The digital world is booming, resulting in new media everywhere we look. Just distributing content is no longer enough. Now, the right content must be presented on the right channel at the right time. To create a successful digital marketing strategy, you must understand the lay of the land.
Digital media options act as a type of online communication channel that advertisers can use to reach their target audience. There are three main types of digital media used: owned, paid and earned. When used cohesively as part of a full marketing strategy it is magic.
Owned Media
Owned media is an extension of your brand and an additional avenue to interact with consumers – any media or web property a company directly controls and is unique to its brand. It is built for long-term relationships with existing and potential consumers by continuing to provide value to leads as they move down the funnel. Owned media comes in many forms, including these:
- Company Websites
- Email Marketing Campaigns
- Blog Posts
- Social Media
Using a form of owned media provides the most control with a good cost efficiency. By generating organic, educational and valuable content that is beneficial to consumers, you are able to engage your target audience. You also have the advantage of being able to create content for your niche audience, but there is no guarantee and can take time to scale the reach.
Paid Media
When you want to drive earned media and traffic to owned media, you need to use paid media tools. Brands pay to leverage the channels they are distributing content on and turn this foundation into a catalyst. This provides a wider exposure to content and a greater opportunity to put out your most engaging content. With paid media, a company is able to target their ideal audience based on interests, industry or job titles. There are many forms of paid digital advertising such as SEO, sponsored posts, pay-per-click (PPC) and display ads.
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Sponsored Posts
- Influencer Marketing
- Pay-Per-Clicks
- Display Ads
Paid Media is in demand and immediate. Sponsored posts are able to hit your ideal audience and initiate the campaign at will. This gives you the right content to the right people at the right time for you. Another advantage is that paid media is easy to scale and control. You know the exact amount of people it will reach in a specific time range. However, sponsored content can be perceived as clutter or incredible, so quality over quantity is key here.
Earned Media
Earned Media is media exposure you have received through word of mouth online. Customers then become the channel for content to create more user engagement. This is the result of owned and paid media working together resulting in well coordinated and well-executed content strategies. Earned media can be a culmination of:
- Press Mentions
- Positive Reviews
- Reposts
- Recommendations
Earned media is by far the most credible type of media and a key role in most sales. Because consumers are the channel, the message is transparent and lives on. One main disadvantage of earned media is being required to give up control of the message. This results in a difficulty scaling the content and can be hard to measure. The message can also be negative in this form.
Conclusion
Having an understanding of what channels you have access to, along with their strengthens and weaknesses, will help with creating a strategy that drives results. Creating high quality, relevant and entertaining content to get in front of an audience is crucial. Figuring out exactly which channel to distribute the message is next. Creating a balance between the two generates opportunities for the right time, the right content and the right time.
Think you’re ready to tackle the three kinds of media? We’d love to help you navigate through them. Contact us today for more information!
