V8.30: Understanding Media In All Its Forms

Back at it again, fellow marketers! We thought it would be a good idea to discuss the various forms of media.

Media comes in all shapes and sizes– and it’s important to note that you will not see success by utilizing only one of them alone. You have to create a holistic approach in order to reach people at different points of their nurture process. Kelsey Meyer with Hubspot writes, “Generating qualified leads requires you to regularly publish compelling, valuable content, explore guest blogging opportunities, identify co-marketing campaigns, and devise a strategy for promoting said content.”

Let’s start with the obvious one: paid media. This type of media includes any content that a company promotes through monetary contributions. This helps boost your messaging out to a much wider group of people, while still remaining relevant to your target market. Some examples would be the following: paid search, display ads, sponsored social media posts, programmatic and native ads, and many more.

Now onto owned media. This type of content is fully in your control– think blog, website, email pushes, case studies, organic social media, etc.. Owned media is a great way to promote your brand without being too ‘sales-y.’ Using this type of messaging helps keep potential leads informed and excited about your company. Most people like to figure things out for themselves. They much prefer nurturing through the sales cycle on their own terms.

Lastly, there is earned media. This media is not written or crafted by your team. It is *ehem* earned from third party sources. Reviews, recommendations, and word of mouth stories are all examples of this type of content. In today’s Yelp society, people heavily rely on validation before making a choice. If they see a respected, relevant sources positively commenting on a product/brand, they are more likely to purchase as well. There is some crossover with earned and paid media, however. Once you see third party reviews come through, you can, with approval, promote it out through paid media. That way, you can get that third party validation out to a greater audience.

So now that we’ve gone through the different types of media, we should all be on the same page content-wise. Hopefully, this inspires you all to go out write some great content for your brand!