The tension between PR professionals striving to benefit their clients and publishers needing to pay the bills with advertising spend is ongoing in the earned media versus paid media debate. As these two disciplines battle for budgets, NZ Marketing hears from both PR experts and publishers to unpack the art of finding the right tool for the job.
The relationship between the publishing industry and Public Relations could be likened to a well-crafted tapestry. The PR industry provides threads of colourful information, while the publishing industry carefully stitches these together into stories and presents the tapestry to the world. Together, they create meaningful work that draws people in and keeps them engaged.
However, in this tough economic climate, publishers need to pay their rapidly rising bills with advertising spend, while PR companies are working to get the best bang for their buck on their clients’ behalf.
Earned media has the benefit of appearing organic, which can make it more appealing to consumers, particularly in this world where we are constantly being sold to. Coverage such as reviews, mentions, or press coverage, often carry more credibility and trust because it’s not directly influenced by the brand, whereas paid media can sometimes be seen as biased or promotional.
A downside of earned media from a PR perspective, is that it requires more time and effort to build relationships with media professionals and engage audiences, while paid media can provide quicker results. Paid media also allows for precise audience targeting based on demographics, interests, and behaviour.
Earned media has the potential to reach a broader audience but might not be as targeted. It also has the benefit of allowing clients to say exactly what they want to say and control the narrative.
Sarah Tuck, Editor of dish magazine and SCG Media’s Editorial Director, Lifestyle, receives hundreds of PR requests each sales cycle often including samples in unnecessary packaging and often not relevant to her titles. The only PR requests that do make it into the publication are ones that genuinely add something to the magazine, she says.
“It normally comes down to something the PR people have considered is of genuine interest to our readers, they know who our readers are, and it’s something that’s a genuine match, rather than just free advertising.”
She says pitches for new packaging or announcing new flavours do not count as earned media and PR professionals need to remember that publishers are working with space constraints so everything that is published is carefully considered and needs to resonate with readers.
Sarah suggests that to get the most out of their media budgets, PR agencies should meet with publishers and discuss what the options are for paid and earned media.
“Let’s have a talk about what the client’s up to, and whether there’s anything there that’s newsworthy for the reader.”
Sarah adds that instead of spending money on packaging and posting gifts, this money could be better spent on paid media which in turn supports the publications to stay afloat, especially in these current tough economic times.
“People come up with so many extravagant things for a launch. You get an invitation, then you get something that’s boxed up, then you get something else, and none of it is going to guarantee any coverage. All of these convoluted things, none of it guarantees any exposure at all.”
Are Media General Manager, Stuart Dick, says PR agencies are hugely valuable to publishing companies however they risk doing damage to their reputation if they constantly pitch stories that are clearly not right for the publication.
“PR firms and contacts are very valuable partners in the publishing eco-system and very much appreciated by our editorial teams – where it becomes a little bit more contentious is when we feel that clients or PRs are pushing stories that aren’t really worthy of editorial coverage in lieu of an ad campaign. This doesn’t work or reflect well because they don’t get the results they want from the publishers and the PR agency is using up their capital from the publisher.”
Stuart says most PR professionals know when a pitch is borderline and it would serve them well to focus their approaches better.
Heather Claycomb, Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ) Chair, agrees, saying PR professionals need to be advising their clients or marketing colleagues to place adverts as well because they should recognise that publishers need to stay afloat. However, an issue here is that these two teams are often competing for budgets.
“If PR professionals are advising clients or marketing colleagues against placing adverts in quality publications and, instead, recommending they rely solely on the reach of news editorial, this advice will eventually create a lose-lose-lose situation. If publishers can’t garner advertising spend, their sustainability is affected. And when quality publishers shutter, there’s one less way for both communications and marketing professionals to reach their target audience.”
She says while some communications professionals could be advising their clients not to pay for advertising, she believes it is more likely that the actions of PR professionals can be misunderstood by publishers.
“As an example, when my team pitches a story to an editor, we often receive a reply from the publisher’s advertising department asking if the client would be interested in placing an advert. In those instances, we forward the request to our clients’ marketing team for their decision, delete the email and move on. This can be misinterpreted by the publisher’s advertising team as a ‘fob off.’ But that’s simply not the case. It’s just that as we are solely working on gaining media publicity and don’t advise on advertising placement.”
Heather says PR professionals have also been affected by the amalgamation of news outlets and closure of publishers over the past decade.
