out from the rest, which of course, is the goal.  

Not ready to commit to securing your business’s owned and earned media solo? Reach out here to Henrich Communications and find the partner you need to get your story told.