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How to leverage EMBEDDED and EARNED media

Embedded and earned media are two of the five pillar’s of your media marketing strategy. Embedded media is where you publish or broadcast as an author using the reach of an established platform. Earned media is publicity from a third party. It’s when your newspaper does a feature on your business, or you are interviewed on TV or radio.

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This post is a case study on how to utilize a piece of embedded media throughout your five pillars, but also on how to leverage it for additional national earned media.

On Nov 2, a week before the US 2016 federal election on Nov 8th, I published an article in the Huffington Post titled Biased Election Coverage and Consumption Will Have Consequences. The article took a look at the role of media – from traditional broadcast and print news outlets to the economic based model of online social media and influencers and how they are all forming our opinions around the US election.

It was largely shared and commented on – both on the Huffington Post site, as well as the various social media platforms I shared it on. And I was delighted to see them feature it on their front-page news Nov 2. That gave it tremendous reach. Of course I also put the link to it on my website. It was a great example of using another established player’s reach to position expertise. In the last two days, Twitter follows have increased significantly, as have Facebook follows and LinkedIn requests.

I thought the leverage would end there.

But then a surprise ending to the election offered an additional opportunity, when it became apparent that my forecast of a Trump win being missed by the media would actually come true.

I used my piece of embedded media to further leverage a major piece of EARNED media this week – an interview for “The 180” on CBC Radio One, which aired nationally Sunday, November 13 at 11am. You can now link to an archived copy HERE.

I argued a number of theories as to why so much media content seemed to reinforce a Clinton win in the US election, and how that had been misleading, as well as how social media channels with content catered to user profiles, based on opinions of others like us, served to only further reinforce those views.

From an earned media perspective, this was a major coup. CBC Radio One is the largest radio network in Canada, reaching 4.3 million listeners each week. Being positioned as a “marketing and media expert” during a 10 minute interview was great positioning. But it’s the ability to then put that earned content on owned media platforms (blog and website) as a permanent credibility builder that is golden. And of course being able to leverage it out on social channels further added to the reach and value. It’s a piece of marketing that I will be multi-purposing for some time.

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promo-the180-smSo here’s the story on how this all happened and what you can learn from it in your own marketing efforts. Being on the west coast, by about 6:30pm results were looking shaky for Clinton. That’s when I went into my office and wrote an email pitch to a producer at CBC that I know. I didn’t send it until later that evening, after 9:30pm. I wanted to be pretty certain of the outcome before hitting “send.” Here was my pitch:

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I also sent a text to her cell phone, referencing the email and the Huffington Post article. The producer discussed the idea with several colleagues Wednesday morning, and by 10am I got a call to come to their studio to record the interview Thursday morning.

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There were 5 things that got this pitch noticed:

1. A contrarian viewpoint: Most people in Canada though Clinton would win. Because I had predicted that Trump would win a week earlier, it got their attention.

2. A catchy headline: “How biased election coverage and the consequences of consumption and social media prevented us from seeing a Trump win coming.”

3. The pitch was short: The view was based on three forces coming together, and it was substantiated by a previously published piece in a reputable publication, the Huffington Post. Media loves other media.

4. Targeted one influential media contact: There wasn’t time to fan this out to a bunch of contacts, nor did I want to. I pitched one only that I thought was a good match, and it came across as an exclusive offer. This was also based on having rapport with a media producer, and the email and cell phone to reach them in off hours.

5. It was timely: I knew the pitch had to go out that night so it would be talked about the following morning in a briefing session. I also knew the producer would be accessing her email and texts that night, since that’s what producers and reporters do.

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One thing worth noting in all this: I keep in touch with media even when I’m not pitching them. I copy people on interesting stories or research I’ve found that they might find useful, or engage them on a piece they’ve put out. I try to help them do their job better, so that when I do pitch a story idea, there’s familiarity and respect.

Hopefully this example has shown you how the 5-pillar media approach of OWNED, RENTED, EARNED, EMBEDDED and PAID media starts to come together. It can be a magic cycle to build branding, identity and expertise when leveraged well.

Mary Charleson

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