Owned Media
- By Greg Allardice
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- 30 Jan, 2017
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Owned media. Why it is important
Why is Owned media important? Angus tells us why.
1. Is owned media more valuable than we think?
Angus
Invariably yes, we did our own study last year that showed 96% of marketers use their owned media for communication, but 9 out of 10 don’t know the value of their assists. So they're flying blind in terms of the value of their owned assets. Establishing an accurate value is important because it completely changes the way a business views their owned assets. The problem is, until recently, there has never been a way to measure your owned media asset value.
And when you think about your digital audiences, your store foot traffic, transport, customer databases, packaging… these are all owned assets that have incredible value and potential.
Plus, consider that 100% of growth will come through an owned channel.
2. How do I leverage my owned media?
Angus
Start by putting accurate value to your owned assets. You need to audit your assets and crystallise how they are being used in the context of paid and earned media.
To make best use of owned assets, a business must step back, look at how they are using owned in the context off all their communications and then develop a clear strategy and guidelines that put owned at the heart of communications. We call it inside out planning and essentially means you start with the people who are closest to your business (i.e. customers) rather than those furthest away (i.e. TV audiences).
Once a business is using their assets well for their own communications, they can explore more exciting ways to leverage their owned channels. Recognising the value of owned assets in supplier or partner negotiations is one way to leverage owned assets powerfully. Where it’s relevant and appropriate, a business can look to monetise their owned assets by creating an advertising channel that other relevant brands can utilise.
This must be done sensitively and with great care and consideration to your brands audiences, but it is possible. We’ve done it recently with George Weston Foods where we unlocked the power of their packaging. George Weston Foods have audiences similar to traditional media owners. We created a simple and highly targeted way for relevant brands to advertise on bread packs. We call it Bread Connect and it has a commercial potential of $8m per year. Owned assets like these are going under the radar and are prime examples to be tested and and utilised in a smart and sensitive way.
3. How do I stand out from the crowd with owned media?
Angus
Right now it’s really easy to stand out from the crowd because businesses in general have done so little with their owned asset leverage. Simply putting a value on your assets will have you ahead of the majority of businesses. Invest more time and energy into the experience a customer has at an owned asset, rather than the minutia of an advertising commercial. And once you know the value of your assets, orientate everything around them first before considering earned and then paid.
And if you really want to shake-up your category then start thinking of yourself as a media owner. Create solutions for other brands and you will unlock highly profitable revenue streams. We’re seeing a big focus on the commercial side of marketing in the USA right now and I think it will filter down to Australia very soon. CEO’s and boards will be putting more and more pressure on the marketing function to demonstrate new revenue streams and owned is a highly profitable one.
The secret code if you’re going to do this is to improve the customer experience through the creation of an advertising channel, create an effective marketing channel for another brand and generate highly profitable revenue streams. The thing is, you can’t have 2 out of 3. You need 3 out of 3 to be sustainable.
4. How much should I invest in owned media ?
Angus
Most businesses don’t really need to invest much more. It’s not about spending more, it’s about capitalising what you already have. In these early days progressive marketers are spending 20-30% of their budgets in owned media. It’s about recognising the customer experience you create through owned media assets and ensuring that it is congruent with the advertising promise which minimises the expectation gap that can occur when an experience doesn't match the advertising… what a brand advertises itself as and the interaction with the brand. It’s not about changing your advertising. It’s the focus you put on your own assets. Orient your owned channels first before paid advertising.
Get your house in order, before customers come to your owned media.
The more you spend in advertising, the more you need to orientate yourself to owned channels first, otherwise advertising becomes a wasted investment. The IPA in the UK recently did an analysis of their recent effectiveness awards submissions and found that there was a 13% increase in effectiveness when owned channels were strategically planned with paid and earned channels.
To find out more about Owned Media contact Angus Frazer at Sonder Communications. Email angus@sondercommunications.com.au
If your Media Policy, Media Strategy, Media Planning and Media Buying are in need of an overhaul, Media Futures recommends you contact an independent media specialist.
Hopefully the audience will remember your message or have a call to action where you can sell your products or create a change in perceptions.
