Marketers are seeing a decline in ROI from paid media. Many are adjusting their budgets to focus on earned media.
What’s the difference?
Paid media is exactly that – it’s media exposure you’ve paid for. Quite often this means ads or promoted pieces on social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.
Earned media is media exposure you’ve earned through word-of-mouth, press mentions, positive reviews or social media sharing.
Owned media is content you are in complete control of such as your company website, newsletters, blogs, or social media sites.
A recent survey conducted by Demand Gen Report has uncovered some major shifts in marketing team approaches. Marketers surveyed revealed that although at the start of the year their budgets for earned and paid media were similar, throughout the course of the year their spending on earned media increased due to declines in performance from paid media.
Marketers have also begun to realize that endorsements from real people, like industry thought leaders, has more of an influence and positive impact than a paid placement.
What might this mean for your firm? The report provides additional conclusions as well as discussion of the ongoing challenges in measuring results.