An honest look at when earned media makes sense and when it doesn't
Earned media isn't a universal answer. The approach works well in specific situations and less well in others. This page is designed to help you assess whether it makes sense for your brand right now — including the situations where we'd suggest a different path.
Characteristics of brands that get good results from earned media work
Your organization has genuine knowledge about your industry that would be valuable to journalists covering that space. Your team members can speak credibly and specifically about what they know. There's authentic expertise behind the brand, not just a product.
Journalists are more likely to include brands with clear positioning, a coherent story, and a recognizable voice. A well-defined brand makes pitching significantly easier — editors can immediately understand why your perspective is relevant.
Earned media compounds over time
The best results come from sustained engagement — building journalist relationships, refining story angles based on what lands, and accumulating coverage across multiple publications over a year or more. Brands that approach this as a long-term channel consistently see different outcomes than those looking for a single campaign hit.
Honest about the situations where we'd suggest a different approach
If you need significant search visibility improvement within four to six weeks, earned media isn't the mechanism. Discovery, story development, pitching, and publication all take time. The first meaningful coverage typically takes eight to twelve weeks from campaign start.
A brand-new product with no track record, no data, and no established perspective is a harder pitch. That's not to say new brands can't earn coverage — founding stories can be compelling — but the lack of any evidence base makes story development more challenging.
Some highly specialized B2B categories have minimal journalist coverage and tiny trade publication ecosystems. In these situations, the publication pool for earned media is limited, which constrains both coverage volume and link diversity. We'll be honest about this during initial conversations.
Sectors where we have existing media landscape knowledge
We're not limited to these sectors, but they represent areas where we've developed working knowledge of the relevant media landscape. New categories require additional research during the discovery phase.
Tell us about your brand and what you're trying to achieve. We'll give you a direct answer about whether earned media makes sense for you right now.