Media relations can be a powerful tool for B2B brands. But there can be uncertainty about the role that ‘earned media’ plays as part of the wider reputation building and marketing mix, and sometimes nervousness about how and when to engage with the press.   The difference between paid, owned and earned media  The fundamental difference between earned media and other forms of content and communications is control.   Owned media channels – a company’s website or newsletter for instance - provide total control over what is published and promoted; paid media – like advertising or advertorial - offers a high degree of control subject to publisher requirements and budget; but earned media means relinquishing control to the media agenda, and to the relevant journalist, editor and / or publisher.   Media coverage is earned if the story in question is considered newsworthy and relevant for the publisher’s audience – without any monetary incentive passing between the brand and the publisher.  For brands and business leaders, earned media therefore means finding the ‘sweet spot’: where the interests of the brand and the interests of the publisher - and by extension its audience - overlap.   Identifying and pursuing these opportunities is where effective PR strategy and tactical engagement are vital.   What value does earned media coverage provide?  At a time when trust in the press is flatlining, ‘legacy’ media is under new commercial pressures as advertising moves elsewhere and a new relationship paradigm with technology companies and LLMs emerges, some may debate the continued relevance of earned media engagement. But there remains huge value in strategic engagement with the press.   Earned media tactics help brands meet and engage with stakeholders and target audiences in environments where they already spend time and have interest, helping to demonstrate empathy, understanding and relevance.   Above all, earned media coverage is about credibility.   Audiences understand that the story has been covered, or the content published, on its own merits and on the basis that it has the editor’s independent ‘stamp of approval’. They also understand that the brand or the spokesperson has been ‘held to account’ by editorial process and standards. Overt self-promotion will not cut it.   This third-party validation of a brand, or its expertise, is a highly valuable reputational building block.  It also gets to the heart of the difference between marketing and PR. Marketing is often what a brand says about itself on its own terms, while PR is about shaping the brand’s relationships with and reputation among stakeholders, and influencing what they think and feel about it.  Companies inherently understand this when crises or other events posing reputational risk occur.   Earned media continues to play an important role in shaping stakeholder perception and effective media handling strategy is a vital part of defending reputation – including tackling misinformation. Equally, this same power of influence can be harnessed to support reputation building in the ‘good times’.   What makes news?  With all this in mind, to effectively engage with the media brands need to consider what really makes news.   Some brands may be newsworthy in and of themselves – because of their ubiquity in a particular market segment, the public interest in their performance (e.g. listed businesses) or their role in shaping public policy (trade bodies etc.).   Other brands may require other creative PR tactics to make themselves more newsworthy, or may need to move nimbly to position themselves as contributors to or sources for a story which journalists are already covering (“news hijacking”).    Regardless of the strategy, there are certain factors which will always make media more likely to cover a story.   A seminal study originally published in 1965 (Galtung and Ruge) introduced the taxonomy of news values, which were subsequently updated in 2001 and again in 2015 (Harcup & O’Neill).  This details the 15 potential requirements a news story has – ranging from its potential for shareability online to the magnitude of its public impact.  These are general rules, applying equally to B2B stories as well as to B2C, political, and other news.   News value taxonomy  


















































Tony Harcup & Deirdre O’Neill (2017) What is News?, Journalism Studies, 18:12, 1470-1488, DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2016.1150193

B2B earned media takeaways  

1. Earned media cannot be (overtly) self-promotional.  
   Company and product news – including via press releases - is an important part of the PR toolkit for B2B brands, but media coverage depends on genuine newsworthiness. Generally speaking, stories that reveal a new issue or trend, and / or provide new practical solution to widely felt challenges – evidencing relevance and impact with real world data – are more likely to cut through. 
    
2. Coverage is never a guarantee.  
   News moves on, new issues emerge. In contrast to a paid placement, the editor retains the ultimate discretion over what to publish and when.
    
3. Turn losing control to your advantage.  
   Today’s fractured media environment means that everyone and anyone can be a commentator. Brand reputations are susceptible to negative reviews, social media comments and forum conversations (public and private). But journalistic media has always been this way. Effective earned media strategy creates reputation advantage for brands both through leveraging editorial credibility and, in risk scenarios, by demonstrating situational control, trust, understanding, accountability and transparency. 
    
4. Find the sweet spot.  
   Think of your media engagement strategy as a Venn diagram. Where there is overlap between your interests as a company, the agenda of your target media, and the interests of your intended audience is where the most opportunity is likely to be found. 
    
5. Maximize impact.  
   Artificial Intelligence and ‘GEO’ has ratcheted up the importance of earned media profile. Tools such as ChatGPT heavily rely on journalistic publishers as source material, increasing the potential impact of coverage. At the same time, earned media profile can be pursued and deployed to support wider reputation building and commercial objectives – ranging from lead gen to long term value creation.