[New Post] 3 Ways Earned Media Can Support Your Inbound Strategy

 

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3 Ways Earned Media Can Support Your Inbound Strategy Danielle Ferris Every successful content marketer knows: To drive results, you need to reach beyond your owned channels. Your website, blog, and other owned media platforms are where you want to direct inbound traffic. However, as Victoria Harres explains in How to Reach Audiences Beyond Your Owned Channels, you must leverage social media, content syndication, and strategic channels to actually get your customers there. And sometimes even that’s not enough. Today’s buyers need to know the content they’re reading can be trusted, and they’re more trusting of experts, peers, and journalists than they are of brands they don't use. When an influencer mentions your content — be it on social or traditional media — it sends a strong signal to your audience about your content’s quality and your brand’s authority on the topic. Press releases and other earned media tactics can be as influential in your inbound marketing strategy as they are when promoting major company news. For instance, research conducted by the Content Marketing Institute found that 78% of effective content marketers used press release services vs. only 55% of less effective content marketers. You need to be smart, though, about your earned media approach. Just as you create content for the different stages of your buyer’s journey, you need to tailor your content’s earned media strategy so that it helps drive audience action from one stage to the next. Attract At some point, every buyer starts out as someone unfamiliar with your brand. Earned media is helpful in targeting prospects who are in an early search stage. It enables you to reach a wider audience beyond your own networks. The content you’re looking to promote at this stage could be a blog post that focuses on broad industry topics. It’s providing information and building awareness, not asking for a commitment. Engage After attracting a potential buyer’s attention, the next step is getting them to engage with you so that you can continue building a relationship with them. While they may be aware of your brand and considering purchasing from you, they’re also shopping other options. Earned media from niche influencers at this stage can help you build the trust you need to make a potential customer more receptive to a call to action that will lead them further along in the buying process. The content you’re pitching here should focus on answering more specific audience questions and building trust and authority. Convert Audiences at this stage are the most sophisticated, not just in their knowledge of you, but also in regards to the in-depth, specific content they need before making a purchase. They know you and your products and are possibly in conversations with your sales team. Content you’re promoting at the conversion stage may offer a product demo or contain language that supports your sales teams’ conversations. Media pickup and mentions of conversion-stage content help you continue to resurface in your audience’s search results and reinforce your brand’s reputation as the solution they’re ready to purchase. On November 4, we’re excited to host Christopher Penn (@cspenn), Vice President of Marketing Technology at SHIFT Communications, for a deeper dive into earned media’s impact on inbound marketing. During our webinar Get Credible: The Role of Earned Media in Inbound Strategy, Penn – co-founder of the groundbreaking PodCamp New Media Community unConference, co-host of the Marketing Over Coffee marketing podcast, and best-selling author – will discuss: The impact of earned media on website traffic Full funnel optimization, from PR to blogging to social Tips to generate more earned media and more inbound traffic Register here, then tune in on November 4 at 1 PM EST for this can’t-miss conversation. Author Danielle Ferris is happiest on the beach, an avid spinner, and marketing coordinator at PR Newswire.

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