Media Licensing on the other hand is an investment into a theme or device in which you have a vested interest. It maybe a song, a musical work, a character, an intellectual property or linked to another brand name that fits with your company brand or service.
As such you are renting or licensing something of substance that becomes an asset over the term of the licence without having to go through the process of creating it yourself. All the hard work has been done, you simply hitch your wagon to the licensed device and grow your presence through the goodwill that comes with it.
Media and Licensing are often overlooked in a desire to spend time in the creative process of making your own theming.
Licensing when done properly and well matched cuts down on wasted time and allows you to prosper through the imagery and persona already in place.
To find out more about media and licensing contact Media Futures
Website mediafutures.com.au
This pattern has persisted for decades. Possibly because business owners think that people dont spend money or that for some reason people stop using media.
In an age where media usage is portable and the mobile phone is the dominant medium it makes sense to be flexible in your media strategies and take advantage of an audience on the move but still seeking information and content
And yes believe it or not they have money to spend.
Whilst most media usage is focussed around selling your stuff, this more relaxed time of year is when consumer plan for the future and where their next investment or activity is to happen.
Hence content creation and storytelling about who you are, your products and services on offer are valuable.
Consider presenting them in a non retail format that can inform and allow your target market to make informed decisions.
Media does not sleep over the summer period. Make it work for you.
To find out more contact Media Futures
Website mediafutures.com.au
Through building layers of media you build frequency of message that ultimately has an impact which translates into a positive result for your company brand or service.
Like the layers of bark on a tree, media also changes through seasons providing renewal and regrowth.
Consider the number of mediums you choose, how they are rotated, how the time of day messaging works and the duplication or over exposure leading wastage of your budget.
Media layers have proven to be effective over decades of planning and buying.
To find out more contact Media Futures
Website mediafutures.com.au
Every hour new mediums come online or are created through traditional bricks and mortar media owners.
This may seem very exciting and you believe a new untapped audience awaits.
The fact is its the same old audience being fragmented into ever smaller parcels of media.
What is the impact on your business of Media Overload and how do you combat the ever increasing wall of clutter.
The impact is not good. It means you have to spend more for less.
There are 3 clear options.
1. Exit the media business all together
2. Concentrate on smaller niche audiences
3. Spread your budget thinly across multiples of mediums to reach the maximum number of potentials.
Making the right decision depends on many intricate decisions on how you want to structure your business.
Making the wrong choice will set you back by months and regaining lost ground costs even more.
To find out about Media Overload, contact Media Futures
Website mediafutures.com.au
Wednesday 30 October 2019
Credit to CEBIT 2019 for arranging this interview
Here's what Stephen had to say.
Q 1. Has social media peaked? Is there too much of it?
I don’t think social media has peaked.There are still a lot of people in the world who don’t have the internet. In many ways social media is useful like electricity and water. Facebook has 2 .6 billion users and there are 7 billion people on the earth so in that sense there is a long way to go. Social media absorbs our attention and has AI to support it.
Anything of too much can be bad and there are limits and there are limits and how it interfaces with your psychology and emotions.Some of that is not understood and we are starting to understand it.
It can be disconnecting and alarming, like the telephone, how can you talk on that contraption for so long and you cant see them. Humans are adaptable.
Is there too much social media..... I don’t think so, but we need the right kind and right quality of social media.
Q 2. With the recent investigations into social companies, has the integrity of the social sector been damaged?
It depends on your perspective as a user, as a social scientist or an advertiser or government.
They all have slightly different perceptions. We have left the age when social media was universally good.
Thats behind us. There is good and bad in the internet and social media.We tend not to understand the bad things and if we do not understand them then we don’t know how to put in mitigations.
I urge companies like Google and Facebook to open up their platforms and ask the experts to come in and ask what good and bad effect is this having on individuals, societies, politics, how opinions get formed. Some are easy to identify and can be removed but it’s the subtle effects those are the ones we need to understand more deeply.
Q 3. How can SME make money from social media if a bidding system exists?
