Owned media: A 12-step process for creating and distributing content that gets results

In public relations, the term “media” relates to different channels a company or brand might use to attract new customers. When distributing messages and increasing brand awareness, you’ll improve your reach by using all the available types of media.

There are four types of media: earned media, shared media, owned media, and paid media (although we believe paid media shouldn’t be part of the PESO model).

Owned media is content your company has full control over, like the content you create for your company website, blog, e-books, white papers, presentations, etc.

Axia Public Relations created a 12-step owned media process that it implements for its clients:

Inputs: What you need in preparation for communication

1. Objective(s) – Objectives are the statements that emerge from the organization’s overall goals. We set S.M.A.R.T. objectives for clients that answer the question, “What does my company want to accomplish?”

Activities: Things you do to plan and produce your communication

2. Concept(s) – We gather our team to brainstorm through weekly ideation sessions. We’ll come up with different ideas for website content, blog post topics, etc.

3. Message – We think about what we want our client's target audience to learn about – and from – our client and its services or products. We always ask, “Is this helpful?” before moving forward.

4. Drafting – Now, it’s time to create. This is where we start drafting content for websites, blog posts, an e-book, etc.

5. Copy editing – We have in-house copy editors who review everything we publish for ourselves and our clients. It helps us sleep better at night.

6. Visuals – This is where we start to see the concept and messages come to life. Adding images, infographics, videos, etc. is a great way to grab the audience’s attention.

7. Scheduling – We’re about to go live, whether it’s with a landing page, blog post, presentation, etc. We like to schedule blog posts, and we sometimes schedule landing pages too.

8. Publishing – We’re officially live! This is when we share and celebrate.

9. Monitoring – We watch for engagement with content through blog comments, e-book performance, etc.

10. Promoting – Sometimes, we want to promote a blog post (maybe via social media) or a website (maybe via Google AdWords) to increase its reach. We recommend and encourage this.

Outputs: The results a program or campaign generates

11. Measuring – There are different ways you can measure the performance of your website, blog post, e-book, etc. We track these measurements and then move on to step 12.

12. Reporting – We take the measurements we track and compile them in a report that we send to our clients monthly, quarterly, and annually.

That’s it! We continually follow this process for our company and for our clients every day. We have an earned media process and a shared media process too. (We really like processes!)

Axia Public Relations offers multiple owned media services, like website design and development, inbound marketing, and expert blogging. Download Axia’s complimentary e-book “Inbound Marketing: Your Guide to Increasing Online Traffic, Attracting Leads, and Converting Customers Effectively” to learn more about inbound marketing, a large part of owned media, and how to best utilize this technique for your company.

Becca McClure is a passionate public relations professional who works on various client social media accounts and public relations campaigns. Clients love her infectious positive attitude and her strong work ethic. Becca joined the Axia Public Relations team in February 2016. Learn more about Becca McClure.

Featured photo by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash