It’s easy to see the appeal of paid media. You pay a set amount, and in return you get a product: an article, a podcast episode, or a banner ad. You can directly see the return on investment – you’ll get a report on how many views it got, and how many people clicked through to your website. If you liked the result, you can then replicate it by purchasing another sponsored package. It’s predictable and controllable.
PR, on the other hand, is often the opposite. Earned media is not as easy to control. It’s significantly harder to secure. You can’t dictate the journalist’s timelines. You can’t even control whether your quote will be used in the final version.
People often make the mistake of expecting earned media to behave like paid media, and it doesn’t. But in many ways, that’s why it’s even more valuable.
At the very basic level, paid media is where you pay for your institution to be featured in a piece of content, whereas PR is coverage you earn through relevance, expertise and storytelling.
Both can have similar results, but the real difference is in who controls the narrative. With paid, the client (you) will control what is in the article and how your institution is mentioned. With earned media, you do not get that luxury – the control shifts to the journalist. You can provide insight or a story idea and they decide what makes it into the final piece, how it’s framed, and when it runs.
This lack of control can feel uncomfortable for some institutions, particularly as nothing is guaranteed. However, the longer-term payoff will likely be significantly higher.
If you’re trying to decide between investing in PR or sponsored content to boost your brand’s reputation, you must first define what your goal is. If you’re looking for an article in a magazine, the paid route is a guaranteed way to get it. But if you’re looking for coverage that will be a trusted source, read by the largest number of people possible, you might be better off going down the earned media route.
It’s true that with earned media, you can’t monitor what a journalist will write, but the benefit of this is that it will make the article more trusted by its audience. Sponsored content must be flagged as paid, which will automatically make it less trusted by readers.
There’s also a multiplier effect. A strong piece of earned coverage can be picked up by other outlets, shared organically on social media, referenced in future articles, and gain long-term visibility for your experts. Paid media rarely performs in the same way.
Another, often overlooked, benefit of earned media over paid media is that it gives the people in your organisation the option to comment on breaking news stories. Unlike sponsored content, which can take planning and time to come out, earned media lets your institution comment on the latest trending topic. And when it comes to gaining publicity for your institution, a timely, interesting quote in a trending article will almost always outperform months of paid opportunities.
One of the biggest mistakes organisations make when looking at PR is trying to measure it like performance marketing. The reality is that you won’t always immediately see the results. Compared to paid media, it’s harder to measure the articles’ reach, the ROI per piece and the clicks it drove to your website.
Yet, PR is a longer-term way to build your reputation. It’s about regularly featuring in relevant publications that reach your target audience, becoming an expert voice on a certain topic, building recognition amongst journalists, and overall shaping how your institution is perceived.
If your institution wants to become known as the go to hub for AI expertise, for example, you’re not going to get there with a few sponsored articles in a well-known magazine. The only way to achieve this recognition is by consistent, ongoing PR output. After all, the more consistently you show up, the more credibility you build.
The reality is that PR and paid media serve different purposes. Where paid media gives you control and certainty, PR gives you credibility and influence, and often a larger reach.
Today, more than ever, audiences are increasingly sceptical of what they read. They know when something has been paid for. They trust independent journalism more than branded content.
When your institution is featured in an article because a journalist chose your comment, or liked something you said in an interview, this carries a lot more weight than a paid piece of content, and it’s a lot more persuasive. After all, trust is something you cannot buy; it must be earned.
If you’re interested in hearing more about how PR can build your institution’s long-term reputation, please contact us at BlueSky Education.
Chloë was previously Content Editor for QS Top Universities and QS Top MBA, Chloë produced over 400 articles during her four years at the world’s largest international higher education network. With additional experience writing for trade media, she is also formally qualified with a Level 5 Diploma in Journalism from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ).