Tag: Earned media

CREATING CONTENT FOR YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Posted on April 6, 2021 by Nick Hill

Creating key messages that get the attention of the target audience sits at the core of any public relations campaign. By formulating a communications strategy with a specific audience in mind, a business can begin to build on its credibility and authority within the marketplace.

Failing to take this approach will make it much harder for businesses to grow their brand, establish a positive public perception and negatively impact on opportunities to generate new leads. Simply put, people need to be given a reason to care about a business!

First and foremost, businesses have to identify who they are targeting and how best to communicate with them.

As society becomes increasingly reliant on new technologies, there has never been so many ways to distrbute or absorb critical information. In addition to traditional print and broadcast media, the growth of digital channels now gives the public instant access to news and market updates from anywhere at any time.

It is therefore vital that key messages are strategically shared across platforms that are frequently accessed by the target audience.

Research

However, to create content that garners a positive response, businesses must develop an understanding of what information is relevant to them and how they can be reached.

Despite having industry insight and specialist knowledge, which will be extremely valuable to business communities across the marketplace, it will not resonate with the target audience if they are not understood.

This is why research is so critical. By developing an understanding of who they are wanting to target, businesses can outline the type of information the audience is interesting in receiving, identify the topical trends within a specific industry and how the content can be relatable and engaging.

Once this information is collated, businesses must begin to formulate a strategy that meets with the expectations of their target audience to realise the potential benefits that these communications deliver.

For instance, an article created for jobseekers or recruiters should read very differently to another targeting c-suite or senior management members. The more a business knows its audience, the better the connection will be.

Establishing the connection

After identifying the target audience, businesses should start creating content that incorporates a unique tone of voice to help form personal, meaningful and long-lasting relationships with those that read it.

However, with such a saturated marketplace, being able to stand aside from the competition is becoming increasingly difficult. Businesses must therefore use content as a catalyst to establish their own personality and brand identity.

This can be accomplished by creating content that focuses on business milestones, awards, individual achievements, new appointments and promotions, as well as more in-depth pieces such as market insight and thought leadership articles from senior executives.

Being transparent and open, with a consistent tone of voice in every piece of content, enables businesses to build trust and familiarity among their target audience.

This is extremely valuable when creating content that will sit on the website, blog or social media channels to keep existing customers interested whilst attracting new members to a growing community of followers.

Earned media

Now that the content has been created to resonate with the target audience, it has to be distributed across the appropriate channels. Securing media coverage is arguably the most effective way to reach not only the target audience, but people from further afield.

As businesses consistently feature in the media, they have more opportunity to build a positive reputation, connect with their audience and become a credible resource of information in the marketplace.

It is important to consider that the quality of content can often produce the most value, not the quantity of the coverage. When it comes to communicating with a target audience, creating content for trade media titles can potentially be more impactful and relatable to the readers.

As trade media titles publish content that revolves around a particular industry or profession, they frequently put a spotlight on individuals, senior teams as well as entire businesses that want to become recognised as industry leaders and experts.

By having a consistent presence in the trade media, businesses will increase their brand awareness, strengthen their reputation and boost their share of the market.

Engaging target audiences with consistent and concise messaging will give businesses the capacity to grow their following, penetrate new markets, generate new lead opportunities and ultimately provide them with the credibility they need to achieve their ambitious plans.

If you’d like to speak to our team about what we deliver and how we approach PR on behalf of our clients, then please visit: https://www.opencomms.co.uk.

THE VALUE OF EARNED MEDIA AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BUSINESS

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Lindsey Davies

Within marketing industry media there has been much discussion about the value of earned media. This is the return on investment that companies receive from featuring in editorial coverage.

For as long as I can remember, the focus for a PR professional has been on securing good, quality coverage in relevant publications. This then extended to digital titles and has since moved to third party platforms.

Earned media in its truest sense relates to stories that hold credibility by association. The reason being they have been verified and shared by a journalist. The argument could be that working with influencers does the same. They choose what content to share, but for the purpose of this blog we will keep it simple.

Earned and owned

So, earned content typically features in newspapers and on websites owned by these publications. It may be that the media is digital and doesn’t have a print version, but the same theory applies. Owned content is the copy that is written by a brand and shared online and across social channels.

This is not editorial. It is dictated by a brand for an audience. That doesn’t mean it holds no value. It just means that there is no third-party providing governance over its credibility.

Securing earned media

This is the bread and butter of traditional agencies. Securing earned media is often the key objective of a client that has in place a press office function. It is out job to identify a schedule of stories, to research, draft and distribute to the right media.

Sounds simple. The reality is that the copy needs to be compelling, newsworthy and relevant to the audience. You also need to write for the publication, the audience and the client.

Collating a value to earned media

There have been countless discussions about the measurement of PR. It is a constant battle to determine the impact that regular earned coverage will have on a business. The reality is that people don’t always associate their decision to purchase with the profile of a brand.

We can assume that the more you hear about a brand the more likely you are to purchase a product or service but confirming this is difficult.

From years of working in PR, clients do receive feedback from associates and colleagues who will comment positively on press and broadcast appearances. I’ve yet to come across an organisation that has been disappointed to feature regularly within relevant media.

There are also ways in which measures can be set such as audience reach. Publications have ABC ratings or MOZ scores for websites. This gives an indication of the authority of that title, either by purchase or visits.

Using these metrics gives a clear indication of the value of earned media and what it will deliver for a brand.

The benefits of earned media for business

The simple fact of the matter is that when people read about a business, they learn about it too. There is always a key message within a story. Something the brand wants you to know and to take away. It could be the announcement of a new product or service, appointments to the team or industry insight. Whatever the angle, there is reason for that press release to be shared.

Having a strategic approach to PR means that earned coverage can support the objectives of a business. Stories can be planned and scheduled to ‘hit’ at just the right time. This then gives further value to earned coverage as a business-critical tactic.

Getting best return on investment from PR

PR is about more than earned coverage. Content is everywhere and managing the messaging for a brand has never been more complicated. That said, we are in exciting times and PR has had the chance to stand up and to be counted in recent years.

There are many tactics to creating a PR campaign that will deliver results and we ensure that our clients have access to them all. With a balance of earned, owned and social coverage we are able to make sure the brands we work with are in the right place at the right time.

For further information about our approach to PR and how we can add value to your business, please visit: www.opencomms.co.uk or call a member of the team on tel. 01924 862477.

THE REAL VALUE OF EARNED MEDIA

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Lindsey Davies

When we ask what the real value of earned media is, we first need to clarify what it is. Keeping it simple, earned media is press coverage. This can be in the paper, on the radio or TV. It can be in print or online. Fundamentally, it is content that has been shared by a brand and used by a journalist.

This process is nothing new. In fact, it is often referred to as traditional PR. At Open Comms it is one of the tactics we use as part of the press office function we deliver for clients. We collate all necessary information, find an angle, draft a story and distribute.

Sounds simple but there’s a little more to it than that.

Interestingly, over recent years, the value of earned content has been a topic for much discussion. There are many benefits to securing coverage and brands are recognising the positive impact this has on business.

Earned media is Editorial

It is important to make it clear, earned media is not advertising.

Earned media is editorial and that means that there is no cost to the journalist or brand to use the article you have supplied. When it comes to advertising a brand will pay for space. With earned media, it is up to the journalist to choose whether to use what has been supplied or not.

As such, with earned media, there is no guarantee of coverage.

Creating Credibility

With coverage comes a perceived credibility. The papers, outlets and platforms that we target are all of a quality that our clients would expect. We don’t send content to anyone and everyone. It’s about being more specific and finding the outlets that an audience will access.

Given that a journalist has to verify the copy and choose to use it, this adds further governance and value to the results.

Real Influence

I was reading 2019 Global Comms Report: ‘the Path to Progress’ by PRWeek and Cision. Within the findings was that 60 per cent of respondents to a survey globally felt that journalists have the most powerful voice of any influencer.

That’s big figures and big news for brands.

When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Much of the information we form our opinions on is first shared by the media. This gives huge power and responsibility to news outlets. It also means that the headlines shared are capturing the attention of the readers and viewers every day.

There is no doubt that the media is a tool to be respected but also accessed. In turn, it isn’t difficult to see the real value in earned media.

Capitalising on Audience Reach

Although the circulations of newspapers may be declining that doesn’t necessarily mean they hold less value. Almost all titles will have a digital version and just like print, they share earned content too.

In fact, when a story is shared in print and online, the reach can be particularly impressive. In some instances, it can reach millions of readers.

Conversely, when you want to communicate with a niche audience, it’s better to speak to a thousand relevant readers than a million that are disengaged. In this instance, we would target a specialist trade media.

The opportunity being that earned media gives you the choice to engage with the most relevant outlets for your audiences.

Harnessing the Value of Earned Media

Many PR’s, ourselves included, would say that earned media is our bread and butter. That isn’t to underestimate its worth. As mentioned above, the results can have a massive impact on the performance of a business.

Just some of the benefits to earned media are as follows:

Raising the profile of a business
Launching a product
Securing share of voice where it matters most
Positioning a person or business as an industry expert
Gaining credibility as subject matter experts
Managing communications throughout a crisis

These are just a handful of the benefits to having a plan in place that will allow you to secure earned media coverage.

Gaining Access to Earned Media

In order to access earned media, and the benefits it will deliver, the first thing to do is to recognise the value in PR. It is, after all, the specialism that is most responsible for earned media. As such, a business should either hire an expert inhouse or work with an agency.

What you need is a plan which outlines the stories that you have to share. They must be relevant and right for each publication. Far too often, journalists will receive content that isn’t relevant or that has no news angle. Not only does this make their job harder, but ours too!

PR has a bad reputation for sharing irrelevant content that has one purpose; to promote a business. While this is often an objective, there as to be a real reason someone wants to read what a client has to say.

Go back to the beginning and question the relevance of each story you have to share. It’s then a case of identifying your target media, drafting the content, securing a good quality picture and distributing.

As is often the case with PR, it all sounds very straight forward. The challenge comes when you realise there are thousands of brands doing the same. The quality of your content has to compete and secure space, which is often limited.

Calling on the Professionals

With decades of experience between us, we manage earned media for all of our clients. There isn’t a single brand we work with where this isn’t an objective. It is what we do.

If you would like to speak to us about how we would approach this for your business, please do give us a call.