Content Channels – From Control to Proliferation

Posted by John Webb on August 2, 2011 · 2 Comments 

Brand owners should shift their focus from trying to ‘sell’, to gaining endorsement and evangelism for their branded content. ‘Branded content’ is anything that is created by or, significantly on behalf of a brand; this could be an advert, product website, Twitter feed, Facebook post, blog review, mobile app, mash-up video and so on. A successful Marketing or Communications Plan uses a mix of ‘channels’ to reach the end consumer, moving along a spectrum from control to proliferation of the brand message:

Fig. Brand Content Channels Model

‘Brand Owned‘ channels encompass web/mobile sites, blogs, Twitter accounts, etc. where the brand owner has direct and total control over the message and it’s presentation. In this context, the advantage of control is balanced by the requirement to attract visitors / viewers to the content. In this respect, resource is required not only in the creation of the content itself, but also in it’s marketing. It is imperative, therefore that this investment is justified by delivering an engaging and impactful experience for the consumer.

‘Paid’ media channels are where the brand owner pays for placement of their content / message, including display advertising, paid search, sponsorship, etc. There is still a degree of control as the brand owner, in most cases, selects the context, position, and frequency of the media, as well as having creative control over the content or advertisement itself. By using paid media, the brand owner is able to proliferate their message to audiences beyond their owned channels, yet the mechanism of the delivery predicates that the message is perceived and consumed as marketing.

Brand owners need to be conscious that in the digital space ‘paid-for’ doesn’t necessarily infer ‘control’ to the degree that they may expect. Firstly, as the number of active sites and blogs explodes, capabilities of ad serving and tracking vary considerably, as well as the commerciality of the site owner. Secondly, paid placement equates to seeding and, by design or by extension, generates follow-on brand sharing, whether ‘on-message’ or not. When buying media, brand owners should no longer consider which placements merely gain the maximum exposure (reach, frequency, impressions, clicks…) but also where and how they will stimulate additional (positive) engagement and proliferation, i.e. earning further media value. If paid-for media is done correctly, supporting sufficiently stimulating and valued brand content, it creates its own momentum to generate incremental media value.

What I term ‘Directly Influenced‘ channels’ also have a significant role to play in generating exposure for the brand message. These channels can traditionally be thought of as the first line of PR, i.e. articles, features or blogs created by journalists or editors who have direct contact with the brand owner. This media is not traditionally ‘paid-for’ and in some respects is ‘earned’, yet there is a distinction between this and earned media which is propagated by consumers. It is often in journalists’ interest to write about a brand ultimately to gain more viewership for the publication or website. The value of communicating a brand is different for the consumer – this is more about social identification and acceptance. The Internet has facilitated a fundamental shift in ‘PR’, where actual consumers have become media creators, owners and editors, able to broadcast their views to the wider audience.

The interface between directly-influenced media and earned is blurred – for instance, many blogs have become so big and professional that they are now effectively acting as journalists in respect that they have direct access to brands, despite being ‘consumer-initiated’ initially.

‘Earned’ media is where the consumer, be that of brand content or product, becomes the channel; it is a step removed from the brand owner. In effect the media placements for the brand are ‘earned’ based on the desirability and virility of the branded content to the consumer. Earned media is secondary media stimulated through branded content placed in either brand owned, paid, or directly-influenced channels. In this respect ‘earned’ is not ‘free’, it has to be paid-for in one way or another, either internally or through external contractors, whether that be the time and resource required to create the content, the cost of paid placements or the effort to monitor and engage with consumers in order to propagate that content (what I coin the “Fifth ‘P’ of Marketing”). To create brand content that is worthy of discussion and sharing is expensive, whilst the audience listening and engagement to facilitate proliferation is both time and labour intensive.

Merely buying paid placements within social media sites doesn’t constitute ‘earned’ proliferation though; it takes time and trust for the consumer to accept and engage with brands in this space. Social media is prefaced on an experience removed from overt marketing and commerciality. My definition of a brand is “the promise of a future action or experience that, when kept, creates preference in customers minds” (see my post on Brand Evolution). The brand is therefore the start of a relationship with the consumer. Never has this concept been more relevant and important than in the social space. Brand owners must focus on the quality as well as quantity of their brand engagements in order to ‘earn’ media through their relationships with the consumer which ultimately leads to preference, loyalty, endorsement and advocacy (The Marketing Hourglass).

There is also a potential pay-back to earned media that many brand owners neglect, in the use these interactions to inform and guide the future development of brand positioning, messaging and content creation for delivery through owned, paid and directly-influenced channels.

The true value of earned media is the delivery of the brand message to the end consumer in a form perceived to be outside of the influence of the brand owner. The objective of the Marketer is to remove the message as much as possible from the perception of influence, such that the recipient consumes the message in a form un-‘diluted’ by the commercial objectives of the owner. In this respect the message is seen as more ‘credible’ and, depending on the source, reliable.

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