How To Understand Different Types of Marketing

Marketing that meshes together is marketing done right. But first it’s important to understand each type of marketing separately for the big picture. Because what’s without a big picture? It’s called flying by the seat of your pants. And that’s not always fun – despite the whole flying part. The #1 most important thing to note is that the word “marketing” is interchangeably used with media. Here’s how to understand different types of media and marketing:

1. Paid media

Some examples of paid media in the non-digital world, are TV/Radio/Print. (For the purpose of this article, I’m focusing mostly on digital. Paid media is best used when digital and non-digital collide.

Paid media is when a brand pays to leverage a space where potential customers hang out. This is typically in the form of paid search, display ads, or sponsorships.

Paid media can make an impact for a targeted audience. But two things are important:

1. Follow-through is crucial. Paid media is best when paired with exceptional customer service. Not following through with customer service is like tossing a life preserver to a drowning victim. And then not pulling them in. You’re already exerting effort to toss the ring. Why not go the step further?

2. Many people view paid media (especially in print) as a dying form. It’s not. It just needs to be viewed as a catalyst that creates earned media (keep reading for example). It’s more challenging for print paid media to become earned media due to the limitations of sharing the content (i.e., it’s easier to share when it’s digital).

For example, I needed to purchase pet steps for my miniature dachshund puppy. After doing a google search, I came across a company that sold exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to make sure that the company’s paid search was more than just…a paid search. So I picked up the phone to call said company.

The owner of the company answered after the first ring. And then proceeded to patiently answer all of my questions. She delivered exceptional customer service in addition to appearing at the top of search results.

2. Earned media

The puppy steps story above is an example of earned media. It’s when a company “earns” media from happy (sometimes unhappy) customers. The customers are a channel to advocate for a brand. I’m not getting paid to write about the company. I’m simply doing so because I had a positive experience. And want to sing their praise to others.

Earned media is the most credible. Because the message isn’t coming directly from the company. It’s coming from customers who simply want to advocate for the brand. Earned media can be distributed through tweets, sharing blog posts, or repins on Pinterest.

Earned media is the reason why monitoring your brand is crucial. Listening to what your customers say isn’t negotiable.

Not monitoring your brand is like throwing a party and not showing up. Everyone will talk about why you’re not there. And you won’t have any excuse.

3. Owned media

Owned media is the foundation of your brand. And the foundation of your brand should be built:

a. For the long-term. Creating content doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time.

b. As a way to connect with customers – and learn about them.

c. To sustain publicity achieved from earned media (i.e., could your blog handle traffic if Kim Kardashian or Justin Bieber endorsed your company?)

The last part about Kim Kardashian may sound crazy. But when crafting a strategy, it’s important to think through the best and worst case scenarios.

4. Partially owned media

The top three types of media are really paid, earned, and owned. But partially owned is still important. Examples of partially owned media (also known as shared media) are Facebook fan pages, Twitter, or Pinterest accounts. It’s content that’s in -between owned and earned media.

For example, I got over 800 Repins for a quote pinned to my Evolve board. The quote appeared within my networks, and then showed up in the networks of my networks. And so on. Even though the content is owned by alifetimeofwisdom.com, the nature of social sharing allows it to be “shared content.”

This is also known as native ads. It runs the risk of appearing deceptive. Because it’s hard to tell if it’s legit content – or if it’s an ad. Pinterest does a great job of showing legit content because everything is so visually stunning – and it’s addicting.

5. Promoted media

Promoted media is media that gets promoted through sponsored tweets on Twitter or sponsored stories on Facebook. I often find that the content is not relevant – and it’s a bit too obvious that it’s sponsored. I personally don’t find promoted media to be a seamless integration with the content I’m consuming. Do others have a different experience?

Are you evolving your content by using all different types of media?