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Let’s kick off with a look at paid media. It’s one of the simplest of the three to understand.

The Basics

In a nutshell, paid media is just what it sounds like—media you’ve got to pay for.

Paid media is the bread and butter of most marketing campaigns. It’s especially relevant for businesses that are just getting started, yet to fully establish themselves in their industry or niche.

Paid ads and social media ads, for instance, are massive parts of startup marketing. They’re invaluable for new businesses looking to establish themselves and make their first sales.

However, that’s not to say that bigger brands don’t also use paid media. Indeed, paid media typically makes up a large part of marketing strategies for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Even the biggest brands, for example, may pay for TV ads and billboards to keep their brand name in the public eye.

The Benefits and Drawbacks

Obviously, you have to pay for paid media. That’s the main drawback.

Another downside is that, according to studies, paid media isn’t as widely trusted as owned or earned media. As such, a lot of people are in the habit of simply ignoring or even blocking paid ads.

However, the benefits of paid media are numerous.

Firstly, paid media is relatively accessible. No matter how big or small your business is—or what kind of budget you’re working with—there are paid media options you can turn to. Even a budget as low as $100 can be enough to at least get a few ads out there.

What’s more, when used well, paid media gets results. Boosting traffic to your site. Generating leads. Driving sales of your products and services—paid media can do it all.

As touched on above, paid media is also crucial for new companies. At a time when competition is extremely high in many industries, startups often rely on paid media campaigns to make their mark and bring in their first customers.

One final benefit of paid media is its variety. From paid ads on social media sites to display ads on news websites or even influencer campaigns, there are lots of ways to pay.

Examples

There are many different options to pick from when building a paid media strategy.

For example, almost all of the traditional, physical forms of marketing tend to fall under the paid media umbrella. That goes for TV ads, print ads, radio ads, and billboards.

In the digital space, too, there are many forms of paid media. PPC ads are a prime example. These ads appear on sites such as Amazon. As the name suggests, you only have to pay if and when someone clicks on them.

Search ads (Google ads) also fit the definition of paid media. These ads give you the chance to have your products or pages appear at the top of Google’s search engine results pages. Naturally, links near the top of the search results tend to get far more clicks than those further down. So, this can be a great way to gain traction.

Social media platforms are also great hosts for paid media. You can set up sponsored social media posts on leading social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, to potentially reach a huge audience with ease.

Influencer marketing also falls into the category of paid media. That’s when you pay or incentivize a content creator with a big following (an “influencer”) to market your brand to their fans and followers.

Last but not least, we have owned media.

The Basics

Owned media is arguably the simplest to understand. It’s the media you own. That means you have total control over it. You have the power to create, edit, upload, and share that content as you like, and it’s completely unique and relevant to your brand and your audience.

The Benefits and Drawbacks

The big benefit of owned media is quite simply the fact that it’s yours. You’re in control. That gives you the freedom and the power to make the kind of content that works for you and fits your brand’s vision and objectives.

You can use owned media to build up your own brand persona and voice. It’s a huge part of your business’ identity. Use it well, and you can build deep, long-lasting bonds with your customers, all while setting your brand apart from the rest.

Owned media is also a powerful force for SEO. If you get your owned media strategy right, you can rapidly push your way up the Google search results, enjoying more clicks, more visits, and more business as a result.

The drawback with owned media is that it can be quite challenging to get right. Many businesses pour time and effort into creating their own content, but it doesn’t always translate to better SEO scores or more brand awareness. Indeed, when managed poorly, owned media can actually damage your reputation and lead to a lot of wasted money and resources.

Examples

The primary example of owned media is your website content. That means webpages, blog posts, articles, and so on. It also includes other forms of content that you have full control over, like an email newsletter that you might send out to your most loyal customers, for example, or social media posts you share online.