Photo courtesy of liako via Flickr
You’ve probably been hearing how social media is bringing about a change to the PR and marketing world. If you haven’t, then it’s a possibility that you’re living under a rock! Social media is affecting how PR and marketing agencies function on a daily basis and the definitions of paid, earned and owned media. The lines are becoming more and more blurred. I was able to talk with Gini Dietrich, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Arment Dietrich Inc. and author of Spin Sucks, and she was kind enough to whip out her crystal ball and give us her insights on how social media is changing the paid, owned, earned media model.
Q. The radical integration of traditional marketing silos has changed the business landscape with the boundaries between paid, earned and owned media in a state of flux. What is the new marketing mix today and what will it look like three years from now?
A. Hang on. I have to get my crystal ball and my tarot cards out. This is going to be awkward because I’m on a plane, but anything for you.
OK. Let’s see. Yes, I see a future of integration, dissolved boundaries, and no silos.
Or is that wishful thinking?
When everyone rushed to social three years ago, I kept saying we can’t ignore the “traditional” media, which includes earned and paid. Now we’re seeing a settling with social, an effort toward content marketing (or owned media), and an integration with earned and paid media.
So I really don’t think it is wishful thinking, on my part. You’ll always have the professionals who want to do things the old way and refuse to dissolve boundaries. And you’ll always have the professionals who only want to use the media they can control.
But, for most of us, the next three next three years truly will see an integration of all media, in an effort to truly tell the stories of our companies, our customers, and our stakeholders. After all, stories create kinship and kinship drives revenue.
Q. It’s been 10 years since the Cluetrain Manifesto declared the death of advertising. Why hasn’t it died? How has paid media evolved as marketing has truly become a conversation, especially as earned media and corporate owned content have increasingly facilitated that conversation?
A. They were wrong?
It hasn’t died because there are too many case studies that show, with no advertising, a company falters and a brand no longer exists. While it’s nearly impossible to measure and there is a lot of debate about which half of your dollar spent is actually effective, you know how much it hurts to have strong paid media and then none.
It won’t die, either. Not anytime soon. One of my favorite case studies from the Great Depression is Kellogg’s. While their competition was cutting radio and other advertising ,they increased their spending. And they won – at the shelf, in customer’s hearts, and in loyalty. They still maintain one of the top spots, in terms of market share.
Q. Is earned media playing a larger role alongside paid advertising and corporate-owned content in the new marketing mix? If so, why? If not, why not?
A. The biggest issue with earned media is that so much of it no longer exists. Newspapers and magazines have gone out of business. Journalists are a dying breed. The best way to “earn” your media is to produce content for the outlet you’re targeting.
While not completely gone, the days of building relationships with reporters so they’d write a story about your product or service are nearly non-existent.
Q. How does owned content mesh with traditional paid advertising and earned media?
A. I’m a big, big fan of owned content. Anytime we can drive people to something we own, rather than to someone else, we win.
It used to be that we would create our earned media campaigns to coincide with the launch of the new ad campaign. Now, we can create content that crowdsources new ideas, products, or services. Then we can develop an ad campaign around it. And then we can launch it through earned media. The integration makes it look as though we’re everywhere when, in fact, it took a few strokes of the keyboard (and some savviness) to achieve it.
This post is part of the Future of Earned Media series.
