Earned media

Earned media (or free media) refers to publicity gained through promotional efforts other than paid media advertising, which refers to publicity gained through advertising,^[1] or owned media, which refers to branding.

Background

There are many types of media available to online marketers and fit into the broad categories: owned, paid, and earned media.

Owned media is defined as communication channels that are within one's control, such as websites, blogs, or email. Paid media refers mostly to traditional advertising.

Earned media cannot be bought or owned; it can only be gained organically, when content receives recognition and a following through communication channels such as social media and word of mouth.^[2] Earned media often refers specifically to publicity gained through editorial influence of various kinds. The media may include any mass media outlets, such as newspaper, television, radio, and the Internet, and may include a variety of formats, such as news articles or shows, letters to the editor, editorials, and polls on television and the Internet.

Examples

Many consider earned media to be the most cost effective method of marketing. As a result, many companies are investing in earned media. The increased use of earned media is converging traditional owned and paid methods of marketing.^[2]

The increasing use of earned media has provided marketers with new ways in which to interact and engage their customers. These innovative approaches are replacing traditional marketing methods such as email and banner ads, and provide innovative methods to find, optimize, and measure return on earned media investments.^[2]

Examples:

• On March 6, 2012, Dollar Shave Club launched their online video campaign. In the first 48 hours of their video debuting on YouTube they had over 12,000 people signing up for the service. The video cost just $4500 to make and as of November 2015 has had more than 21 million views. The video was considered as one of the best viral marketing campaigns^[4] of 2012 and won "Best Out-of-Nowhere Video Campaign" at the 2012 AdAge Viral Video Awards.
• The Big Word Project, launched in 2008, aimed to redefine the Oxford English Dictionary by allowing people to submit their website as the definition of their chosen word. The project, created to fund two Masters students' educations, attracted the attention of bloggers worldwide, and was featured on Daring Fireball and Wired Magazine.^[5]
• In mid 2016, an Indian tea company (TE-A-ME) has delivered 6,000 tea bags^[6] to Donald Trump and launched a video content on YouTube.^[7] and Facebook.^[8] The video campaign become an award winning content marketing case study and received various awards including most creative PR stunt^[9] in Southeast Asia after receiving earned media values like 52000+ organic video shares, 152000+ engagements in online communities, 3.1M video view in first 72 hour and hundreds of traditional publication mentions (including Mashable, Independent^[10]Quartz,^[11] Indian Express,^[12] Buzzfeed^[13], Adage^[14], Campaign^[15]) across 80+ countries.

Impact

A Nielsen study in 2013 found that earned media (also described in the report as word-of-mouth) is the most trusted source of information in all countries it surveyed worldwide. It also found that earned media is the channel most likely to stimulate the consumer to action. Other authorities make the distinction between online and offline earned media/word-of-mouth, and have shown that offline word-of-mouth has been found to be more effective than online word-of-mouth.

References

External links

• Earned Media proponent Fred Wilson gives relevant examples of earned media success stories
• Forrester Blogs - Defining Earned, Owned And Paid Media