Earned Media - What You NEED to Know

Why are you doing podcast guesting?
The right answer should be because it is the easiest form of "Earned Media" that you can be getting for the exposure and PR your business needs.

When you understand what earned media is, how powerful it is and how to get it and use it appropriately - that is when your game changes.   Listen in to hear where most people go wrong with podcast guesting and earned media - and how you can do it right!

💥 Want to use podcast guesting, TV appearances, PR, stage speaking, press releases and more EARNED MEDIA to take your business and positioning to a whole other level??

💥 Register for the BREAK THROUGH with MEDIA SUMMIT happening June 14-16 with 20 media and industry experts giving you all the info you need to get started NOW!

If you found this episode useful, we'd love it if you could drop us a review on Apple podcasts or iTunes.

👉🏼 Find us over at The Of Course Podcast Guesting website for more resources.

To get you started -
𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞  5-step guide to Strategic Podcast Guest Appearances

💥 If you've got any questions or comments, well, you can drop us a voice message via this SpeakPipe link for leaving a voice mail and we'll answer it for you.  Who knows - it might end up as a topic of a future episode!

Transcript

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What if I showed you a process to consistently get high value content that showcases you and your business? Get it created for you with almost no work on your part? And then have it featured on your behalf on media platforms, where people actually come expressly to find content and solutions, just like yours. And you get all that for free? That's what strategic podcast guesting will do for you. And that's what the podcast guesting for business growth podcast is all about. I'm your host September Smith. And in today's episode, I want to talk about something that I've seen a lot when I'm talking to business groups or podcast curious individuals about the whole prospect of podcast guesting, versus being a podcast host. The word has been out for a couple of years now that podcasts are an amazing marketing tool, and they truly are. But one of the common misperceptions or maybe it's just not quite a full understanding of the genre and the power of both roles. One of the things I encounter when I'm talking to people about the advantage of doing podcast guesting for their business, is that somehow they think guesting is just a beginner version of podcast hosting, like podcast hosting, but with training wheels on. Almost invariably, someone will ask, How many times do I have to do podcast guesting before I can start my own podcast. Their take seems to be that the podcast guest is like being a kid strapped into the passenger seat just along for the ride. While hosting is graduating to the more adult role of driving the car. Like somehow hosting is more advanced, more authoritative, what they're missing. And if we continue with the two people in a car scenario is that actually, that podcast guest is in fact being driven. But it's more akin to say a VIP being chauffeured by a driver. Sure, it may be the drivers car to steer. But that prestigious position is being ensconced in the back seat catered to and being referred to by the driver with the ultimate destination of the conversation being dictated by the guest. Or that's how it should be if you've chosen the right shows to pitch. guesting is the status position. And isn't that what your marketing efforts are all about positioning you that way? The prestigious positioning that being a guest offers is that of thought leadership. And being seen as a thought leader in your field is one of the most desirable outcomes of any of your marketing or PR activities is what you're striving for with every piece of content you put out, or have put out on your behalf. One of the hallmarks of being a thought leader, aside from actually having expertise, credibility, and original insight in a given area is being recognized by your peers and other credible third parties as someone to be listened to someone whose opinion is of value and should be heated. That is an important part of the whole thought leader role. So being presented as the guest expert, the person whose views and opinions are being solicited by the host, on behalf of the audience automatically gives you thought leader positioning, the host is signaling to their audience. Listen up, this person has valuable information and knowledge, and we are sharing it with you for free. It is virtually impossible for you to achieve that level of inferred trust and authority by creating your own solo content of whatever format podcasts or otherwise, just by giving your unsolicited opinions. Psychological research has shown that for an audience encountering a new speaker, there is an almost universal subconscious sequence of questions, they immediately cycle through one. What is this about? To? Why should I care? What meaning does it have for me? And then three? Who actually is this person? And do they even have the authority to be talking about this? When you're speaking solo UNendorsed on introduced or invited by someone giving you that platform to speak, you are fighting all three of those very critical listener or viewer filters. And in most cases, you just have seconds to pass all three of them. However, being the invited guest, being interviewed by a host that already has the trust of your audience automatically eliminates question number three right off the bat. Yes, they have the authority to speak on this topic. The host has already told me that and the other two questions. What is this and what's in it for me? Why should I listen? They've already been at least slightly allayed by the trust the audience has in the host. This host always brings me great content. So I'm He's going to sit back and listen and give this time for the meaning and