A deck to help marketing creatives infuse branded content creation with earned media strategy.

1. EARNED MEDIA STRATEGY
FOR CREATIVES
Francesca Greggs

2. a good idea is
a good idea is
a good idea.
YES.
But...our job is to do more
than just create good
ideas.

3. If a good idea falls
in the forest and
nobody's there to
talk about it…
(can I use it in a different new
business pitch?)

4. How do we get people
to see our ideas?

5. MONEY
Pay the space where
eyeballs are looking to
talk about it.
(space here = paid content
promotion, branded content, air
time, print space, influencers)
EARN IT
Convince the space where
eyeballs are looking to
talk about it.
(space here = media - newspapers,
blogs, television newscasts)

6. Successful paid and earned campaigns are easy to
confuse because they end up in the same place
Journalists notice
and talk about it
Consumers see it
and talk about it

7. In a paid campaign, the
first audience for our
ideas is the consumer.
In an earned campaign, the
first audience for our
ideas is the journalist.
Even though they end at the same place,
they start very differently

8. PAID
Promote idea by paying for
placement + using owned media
channels
Journalists notice and
they talk about it
Consumers see it
and talk about it
EARNED
Journalists notice
and they talk about it
vvv
v
Promote idea by convincing
Journalists to talk about it
v
Consumers see it and talk
about it
Journalists start talking
about it
v
Consumers start talking
about it

9. Earning coverage on
an idea ≠ Earned Idea
Some paid campaigns earn media
attention for being so awesome.
That does not make them earned
creative.
That makes them
great paid creative.

10. The following video is an example of a
great idea that earned coverage
that isn’t an earned idea.

11. A PAID CAMPAIGN - She Rules

13. This idea is : relevant, on-brand,
original, and well-executed.
There is no doubt this is good
creative. But this idea could not have
been successful as an earned campaign.
Why? Let’s talk about it

14. OVERLY PROMOTIONAL
Journalists frequently get paid to create
sponsored content with a brand. If something
feels like an ad, journalists won’t cover it.
They don’t want to just show your ad for free.
NOT NEWS
This video wasn’t news until it did
something. What would be the headline if the
ad hadn’t aired during the Emmy’s and struck
a chord with viewers, “Netflix Makes Video”?

15. HOW TO BRAINSTORM FOR EARNED
Consider the journalists - what do they
want to cover? Why?
Think prismatically. The same one idea
can elicit different stories from
different types of journalists.
Some earned stories don’t even need
assets - you’re creating a conversation.

16. GETTING A NO FROM JOURNALISTS
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT
“Very cute vid. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is
a good fit for our show or online though. Only
because it is basically an advertisement for Netflix
and his show, and not original content for ET.”
TODAY SHOW
Noted that while they liked the story
idea their last Netflix cheating story
was unsuccessful
CNN NEW DAY
“Spoke with Marcelo and he said they do
not do any fun and light stories on the
show. All politics, Washington and hard
news all the time.”
NYLON
“I think I need to pass on this. While
we love Netflix and cover its shows
extensively, I think this feels a
little too inside baseball for our
readers”

17. THINKING PRISMATICALLY
Customize the same idea to ensure that different types
of outlets can cover the story
AGENDA SETTING MEDIA
SOCIALLY FORWARD
CONSUMER LIFESTYLE
ONE SIZE CAN FIT ALL

18. THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO
“Our idea is going to be
so X it will go viral.”
X = hilarious, resonant, ground-breaking, painfully
beautiful, kubrick-esque, acerbically irreverent,
meth-level addictive...

19. TESTS AN EARNED IDEA NEEDS TO PASS
Earned potential of an idea is measurable.
Your local PR expert can help you
evaluate it qualitatively against:
TENSION
PERSONAL
IMPACT
SURPRISE
TIMELINESS
CHANGE
PROMINENCE
PROXIMITY

20. PITCH LETTERS
In earned media, your idea will not go live
unless a journalist covers it.
Once you have an idea, answer two questions:
“What would the pitch for this sound like?”
“What would the headline of this article be?”

21. It’s Hard. Why do we do it?
IMPACT
TRUST
$650,000
30-second spot
Sunday Night Football
Viewership = 24 million
$40,000
PR Campaign Budget
Global Impressions = 1 Billion
Crisis of confidence
around news in general
Peer to peer sharing makes
for more trustworthy news

22. BRAINSTORMING FOR PAID
Make use of the space
You have the luxury of guaranteed exposure -
what are you going to do with it?
Your responsibility
The burden is on us to give consumers
something that’s going to interest them
enough to get the cycle going.

23. POWER OF PARTNERSHIP
Once we’ve mentally separated
earned and paid creative, the real
challenge arrives. The next step
is prioritizing your investment
between paid and earned media.
Strategically balancing an
integrated campaign will always
create a further reaching and
longer lasting campaign.