The Public Relations Blog

How earned media has changed, and what we have learned from it

 

Earned media is any material that has been written about you or your business that you haven’t paid for. It can be written off as “free publicity” for your company. Over the years, it has changed and is now presented through different media channels. Before, it used to be a 90-minute segment on a news channel, but now it can be seen as a 60-word tweet. 

 

Nonetheless, earned media can get confusing when it involves publicity. When you pay a news source to write a piece on your business, that is known as paid media. When you write an article for your website, that is known as owned media. 

 

Today, customers are heavily influenced by things they see on social media. Earned media plays a huge role in what is shared online, and we can learn a lot from it. 

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Know how to best share your company’s message

 

Earned media coverage is built awareness about your company through efforts like media relations (connecting with reporters), blogger relations, influencers, and word-of-mouth. It’s counterpart is paid media, which is advertisements that you or your company creates or pays for about itself. We have many clients ask us the difference between earned and paid media, and in the same breath, they also ask us to create a press release to earn media coverage.

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Clear up some issues that could arise after getting a TV story

 

Having your company’s story on TV is an exciting time. You’ll be getting a lot more eyes on your company and putting your name out there. However, during the process, there are some questions you might have related to the online version of the story, such as the video not appearing or if they’ll post the story online at all.

 

At Axia Public Relations, we’ve noticed our clients ask these main questions. To help people navigate the process, we’re answering these questions, so people can go through the news process more smoothly.

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Don’t make this distribution mistake when pitching to the news media

 

PR and marketing departments get busy. They know they need to share their company’s news with the media but far too often, they simply get caught up in day-to-day tasks. When your PR and marketing departments get busy, then they can get lazy about distributing news to the media. Here’s a mistake your team may be making, why it’s a mistake, and the right way to handle it. 

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What to do if your executive/spokesperson/client isn’t fit to be the face of the organization

 

As public relations professionals, we’ve worked with a plethora of companies, clients, and spokespeople. Some are perfect spokespeople while others need a few spokesperson training sessions, and then there are the ones that shouldn’t or can’t be the face of the company. 

 

Finding a spokesperson for your company can be a daunting task, and having a conversation with a spokesperson who truly isn’t the best fit to represent your company is even more difficult. As an outside PR firm, having the conversation with a client about who the best spokesperson is can be easier than having the conversation internally with a superior. So how do you navigate that difficult conversation? 

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Be a better resource for the media

 

As newsrooms continue to shrink, they rely more and more on their reporters to write for print and online as well as take their own photos and videos. With reporters doing more, newspapers also rely on PR professionals and a company’s PR and marketing department to submit stories – in an inverted pyramid style – and images for publication. 

 

Story ideas and submissions are relatively easy to provide to a media outlet. Many companies struggle with submitting photos that newspapers and magazines will and can use. Here are some tips that will help you and your team submit quality photos the media will use. 

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See how a public relations firm does earned media

 

We’ve previously discussed what earned media is and its role in public relations. However, knowing about earned media is one thing and doing it is another. For someone unfamiliar with this process, it seems almost impossible to know where to begin and how to get through it. However, there is help.

 

At Axia Public Relations, we’ve developed our own system for earned media that we’d like to share with you. We’ve included a visual chart showing how we do things and an explanation of each step.

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How does your company use and benefit from earned media

 

Earned media is organic news coverage your company receives. It’s not paid for like advertising. People often confuse earned media with paid media even though they have two very different meanings. 

 

The main difference is price. Earned media is not bought; it’s the outcome of having a product or service that other people want to talk about. Paid media, such as advertising, is promoted because you paid someone or a company to do that for you. 

 

Social media mentions, media coverage, and reviews on your product or service are all examples of earned media used in public relations. Earned media happens naturally, and it’s a result of good PR. 

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Newsroom veteran shares the roles and how of getting a story on TV

 

Throughout my 20 years in TV and radio newsrooms, I’ve received many calls from PR professionals. It’s clear some don’t know their way around a newsroom. So let me provide you with a roadmap because there is no better way to get your story ignored than pitching it to the wrong contact.

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Pitches must be newsworthy and succinct for outlets to pick them up 

 

Whether it’s your first time pitching to the media, your 100th time, or your 5,000th time, you need to make sure there are things you consider and keep in mind. When you're getting ready to pitch to the media, you need to be clear on this: what's the actual story you're pitching? 

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