One of the big things I’ve noticed over the past few years is brands becoming increasingly frustrated with the performance of their paid marketing channels, and wanting to give more attention to owned channels instead.
Because our team works pretty much exclusively on owned channel marketing, I thought it would be fun and useful to put together a free mini-series distilling what we view as the best ways to optimize in those spaces.
We’re going to look at things like:
WHAT IS AN “OWNED CHANNEL?”
This is usually defined as a platform that you own and control, including the frontend stuff that people see, and the backend pieces like contact info, databases, analytics, custom code, etc.
Think: your brand’s website, your email marketing, text/SMS marketing, your own e-learning platform, forum, or community, your brand’s mobile app (if you have one).
Now, you probably don’t own 100% of any of those channels. Maybe you use WordPress or Shopify for your website, Mailchimp or Klaviyo for email, or an online course platform for e-learning-so you don’t exactly own the platform. But, you essentially rent space on it each month, and-here’s the important part-you can leave when you choose, taking all of your content and audience with you to use elsewhere.
This is an important distinction.
IS SOCIAL MEDIA “OWNED?”
Some people consider organic social media (photos and videos you post to your feed but don’t pay to boost or advertise) part of owned channel marketing, because you create and own the content.
I generally disagree with that classification because you don’t have full control over what you post and who sees it. Various posts can be flagged and removed (with reason, or with no reason at all), and your reach can be seriously limited or fully stopped by unseen algorithms.
Plus, if you want to leave one social media platform and go to another, there is no way to export or collect all your followers and past content to use elsewhere. Sure, you can advertise the move and hope people follow along with you-but you can’t make it happen. In this way, you can become a sort of hostage to a given platform, which is the opposite of owning that channel as a brand.
WHAT ARE THE OTHER TYPES OF CHANNELS?
In marketing-speak, there are usually said to be 4 kinds of channels (sometimes called “media” instead):
- Owned Channels – We just covered these.
- Paid Channels/Paid Media – This includes things like paid social media ads, paid Google search placement, and other forms of paid advertising.
- Earned Media – When other people talk about your brand without you paying them to do so-think, leaving reviews online, word-of-mouth, or sharing social posts.
- Converged Media – A channel that combines two or more of the above types. Influencer marketing uses 2 + 3 – you pay someone to talk about your product.
EXPLORE THE FULL MINI-SERIES:
Learn the definition, examples, plus the 3 other channel types (paid, earned, converged).
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