Exposure a brand receives through unpaid coverage, mentions, shares, reviews, or recommendations from others.
Attention that is gained through relevance, reputation, or public interest rather than purchased placement.
Short and sweet:
Exposure a brand receives through unpaid coverage, mentions, shares, reviews, or recommendations from others.
Attention that is gained through relevance, reputation, or public interest rather than purchased placement.
See also: Owned Media, Paid Media, Public Relations
Earned media is publicity a business receives without paying for it directly, like a journalist covering a story, a customer leaving a glowing review, or a piece of content getting organically shared by people who don’t work for the company. Because it comes from an independent third party rather than the brand itself, earned media typically carries more credibility with an audience than a paid ad making the same claim. It’s also the least controllable of the three media types, since a business can create conditions favorable to earning coverage or shares, like a genuinely newsworthy launch, but can’t force a journalist or customer to say anything specific.
When a food blogger raves unprompted about a new snack brand on Instagram, that unpaid shoutout counts as earned media, carrying more trust than a sponsored post ever could.
Tesla has generated enormous unpaid coverage over the years simply through product launches and Elon Musk’s public statements, avoiding much of the traditional advertising other automakers rely on.
A small bakery mentioned in a local news segment about the best pastries in town receives this same kind of free exposure that money alone couldn’t have guaranteed.
