In Media Res - Danny in the Middle!
Understand the difference between Owned vs Earned vs Paid media in marketing (also, picking up in the middle of things, also bye bye Orlando, hello Seattle!)
Top 3 Hot Topics Today:
Owned vs Earned vs Paid Media
In Media Res - picking up in the middle of things…
From East Coast Beast Coast to West Coast Best Coast
Hey y’all! It’s Danny! It’s been a minute but a lot of has been going on in my life, including starting a new job, packing up my life in Sunshine State and planning my move to the Emerald City (or the Rain City lol). If you follow me on socials, you know I’ve been going through it, but I appreciate y’all sticking with me as I finally wrap up everything I need to and find balance across my life; fingers crossed but by the time you read this, I’ll officially be a Seattlite (do they [we] themslves [us] that???…)!
Owned vs Earned vs Paid Media
Anywhomst, let’s get down to business (not to defeat the Huns, but to talk a bit of marketing!). I’m lucky that my new job stays in the analog gaming space, but my role focuses more on board games/toys and is more of a generalist position versus channel/focus specific, coming from social media and community. It’s been an exciting prospect learning and challenging myself to think outside of a silo. From this, I want to talk about “owned” vs “earned” vs “paid” media as it falls into the scope of marketing and relate it to my move so it’s easier to remember.
Owned Media: These are the channels you own, everything from your social media profiles and blogs to your podcasts, email lists and website. The good news (and bad news) is that you can do whatever you want here because you control the content on the channels. It’s the most reliable because you can do as much as you want, but it might not have the biggest engagement rate or net new conversions/followers, and you normally have to put in the work to produce organic content.
During my move, this “marketing piece” was me focusing on packing, decluttering, donating, and selling things in my house until things were ready to move. I did these things myself. It’s not the most sexy or exciting work but it’s necessary, just like “owned" media.
Earned Media: Think about this as the buzz that others create about you. It includes shares, mentions, and reviews by those who enjoy your content or brand. In marketing, this can include influencer seeding, PR, reviews of your product or business, or simply fans and advocates who share your content on their own or through social sharing tools. The power in an earned media strategy is that it usually comes from a place of trust and a deeper connection.
During my move, this “marketing piece” was my lovely boyfriend and super cool best friend who helped me pack my moving pod on their own free will. I “earned” their love (lol) by being so handsome and charismatic and charming and being a super ultra modern girl (lol), and in return they helped me during the move. They’re my community, my family.
Paid Media: Last but not least, we have the (not budget friendly but also an important piece in marketing) paid stuffs. Exactly how it sounds, this when you pay to have promoted content on facebook, or put ad spend behind Meta. In the digital world, it’s like renting a billboard on the busiest highway to make sure everyone sees your message, but it also costs money to keep it there so it might be a lever you turn on and off to maximize exposure. With ads, you have targeting options, to reach your intended audience in digital digital space. This can also include influencer campaigns that are focused on targeted messaging.
During my move, this “marketing piece” was me paying for the pod and having them help drive it to Seattle for me from Orlando so I didn’t have to. Could I have done it myself? Yes, but paying someone and having their “targeted” expertise in the move saved me a lot of sweat equity.
Hopefully with my moving analogy, you can see how there should be consideration when planning a go-to-market strategy that includes owned, earned, and paid media. Just as I did things myself during my move (owned), I also had the help of those around me (earned) and I also hired a company that specialized in moving (paid). It’s not a 1:1 analogy but, you get the point!
In Media Res - picking up in the middle of things…
Fun fact, I took Latin throughout high school and there are a lot of phrases you can see in day to day that pull from this language, including the phrase “In Media Res” which literally translates to “into the middle of things”. Usually, this is a way for storytellers, movies, books, etc. to start in the middle of things to “hook” you in what would may be a climax of a story, and then pulling back to tell the person how it started aka the beginning and of course, how it will end.
I wanna talk about this in two fold quickly, one personal, and one that maybe you can think about when you’re creating content digitally.
Personally: I feel like my life has opened up “in media res” with how fast things are moving. I feel like I’ve been dropped into the middle of Seattle and someone just pressed play and I’m all of a sudden trying to figure out how this began and what a “happy ending” will look like. Have any of y’all felt like this with big life changes?
Content wise: Normally people talk about having that 2-4 second “hook” when it comes to short form content with either having an interrogative statement aka a question (have you ever, did you know, etc) or an imperative statement aka a command (you need this, you better [action], etc.).
Something I’m seeing more and more is showing off a clip in pop culture from a movie or a stitch of a funny clip, etc” that is “in media res” to capture the attention of the audience. Just something to consider if you’re trying to shake things up and are getting burnt out on trying to create those “click-baity'“ retention hooks. Experiment with it and try to apply some of these funny/popular clips from other users (aka stitching on Tiktok) or from your favorite shows as a way to catch peoples attentions within short form content creation.
From East Coast Beast Coast to West Coast Best Coast
Well, idk if it’s the “best coast” yet but dang, it is very cool…
I’m officially a Seattlelite now and though I’ll always be a cute lil southern peach, I’m excited for the change. It was scary, anxiety inducing, and was a heck of a lot of work, but I think I’m finally able to embrace this change.
Here are a few pictures that include my BF Joe, and BFFs Andy and Banana and a lot of yummy foods as as well as other escapades I’ve been up to since my journey to the PNW.
Thanks for hanging in there with me, y’all! I’m still trying to figure out my new “flow” of things but I appreciate all the love and support so far. Let me know if you have any questions or topics you’d like me to cover in the future for me to consider!
Stay strong. Stay thicc. *Big hug*