When it comes to digital marketing, there are basically three types of media we can leverage for your company: owned media, paid media, and earned media. For a comprehensive digital marketing campaign, all three are necessary on some level, and all three have their unique advantages.
Owned Media
Owned media is the place where any digital marketing originates. Examples of owned media include your company’s website, its social media profiles, or any blogs connected to your business. These are the channels your company controls. You are in charge of what’s being said and how the information and your brand is being presented.
At Modmacro, one of the largest parts of what we do is help clients with their owned media. We design professional websites that clearly communicate the company’s brand, we manage companies’ social media profiles, and we write engaging blog posts and web copy that connect with consumers and help search engines, like Google, understand what our clients’ companies do.
Paid Media
Paid media is another important aspect in digital marketing. Paid media includes pay-per-click advertising, digital display ads, social media ads, paid influencers, and content that is placed on other sites for a fee. Paid promotion of your business can give your company much-needed exposure, especially in your early years of business. This type of media will often drive traffic to your site immediately, but on the flip side, as soon as you stop paying, the traffic also stops. Paid media has its place in digital marketing, but shouldn’t be the only strategy you implement.
If you’re interested in pursuing paid media as a part of your digital marketing strategy, the team at Modmacro can recommend the sites that will give you the best “bang” for your advertising dollars. We can also take care of placing the ads for you and measuring their effectiveness through analytics.
Earned Media
Earned media is essentially “word of mouth” that happens online. Some examples of earned media include reviews, shares, and mentions on third party sites. If a blog post on your website goes viral through reposts, that’s earned media. When people share your Facebook post, that’s also earned media.
Earned media can be powerful in the eyes of consumers. It is considered trustworthy because someone is sharing about your business and getting nothing in return—it is considered an unbiased endorsement. It is also often the most difficult to get because it depends upon others sharing about your business (without being paid or otherwise compensated).
One of the ways Modmacro helps our clients gain earned media is by connecting with journalists who use our clients as sources for their articles. Just in the last few months, we have had clients quoted in articles that were published on major websites like Realtor.com, Homes.com, NCR Silver Small Business Smarts, and the Omaha World-Herald.
One of our clients, who owns an architecture firm in Long Beach has been quoted multiple times in Realtor.com. He has offered his opinion on everything from kitchen remodels, to bathroom design, to how to keep your neighbors from turning against you during a residential remodel. Getting quoted in a national publication like this tells people that he is an expert in his field, giving potential clients more confidence in choosing his company over his competition.
Another way Modmacro can help your company receive earned media is by creating quality content that others are compelled to share. We’ve done this by crafting engaging blog posts, informative press releases, and helpful e-books for our clients.
A Comprehensive Approach
We’ve always said at Modmacro that there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to digital marketing. We evaluate each individual business we work with and determine which approach will be the most effective. For some companies, there is a heavier emphasis on social media marketing; for others, focusing more on on-page SEO is the way to go. But by far, the most effective way to market your business online is to implement an approach that involves all three types of media. We understand that not every company has the budget to focus on all three from the get-go, so we can develop a plan that will grow your business more gradually, based on your budget.
If you’ve thought about delving into the world of digital marketing, but don’t know where to start, we’d love to talk with you! We have a team of digital marketing experts that work with small businesses all over the country and we can help you too. Give us a call or contact us through our website to get the conversation started.
