Judging from the current trends, using media platforms has become the custom of the day. Although most providers allow marketers to use their platforms for free to create traffic on their websites, more developed ones are in for business. They, therefore, will always charge to enable marketers to use their platforms to make known their products and or services. The text considers an article by Barbara Basney on the use of content and earned media in brand transformation.
The use of paid and earned media has a significant impact on the marketing strategies of a company in consideration with the 4Ps of marketing; Price, Product, place, and promotion. The choice of media to use differs according to the product that a company chooses to market. Pricing is crucial in determining what media to use the prices dictate what profit margin a company will enjoy, Basney (2014). Low profits will only allow a company to use earned media and highly avoid the paid media. It, however, affects performance. Promotion policy is the direct link for decision making on whether to use the earned media or paid media (Katy, 2018). The promotion policy involves the resources that every product should be allocated for advertising purposes. Limited resources push the firms to use earned media as opposed to the paid media. The place designates the choice of media through the aspect of accessibility. It may not matter how effective the media is if the product or service is not accessible to the target consumers.
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There is multiple analytics that an enterprise may use to judge the effectiveness of the paid or earned media. Discussed are the critical measures of the effectiveness of the media used in the marketing mix, more so in the brand transformation process (Basney, 2014). The extent of effectiveness impacts decision-making on whether to use earned or paid media in the future. A content quality score is also a great analytical tool for the effectiveness of the media. Most adverts that are sponsored are rated by being given an appropriate score that contributes to its chances of reaching greater masses.
Generally, marketers gain a lot of trust in earned media as opposed to paid media. According to Katy (2018), earned media involves free platforms to seek an audience for a product while the aspect of paid media differs from it in that the marketer has to pay for a chance to acquire an audience. While using paid media, most individuals tend to be drowned by the fear of con artists. Free placements will always entice many marketers when it comes to cost-effectiveness. Generally, earned media is most likely to be more trusted in the aspect of cost-effectiveness as opposed to the paid media. However, this does not mean that earned media delivers better results than the paid media. The choice of the social media platform used in marketing also dictates the success or failure of the advert.
Different internet marketing tools are used in earned and paid media, including social media, websites, and blogs. The type of mechanism used depends on the cost of usage and the range of benefits it has. For instance, in paid media, paid ads are used to reach more significant masses; the advantage of this tool is that the brand gets to be in control and get faster feedback. However, the response rates are lower because not everyone views ads. In earned media, the use of social media like Facebook and twitter is paramount because it ensures broader coverage and a higher response rate. However, since the customers are the primary channel, there is no control over what they post, bringing negative feedback.
References
Basney, B. (2014). Using content and paid media to fuel a brand transformation. Brands as Publishers , 3 (2), 101-110.
Katy, K. (2018). Why Every Marketing Mix Should Include Paid, Owned & Earned Content. Content Marketing . Retrieved from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/
