Channel Strategy: How to Synergise Your Paid, Earned, and Owned Campaigns

A cohesive channel strategy that integrates paid, earned, and owned media is essential for maximising campaign effectiveness, but sometimes this can be easier said than done. Each type of media serves a unique purpose and, when synergized, can amplify your brand's message, enhance customer engagement and ultimately improve revenue. Here’s how to create a comprehensive channel strategy that aligns these three pillars of digital marketing.

Understanding the Three Pillars

Paid Media

Paid media refers to any digital advertising that requires payment to gain visibility. This includes search ads, display ads, social media ads, and influencer partnerships. Paid media allows you to reach a broader or more refined audience quickly and is particularly effective for driving traffic and conversions.

Earned Media

Earned media encompasses publicity gained through efforts other than paid advertising. This includes organic social media shares, press coverage, reviews, and influencer mentions. Earned media builds credibility and trust as it’s often seen as more authentic by consumers.

Owned Media

Owned media consists of the digital assets your brand controls, such as your website, blog, email newsletters, and social media profiles. It provides a platform for sharing your brand story, engaging your audience, and nurturing customers.

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Steps to Synergise Paid, Earned, and Owned Media

Define Your Goals

Start by setting clear, measurable campaign goals that encompass all three media types. Consider how each channel can support specific objectives such as brand awareness, lead generation, or customer retention. Your objectives will significantly influence which channels you prioritize.

Identify Target Audiences and their Channel Usage

Conduct audience research to understand demographics, interests, and behaviours. This insight will help you tailor your messaging across all channels, ensuring consistency and relevance. Doing further research into how specific audiences act on each individual channel, what they use it for, or if they use it at all. Often, I find younger audiences use owned or paid social platforms for research and initial introductions into new products, while finally converting on Google, compared to older demographics that still seek informational sources from earned media. Overall, certain segments of your audience will be active in different channels, therefore brands need to understand where place ads and how present to be on certain platforms. This could include one or a mixture.

Planning

A strong cohesive channel strategy encompasses many different elements that need to be carefully planned before implementation including Market research, audience segmentation, targeting and positioning.

Channel Selection Criteria:

• Goal: Which pillar fits most within my campaign goal?
• Weight: How should we weigh the most investment by channel?
• Audience Fit: Does the channel align with where your target audience spends time?
• Time: How long will this campaign run? As earned media takes longer to develop
• Targeting (Paid): Does the channels fit my segmentation?
• Budget Requirements: Analyse cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-impression (CPM), and overall ROI.
• Content Type: Consider what type of content performs best on each channel.
• Test and Learn: Allocating time and budget to testing initial strategy before optimisations

Create a Unified Messaging Strategy

Develop a cohesive brand narrative that can be adapted across paid, earned, and owned media. Ensure your tone, style, and key messages are consistent, reinforcing your brand identity.

Creative Best Practices:

• Consistency: Ensure your messaging aligns with your brand voice across channels.
• Tailored Content: Adapt your content to suit the platform (e.g., short videos for TikTok vs. in-depth articles for LinkedIn).
• A/B Testing: Experiment with different creatives to identify what resonates best with your audience.

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Leverage Content Across Channels – Varied content!

Create content that can be repurposed for different channels in specific varied formats. For example:

• Owned Media: Develop in-depth articles or blog posts that provide valuable insights.
• Paid Media: Use snippets from those articles for targeted ads to drive traffic back to your website.
• Earned Media: Share your articles with influencers or media outlets to gain organic traction, digital PR links and coverage.

?Implement Cross-Promotion

Encourage engagement across your channels:

• Social media: Promote your blog posts or earned media mentions on your social platforms.
• Email Marketing: Share your latest ad campaigns or earned media highlights in newsletters.
• Paid Media: Use retargeting ads to bring back users who engaged with your owned content or visited the site.

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Monitor and Measure Cross-Chanel Performance

Set up analytics tools to track the performance of all channels, depending on your campaign’s goals. Monitor key metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, and conversion rates. This data will provide insights into what’s working and what needs adjustment. Furthermore, using cross-channel attribution data to understand the customer journey, learn where to push budget and adapt your funnel strategy.

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Optimise Based on Insights

Regularly review performance data to identify areas for improvement. For example, if a particular paid campaign drives traffic but lacks conversions, consider optimizing the landing page or adjusting your messaging.

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Foster Relationships with Influencers and Media

Building strong relationships with influencers and journalists can enhance your earned media. Provide them with exclusive content, insights, promotional codes, early access making it easier for them to share your story.

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Maintain Flexibility and Stay up to date.

The digital marketing landscape is constantly changing. Stay agile and be prepared to pivot your strategy based on emerging trends, audience feedback, and performance data.

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A channel strategy that integrates paid, earned, and owned media can significantly enhance your campaign efforts, By aligning your goals, messaging, and content across all channels, you can create a cohesive and impactful brand presence. Remember, the key to success lies in continuous monitoring, optimisation and ultimately learning, ensuring that your strategy evolves alongside your audience's needs, platform changes and trends. The digital landscape is dynamic—stay adaptable and ready to refine your strategy as you learn more.

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