Traditionally, the communications or PR department is responsible for long-term, reputation-building initiatives. Their goal is to generate earned media, which is organic third-party coverage that ideally has a positive impact on the company’s reputation. The company has little to no control over whether and how content is published. Personal contacts can at least facilitate access to the medium. But no matter how good a direct contact is, the decisive factor for publication is always the news value that the message has. So the success of a placement always depends on how relevant the content is for the journalist and the medium. 

Earned Media

Earned media can be very effective, for example, because a recommendation in a journalistic article is perceived as more credible and can be picked up and used in the journalist’s own media. Criticism in traditional media can also have a big impact. In order to package messages well, companies often rely on storytelling when advertising in print media. 

Owned media

Owned media refers to all of a company’s own channels, such as its corporate website, blog, and social media profiles. Recently, owned media has also increasingly been used for content that the company creates itself, which can then in turn be integrated into earned or paid media. For example, the content of a blog post could show up in a press release or sponsored article. The content does not necessarily have to be in text form only, but can be audio-visual. The basic rule here is: Quality over quantity. It is always important – even with earned media – to know the target group exactly and only publish content that interests them. Otherwise, the target groups will quickly lose interest and move away.