“We have experienced the pool of news media shrink, making it more challenging to achieve our clients’ awareness and audience reach goals. No one working in PR wants to see this downward trend continue in the industry.”
Her solution to turn this lose-lose-lose into a win-win-win is for marketing and communications teams to work together to ensure the advertising plans complement and support media publicity plans.
“For instance, if there’s a product launch planned, both teams should determine the best publications to reach their shared audience and work to develop great news stories for placement in the publications alongside adverts. We already see big brands doing this well in many instances.
“So why don’t marketing and communications teams work in concert more often? A key reason is because both professions/departments are ‘battling for budgets.’ When marketing and communications teams – or advertising and PR agencies – work together for what is truly best for the
client/brand, it often requires some ‘give and take’ when it comes to shifting budgets around from one to another. And that’s a bit scary for some!
“However, when marketing and communications teams work in partnership to tap into the power quality publishers bring to the table, we all will win.”
Lucy Fox, Associate Director (NZ Lead) at Thrive PR says that in a perfect world, PR and advertising would co-exist harmoniously as they play very different roles.
“PR, and the power of earned media – whether that’s traditional or digital – has the opportunity to tell stories and earn trust in ways that advertising cannot.”
She says that when purse strings get tightened, PR is one of the first channels to be re-evaluated.
“However since Covid, the importance of clear communication with audiences has elevated. Brands have seen the power of PR and know how important it is to be part of the conversation – and that’s a big part of our jobs
in [PR] agency land, it’s all about continually showing value to clients by impacting the growth and engagement of their businesses.”
Sean Brown, Managing Director of Mango, says he and his team approach everything as if it is earned, as “a good story is a good story”.
“We believe in the power and the role of earning coverage through great storytelling but we’re also realistic that there are many factors at play with publishers and requirements from clients. Some examples where we’d consider a ‘pay to play’ are if a story is slightly soft but worth telling, if the story needs to include particular commercial messages or if we need a story to hit at a specific time.”
At the same time, while it is important to generate earned content, he recognises there is a need to support publishers and journalists.
“For our larger clients where we’re often integrated alongside a media agency, we’re ensuring publishers are being supported, albeit not directly from us. For our smaller clients, we are regularly booking promos, paid partnerships and placing ads where we can and need to, alongside our earned activity.
“There is a time and place for paid editorial but the quality does vary a lot between publishers. Some do a great job of integrating paid content with a subtle declaration, some branded editorial and sponsored stories not so much. Regardless of the publisher, paid editorial should still be a good read or watch so we firmly believe it needs to be managed by PR with an earned lens rather than by a media agency, even if they are booking it.”
One Plus One Group General Manager, Max Burt, says as an earned-first agency, he believes earned and paid play very different roles in a client’s media strategy.
“We had lunch with Bob Hoffman [writer, speaker, and ad-contrarian] earlier this year and he put it this way: one of the greatest advantages you can have in business is fame. The best way to achieve fame is to have a great product that everybody talks about. The next best way is to have great PR (an interesting leader, a great story or clever stunts.) The most expensive way to achieve fame is through advertising.”
He says earned media, when done well, is a very effective way to drive this much sought-after fame, while paid media is better at “amplifying those less ‘sticky’ but equally important messages, maintaining and growing awareness, and protecting share of voice”.
Recognising this, One Plus One uses both methods “but not in pursuit of some ideal balance – it’s about the right tool for the job”.
There is also a great deal of misconceptions around PR as a profession, with Max saying the bane of anyone working in PR is clients having the idea that they can influence a story after an interview has happened or even after it is live. “If you want that level of control, pay for it!” he says.
When it comes to supporting the publishers the PR industry relies on for this ‘fame factor’, Max takes pride in supporting local journalism and content production through partnerships where relevant.
“Often the best partnerships are long-term collaborations between the brand and publisher that provide a depth of understanding and affinity, delivering outsized value.”
Ultimately, choosing between paid and earned media involves weighing factors like budget, control, credibility, time, audience targeting, longevity, and integration.
All things considered, the most effective media strategy often combines elements of both paid and earned media, leveraging the strengths of each to create a comprehensive and impactful marketing approach.
By encouraging clients to support publishing companies with media spend, PR professionals and clients can feel good about contributing to a robust journalism industry, which benefits everyone in the long term.
This article was first published in our December/January 2024 issue.
