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Marketing 5.0: Measuring Paid, Earned, Shared & Owned in the New Age of PR

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Visit PRSA 2015 International Conference sponsor iQ media in the Product & Exhibit Hall.*

Since I joined the iQ media team in 2013, I think a lot about convergence.

As a product developer, my work is typically measured in two ways: functionality of the product and its relevance to a targeted audience. Being a technology provider, my job is also (indirectly) measured by how well we can move, as a technology provider, at pace with a constantly transforming audience—with constantly transforming needs.

This cyclical relationship can be a little dizzying. It’s like trying to measure the speed of a car, while everything else around it is also moving.

In the case of iQ media, we saw our media intelligence technology starting to evolve alongside the convergence we were observing in the disciplines of marketing, communications and advertising. What was once a tool used to analyze TV content for public relations professionals became a relevant tool for a whole new universe of audiences.

This was a pretty direct result of convergence. The public relations discipline is becoming increasingly relevant to other disciplines. So, when we think about how to keep our technology relevant to PR, we know that it needs to be relevant to all of these other disciplines as well.

Traditionally, public relations has been measured in the quantity of other people’s content. How much coverage were we able to generate on a story? How many times has a major news network mentioned my brand? We measured in earned media, almost exclusively.

A lot gets lost when we measure that way. Traditional media intelligence isn’t able to see (or hear) the whole story. Public relations efforts affect paid, owned and shared media. This holds true in the reverse. Marketing (who often govern owned and shared) affect public relations. Therefore, your measurement strategy—and the tools you use to develop and analyze those metrics—have to be able to interpret all four content categories at once.

It’s time we admit that no channel, department or message will save us—or, divide us. These operational and organizational silos are what is deterring marketers from developing successful, integrated campaign strategies.

Contemporary marketing and public relations hinges on full-funnel, multi-channel mastery. That is to say, to remain relevant and successful in PR is to meet convergence head on by mastering the balance of paid, earned, shared and owned in your measurement strategies.

 


 

Kye StranceKye Strance will be speaking on the topic of convergence at this year’s PRSA. You can hear more during his session, Marketers 5.0: How Data is Converging Marketing, PR and Advertising, at 5:00-6:00p.m. Meet with iQ media’s President and COO during the session, and after for drinks in the Exhibit Hall.

 

 

* This is a sponsored post.

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2 Comments

  • Great perspective on the convergence of the marketing and communications disciplines, and how to achieve not just metrics in and of themselves; but to make a direct impact on business metrics such as net earnings (aka the ‘bottom line’).

  • I agree with your ending statement, “to remain relevant and successful in PR is to meet convergence head on by mastering the balance of paid, earned, shared and owned in your measurement strategies.” As a public relations and advertising student, I find so many connections between the classes.

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