Picture if you will, an evening newscast watched on a television screen in a middle-class neighborhood in the middle of the USA. You have entered the ‘Wayback Machine.’ On this newscast, you’re intrigued by a report of an explosion at a chemical plant that’s about an hour from your home.

Questions begin to pop into your brain. What kind of chemicals were produced at this facility? How are they going to put out the fire, because it’s chemicals, so maybe a firehose doesn’t work? What dangers are there for humans and pets if these chemicals get into the air?

Suddenly, the screen switches back to the studio where a newscaster is seated next to another human, and on the screen, you see the name of that other human and some credentials under the name, essentially indicating why this human has appeared in the studio. The flames of the fire frolic in the background, superimposed on the screen, while the two humans talk.

The reporter identifies this other human as a professor from the local university who is the chairperson of the Chemistry department at State U. He’s an expert. He answers all of the questions that have been popping into your brain like a popcorn machine. You feel somewhat relieved after the professor has delivered the information that only someone with that expertise could explain.

That is a masterclass in earned media, and it was conducted by an experienced public relations or media relations specialist. Earned media should be a part of your marketing formula. When I say, ‘earned media,’ what I mean is that it’s something that you haven’t paid for, like an advertisement or a billboard.

The single most significant factor in earned media is that your company, organization, or enterprise is receiving third-party validation in front of the masses… and the masses KNOW that you did not pay for that credibility. If your expert was featured on the 6:00 news, huge props for you. If your entity was mentioned in a newspaper or magazine article… awesome. If someone from your enterprise is a guest on a podcast or radio show… huge.

All of those opportunities establish you and/or your enterprise as an expert, the best in class, the go-to for that subject. What positive impact could that have on your business?

When you can pair earned media with an awesome advertising campaign, you’ve hit the Daily Double. The two of them together are significantly more powerful than one of them by themselves. I know I seem to be talking about earned media and advertising like they are human. That’s because I’m picturing the Fantastic Four as I’m writing this. Not one of those characters was as effective individually as they were when the four worked together to solve a challenge.

What’s your challenge? Getting the public to know you, like you, and trust you. How do you acquire ‘earned media?’ It’s not always easy, and I’m afraid that for the purposes of brevity, I can’t lay out for you my 30+ years of experience of actually doing that for a living. But I’ll give you a quick primer.

  1. Reporters, podcasters, radio, and television hosts ALL are only concerned about ONE THING. What’s in it for me!?
  2. You need to have a unique story to tell because that’s how the folks I mentioned above satisfy that itch.
  3. You need to identify the right person to whom you are going to pitch your story, and why they should take notice of YOU and your story. Why is it unique, unusual, something they haven’t covered before?
  4. When you identify the right person to pitch, you also need to know how they like to be pitched. Do they prefer snail mail, do they prefer email, do they respond to phone calls (not usually), or a text message?
  5. You need the skill to craft a pitch that encompasses the uniqueness of your story.
  6. Persistence. Follow-up is key. You might have done everything correctly in A-E above, but you have not heard back from the producer, the anchor, the host, or the writer. Know that these people receive hundreds of pitches a day. Maybe yours stands out, and it’s on their ‘active’ file, which means they’ll get to you. Maybe your pitch stunk. Either way, politely following up with a phone call or an email is critical.
  7. IF you get lucky and hit paydirt – they want to interview you, feature you, write about you, etc. – You might need media training on how to respond and conduct yourself during an interview so that you SAY THE RIGHT THINGS to get your business or endeavor the publicity that you need and seek. MOST guests waste the valuable and precious time they are given because they do not know how to conduct themselves in an interview.

The only drawback for ‘earned media’ is the same as it is for paid media. It’s difficult to measure. Yes, there are services that promise you that they can measure your efforts. But the way they make money is by simply monitoring your appearances on TV, Radio, in newspapers, magazines, and podcasts. These services quantify what you’ve done. There’s really no way to measure how effective you were.

BUT, I can guarantee you that earned media is valuable on its own because of the third-party validation, and because there’s a good chance that you can be seen and heard by a much larger audience than you can afford to buy in an advertising schedule. Additionally, as I said previously, if you can pair your earned media with a rockstar marketing campaign, you can move mountains.

If you’re interested in moving mountains, I can help you do that. Please feel free to give me a shout.

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