For a lot of people public relations and strategic communications equate largely to media relations; engaging the influencers to support and endorse through the power of their channels and networks. Certainly, over the 26-year extent of my career, professional journalism has been central to how my colleagues and I have built reputations, shifted perceptions and shaped narratives for our clients. But over the past few years we’ve started to drive a shift in the balance from ‘earned first’ to a more nuanced blend of earned and owned media that delivers greater control of the message, more accurate and involving storytelling and greater audience engagement.
Why the shift to owned media?
- The direct engagement opportunity – while the power of trusted, third-party endorsement cannot be ignored, neither can the opportunity to build direct, loyal and authentic connections with the people you want to reach. In this hyper-connected digital world, the opportunities to do this are endless – through the proliferation of data-driven channels that connect every brand or business to their customers.
- Control, accuracy and precision – the media quite rightly have a mandate to challenge and explore any given story or issue. But that creates communications challenges, particularly in areas where media take a particular stance or bias around an issue. Fair and accurate reporting is not always a given, so clients appreciate being able to tell their story authentically and in their own words. Stories and content can be dialled more specifically into the interests and needs of granular audience segments, improving audience loyalty and campaign effectiveness.
- The network effect – newsrooms around the world continue to shrink. I read recently that communications professionals now outnumber journalists by a significant margin. Securing high quality, in-depth coverage within the fast-paced modern news environment is not easy. Becoming the publisher and driving the story through owned media complements what can be achieved through earned – driving significantly greater reach and impact. With many clients we’ve also been able to drive earned media coverage through the work we have done with owned, creating column inches on the back of content-marketing and social media activity.
- Data driven insights – a pretty common term these days in marketing and communications, but a fundamental pillar of everything we do. Data means we can measure effectiveness, optimise messaging and identify new opportunities – adjusting and evolving communications to better effect.
- The complex issue of trust – trust in media is a complicated and diverse issue globally. In the last year trust in legacy media has marginally declined overall, but it still outperforms other forms of communication. Navigating this – particularly for clients with international ambitions – can be difficult. Integrating owned media into communications ensures brands and businesses establish themselves as trusted sources of information.
How do you integrate owned media into communications?
- Build a strong foundation – establish and build your publishing platform, aligning your website, social media channels, email communications, spokespeople and brand advocates around a consistent and cohesive narrative, messaging and value proposition.
- Implement a content-led strategy – high-quality content that has genuine value to your audiences is paramount. The world is awash with brand and corporate content, much of it with little or no value. Understand audience preferences, create compelling stories, share insight and information that can’t be found anywhere else. Create rich packages of assets that have lasting value beyond a short-term campaign. Personalise and optimise to increase relevance and engagement.
- Integrate integrate integrate – ensure that owned and earned are planned in lockstep with every campaign and activity. Work through how your hero content will be packaged for every channel; what is unique to owned, what is reserved for media, how do they work together and – importantly – how does this play out across the campaign period.
- Get into an always-on mindset – beyond campaigns, ensure you have a process that continually feeds owned content into your broader communications strategy and media relations approach. Maintain momentum and keep audiences engaged.
- Measure and adapt – really get to understand and use the data you generate. An outcome framework is a good way to map metrics in a way that proves value and gives you useful insight to adapt your strategy and implementation.
Owned media is a powerful tool for corporate and brand communications, offering control, cost-effectiveness and the ability to build strong relationships with your audience. By integrating owned media into your PR and communications activities, you can enhance your brand’s visibility, credibility and engagement.
*Apologies for the AI slop of an image used to illustrate this article, but this was literally the best that Copilot could muster!
Paul Dalton-Borge, chief executive, lifescapes