In our final entry on ways to generate Earned Media in the face of “No News,” we will examine the opportunity presented by analyzing competitors; whether industry rivals and/or Brands in tangential industries that excel in identified areas of importance.
How does analyzing competitors directly lead to increased Earned Media when the Brand has “No News?”
The outcome provides a direct roadmap to build Earned Media strategies that generates coverage in identified outlets by:
Defining what generates headlines
Identifying essential incremental steps
Uncovering new Targets
What we “think makes news” and what actually “generates coverage” is often different and is perpetually changing. Successful paths present themselves daily by simply reading/watching the coverage generated by competitive Brands. In our endless pursuit of “Controlling the Controllables,” deploying this tactic daily generates endless opportunities.
Exploring this through a daily challenge we all face, let’s assume our Brand Objective is to get the CEO on CNBC. A dive into recent segments on the network from competitive Brands will uncover how the industry is covered. Assuming a “worst case scenario” that there are no industry examples of success on CNBC, this provides important intel to share openly. This communicates awareness of the current climate and if/when successful, the accolades will be aligned with the challenge.
This also helps communicate that larger opportunities are more “journey than destination” in that it could involve multiple steps and opportunities to achieve the overarching objective. For example, Cheddar TV and Yahoo Finance are national broadcast opportunities akin to CNBC coverage that may have examples of success from the Brand’s industry. These shows take a wider breadth of guests and sharing these successful segments with CNBC producers will increase the likelihood of future bookings. In this Example the Earned Media Equation 2 Success is:
CNBC Objective = Cheddar Opp 1 + Yahoo Finance Opp 2 + Future Embargoed Idea
When Brands don’t have news, the timing is ideal to reevaluate the ever-changing equation on how best to engage Earned Media by examining competitor coverage. For example, the Brand may have had a successful story in the targeted outlet previously. However, new reporters emerge, tonality of coverage shifts, new Third-Party voices are quoted as industry experts, etc., and are all examples of variables that are perpetually shifting a Brand’s path to Earned Media success . This is most critical in National broadcast targets, where the changes are faster and not as easy to research.
Consuming Earned Media examples from competitors is directly connected with generating Earned Media during periods of “No News.”
While the Earned Media Equation 2 Success appears to be clearly illuminated, journalists’ descriptions of how they are approached communicates that Brand marketers aren’t getting the message. Generating consistent, on-Brand Earned Media requires perpetual monitoring and engaging with the ever-evolving content produced by targeted journalists; above and beyond our goals as Brand Marketers.
Emerging journalists, experts, and outlets will be uncovered by monitoring. These newer targets, often times, have not yet made Cision and other popular services; providing an advantage to those that identify them early.
Another advantage to monitoring is that it provides you a holistic view of coverage. Many times, the perception of coverage is different than reality. For example, Starbucks is a Brand that many aspire to; seemingly generating Earned Media consistently. However, a quick analysis of media coverage reveals deeper learning from their Earned Media success. In nearly all coverage, there is mention to previous controversy for the Brand. For example, any mention of sustainability initiatives also includes references and images to past consumer protests on the topic. When Starbucks roles out new employee benefits, the coverage also delivers reminders of previous employee incidents involving insensitivity that sparked national outrage.
The unique approach to every Brand’s Earned Media Equation 2 Success is publicly available for all to capitalize on; making it that much more perplexing that journalists share this approach is the rare exception and not the industry standard. The ROI from identifying and applying these key leanings in the formative stages of strategy building is infinite.
Want to explore your Brands “Earned Media Equation 2 Success?”