Facebook is pretty good as a platform and they and others have built tools to reach audiences. Before the internet if you were a coffee shop as an example you could not afford to run TV advts or radio advts or place newspaper advts, the audiences were too big and the advts too expensive.
Social media is built for the long tail of small business that traditional media could not build for.
The fact it is a bidding system should not make any difference as its a sustainable business and if a level is not found then prices come down. There is tension in an auction and small business should not be at a disadvantage to big business.
Q 4. How far can social media go? What are its limits?
The key insight from social media is that it taps into a human desire, to be connected to other people and it uses technology to do that.
There is a lot more energy left in social, we have not seen the end of it.
There are 2.5 billion smart phones now,10 years ago there were none. Theres a long way to go.
Its based on what people want to know. Whats going on in my world.The things that are disruptive and exciting are the advancement of data privacy and and consumers will have more control. The things to watch for the future is virtual technology like VR I phones. As an example if my friend is in Bali I can go surfing on VR with that friend.
Copyright Media Futures
Media Futures interviewed Stephen Sheeler at Cebit 2019
Darling Harbour Sydney October 2019
Website mediafutures.com.au
AI is basically having pre set computer models make your decisions, which means that the data input needs to be done by a human and the computer model is only as good what the human inputs.
AI may be the latest thing however there is one ingredient missing the human interaction between buyer and seller of media space and time. This element has always been the backbone of media relationships and AI needs to be rethought before assuming it will work work for you.
If you are concerned about AI and the long term effects it might have on your business then contact Media Futures
Website medifutures.com.au
The fact remains that media is simply a combination of mediums that delivers an audience. This audience either reacts favourably to your messages or through the sheer volume of messages the audience simply cannot remember your company brand or service.
Media is wrongly perceived as a way to make money.
That silly phrase " monetise" from the media is just another buzz word from those who talk up investing in media with no responsibility on delivering new dollars nor bringing in new paying customers.
In an age where media is now dominated by online and social its too easy to believe that these relatively new mediums can actually bring in new customers and make money. The fact is most of it does not work and you are simply shifting your dollars from traditional into online and social.
Shifting media dollars into the latest hot media in the hope of a return is a waste of time. This is why media does not work and the loser is you.
If you do seek a better way to invest into the media and get results, contact Media Futures.
Website mediafutures.com.au
Where does this lead?
Down the path to nowhere. No presence, no new customers and no sales.
So the recessionary vicious cycle takes over every thing grinds to a halt.
However those clever business owners who use recessionary media wisely can spend the right amount without going broke and continue to dominate their sector of operation.
How do you find such mediums and use them wisely? The answers and solutions are not in text books or self help blogs or social media.
The solution comes comes from sitting down with an independent media specialist who has endured multiples of recessions, has come out he other side intact and knows how to make the most of whats on offer during these boring recessionary days.
To find out more contact Media Futures
Website mediafutures.com.au
Apart from a few media companies and agencies that have recession proofed themselves, Australia is seeing daily reports of staff sackings, cost cutting, falling profits and rationalisation.
Has this happened before, yes it has. Will it happen again, yes it will.
As an advertiser what does this fragile media climate mean to you.
It means get right into the market and establish a dominant presence whilst most companies are looking to deal keen deals to gain access to your bank account. What you dont want to do is rush the market and buy volumes of media rubbish and become part of the mindless advertising clutter.
To find out how to maximise your exposure in a media recession contact Media Futures
Website mediafutures.com.au
The media business has morphed into one big blob of communications where there is little or no distinction between media ownerships or between mediums. They all look and sound the same.
What has made this happen?
Simply the convergence of traditional media with the internet and social media.
The single medium is a thing of the past and now any one medium has its 2nd, 3rd, 4th generations in another form.
Media is at the cross roads which poses the question, what medium is right for you and how much do you need to invest to effectively reach your audience.
There is no simple answer as it requires a media specialist to unravel the tangled web of offerings and make sense of what fits best for your business.
Dont follow the pack on what they do, or assume what you did last year will work again this year.
Contact an independent media specialist with no vested interests and dig deeper for the truth.
Website mediafutures.com.au