the value to unfold for me a very different scenario from the solo content creator to the guest appearance. The psychological advantage of having your opinion, your thought leadership solicited is immense. And that is just one of the advantages of what is called earned media. And that is a huge differentiation that you really need to be conscious of earned media versus owned media. So, earned media is when other people publish content about you, you're being featured in their content, and they are telling their audience about you. They are also doing the work of producing the content spotlighting you. And they absorb the cost of production, and the promotion of it, the promotion of you to their audience. And let me emphasize, this is free for you. That's earned media. owned media, on the other hand, is when you or your team have produced the content yourself, you have paid in time and in money to have it produced, you are solely responsible for promoting it. And you are constantly having to establish your credibility with every piece of content. Both earned and owned media are important parts of a brand's marketing. But the more earned media you can get the better. It is not a coincidence that the nickname of earned media is publicity. And you know the old adage there's no such thing as bad publicity. Well, the bad hyperbolic, of course, it was just ask Will Smith. But that statement, no such thing as bad publicity is a testament to the incredible firepower of publicity. Having other people talking about you featuring you spotlighting your brand your words, your thought leadership to their audience, audiences that you never would have reached otherwise. People talking about other people, word of mouth. It's the oldest and to this day, the strongest trust and belief builder. Just consider the phrase we heard so much for a certain four year period. A lot of people are saying very small psychological trick, but it's ways mines, opinions and hurts. Whether it's true or not. Ultimately, it's the perception of truth of value of worth that matters. And that is what earn media is all about. And that's why you want to be getting it. Your earned media appearances, whether it's in my particular focus of podcast guesting or others, like guest appearances or features and magazines, TV, radio, or even being invited to speak to share your thought leadership, your unique and valuable assessment of a situation needs to become a bigger part of your promotional content. And your best strategy is to figure out the media mix that will work synergistically and most effectively for you. And that combination of earned media offers the widest audience, and the biggest bang for the lease box, and least effort on your part. Unless your business is all about content creation, you want to minimize the amount of marketing content that you need to create and sync that time and money back into your business and direct revenue generating activity. And rely more on becoming the feature of other people's content to generate awareness audience and leads for you. Podcasts guesting and other media, persuasively positions you like the thought leader that your people are looking for. One of the biggest mistakes made by people new to using earned media for promoting and marketing their business is the assumption that just getting that interview that feature or even an opportunity to get on someone else's stage in front of their audience, is that it's not their job to then wring all the possible value out of that are in media. And in many cases, people get amazing interviews, they get amazing features, and they do nothing with it. I have tried to understand that a lot of podcasters trying to understand that why would someone walk away from an amazing feature spotlight interview, have them, do nothing with it and tell no one about it. My guess is perhaps they're looking at the example of celebrities who get amazing are in media, but are never seen to overtly re promoting the media that they got. That is an illusion, like a swan gliding gracefully across the water. What you don't see under the surface is powerful churning legs, pushing the whole thing forward. That celebrity has their PR team or their publicist working the hell out of each appearance, leveraging it for every drop of value that they can bring out of that thing. You probably don't have a PR team. So it's down to you you'd be making everything you can out of your earned media, posting cross posting, sharing, doing lives about it, even press releases about it. When you do that, the difference is overwhelming between people who work to leverage their podcast appearances, versus those who do nothing to tell the world about the amazing episode out there starring them and their expertise. In my personal experience, the people who promote their own episodes, get four to 10 times more downloads. So you could easily be losing hundreds, even 1000s of new people catching your earn media, just by the mistaken idea that you don't need to leverage it. It's kind of like earning a big sum of money. And then just taking 10% and leaving the other 90% of the money behind unused, get wise, you earned it. Use that earned media for all it's worth. Because I so believe in the value of earned media of whatever format or mix of formats. We are running a three day virtual summit in June all about earned media, what the opportunities are, and how you can take advantage of them with 20 experts from various areas of specialization, all focused around using earned media to strongly level up your brand, your business and your revenue. All under one virtual roof to demystify this very valuable secret in plain sight of getting media and stage exposure earned media. That breakthrough with Media Summit is free and you won't want to miss it. Catch the link down in the notes and get on our waiting list because once registration opens, you're going to want to grab your seat. Earned Media make sure you get your share