9 minute read
The Inside Scoop: How to Capture Earned Media While Riding a Wave
How to Capture Earned Media While Riding a Wave
By Javier Lozano Jr
Earned media is one of the most challenging forms of marketing there is because it’s mostly out of your control. Paid media – pretty easy. Find a channel (Facebook if you’re a wrap shop), narrow your audience, create an ad that will make people stop scrolling, put some money against it, and you’re off to the races.
The goal is simple. Generate revenue.
However, earned media is a different animal. It’s a brand play. It’s your “reputation” – what people think of you/your company.
When you run a branding campaign, you won’t see an immediate impact on revenue. But, if you play your cards right, a branding campaign can outperform your paid media campaign.
Let me explain.
Earned media is when someone else uses their platform to write a story about you or your company. Traditionally, earned media has always been news stations, newspapers, print publications, radio, etc. The mainstream outlets.
Today, earned media has expanded beyond the normal outlets. Influencers, industry blogs, podcasts, YouTube channels, private groups, and digital publications (such as The Wrap Fam) have played a vital role in the growth
of earned media. The opportunity to capture earned media is there. But, how do you get it?
I’ve created a framework over the years that has tipped the scales in my favor in getting earned media. I’ve been featured on the news (both live and recorded) 3 times, in newspapers 4 times, got a website to go viral, and more.
My latest earned media was riding the wave of Deion ‘Coach Prime’ Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes.
The Backstory
If you’re a college sports fan, you know Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes football team are shattering viewership, ratings, and more.
Plus, I’m a University of Colorado alum. When Coach Prime got hired in December 2022 — I told my wife that I wanted to wrap my truck because I believed he would transform this team.
Fast forward to September 2nd, 2023. They beat TCU on the road. Next weekend, they beat their nemesis, Nebraska at home. The following weekend, they beat in-state rival Colorado State. The game ended at 2:30am and had nearly 10 million viewers watching. This is unheard of during the regular season. Especially for the Colorado Buffaloes. They’ve been the laughingstock of college football for the better half of 2 decades.
A movement was happening in college sports, and Colorado was the center of it.
And since Wrapmate is based in Denver. I’m a CU alum. The stars were aligning.
Finding a Wave to Ride
Marketing is both science and art. I would argue it’s 90% science and 10% art. However, that 10% art can make up 90% of your reputation.
In order to get earned media, you need to find a wave to ride. But, you need to find it early. It’s literally trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Have a pulse on local news, national news, industry news, and news that may ‘border’ your industry. Think automobiles.
You know how Tesla Cybertruck all come in the color of your dishwasher (stainless steel)??? Yea, well, we got Wrapmate to go viral by riding this wave in June 2023. Nearly 1 million website visits in 36 hours. Insanity.
So, finding the right wave is important.
How It Started
My team and I decided to wrap my 2019 Ford F250 with a Coach Prime and Colorado Football-inspired design. I asked our head designer to take on this project. This was an opportunity for our team to “flex” their design muscles.
The goal was to turn heads. Get attention. And use it as a doorway to get earned media.
It didn’t stop with my truck wrap, though. We decided to wrap 25 cars to drive around Boulder and SWARM home games. We leveraged Wrapify and its powerful technology to execute this campaign.
Wrapify is a top player in the Out Of Home Advertising (OOH) space. They typically work with Fortune companies and
businesses looking to increase their brand awareness within certain markets.
Wrapmate’s marketing strategy has always been direct response. For every dollar spent, we can calculate the ROI.
The 25 wrapped cars would have 1 of 3 Coach Prime-inspired quotes: 1) “We Keep Receipts”, 2) “We Believe In Coach Prime”, and 3) “We Ain’t Hard To Find.”
The Goal of this Campaign
The ultimate goal of our Coach Prime campaign was to capture earned media. Not just traditional earned media. But, CU players and Coach Prime himself.
In addition, we believed this campaign would also grow our Instagram followers. And, strike attention from ESPN and Fox Sports.
This was a 100% branding campaign. I believe that the earned media gained today will pay off 3, 6, and 12 months from now Not to mention the gained reputation.
Earned Media Framework: Research
This is possibly the most important part of the framework, yet the least amount of time here is spent here. You’ll need to spend about a full day building a list of local TV stations, newspapers, radio stations, podcasts, influencers, blogs, publications, etc. Your list should include information on where to submit your news tips or the main contact(s). Sometimes, you can find it on the ‘Contact Us’ page, while other times it’s buried somewhere on the website.
As for influencers and thought leaders, you’ll need to find what platforms they tend to congregate on. Then, find ways to enter their world. Commenting on their posts, sending them a DM, or asking friends to create a connection. However, creative approaches tend to be more successful.
Pseudo Press Release
I decided not to write an official press release, but rather a blog post that explained what Wrapmate was doing. This allowed us to control the narrative and document the journey in real-time. Pics of my truck wrap, SWARMs in Boulder, etc – all posted as content was created.
Contest
We decided to make this a User-Generated Content (UGC) contest. Each of the 25 wrapped cars had a QR code. Scanning it took them to the contest rules page. They were simple.
1) Take a picture of a wrapped car in the ‘wild.’
2) post it on Instagram.
3) tag Wrapmate and 3 friends
4) use the hashtag #WrapamteBelieves. This would then enter folks into winning 2 tickets to the home game finale. This contest gave our media outlets yet another reason to do a story on us.
The Inside Scoop
Outreach
I wrote an email, then had Chat GPT re-write the email. I then took my list of media contacts and simply copied and pasted messages. Some messages were more personalized, while others were boilerplate. This took about half a day.
Asking Your Connections
Think of the connections you’ve made over the years. See who they know and if they can create an introduction. Remember, your goal is to get coverage, so make the ask.
My neighbor is a co-host for a show on Fox21 News. He put me in touch with their sports anchor who was covering Coach Prime this season. The timing was just perfect. But, it started with the ask. They were the 1st news station to pick up the campaign.
The Waiting Game
Don’t be surprised if you mostly hear nothing. These outlets get pitched dozens of stories per day. And, you may need to resend the pitch a few times. Literally, it’s all about timing.
Because the Coach Prime movement was so hot, I got a few emails and phone calls expressing interest. It’s a process.
Interviews
We landed 2 local news station interviews, Fox21 News and Denver7 News. Plus, a couple of industry publications (including The Wrap Fam). Each media outlet had its angle they wanted to highlight and feature. But, because I did all of the legwork prior to creating our pseudo press release, it was easy for them to pick a storyline.
I shouldn’t have to say this, but if you get interviewed on TV, make your shop look perfect. Let your team know so they can be part of the opportunity. Set expectations internally. And, make sure to be yourself. That’s what got you here in the first place.
Documenting the Process
We documented the entire process on social media. To the point where my audience was commenting on how much they were enjoying how this was unfolding. That’s to goal. Bring your people on this ride.
In addition, we crafted posts for different social media platforms. Each post pushed folks to our contest rules page. To get further reach, we tagged appropriate handles, and used specific hashtags.
We even put some money into running boosted reels because those seemed to favor the algorithms.
We were posting multiple times per week. Relentlessly.
Retargeting Ads
Wrapify has some slick technology that allows us to retarget people who are within 50 feet of the cars. We ran retargeting ads, pushing the traffic to the contest rules page.
This also helped us build a new audience of prospective buyers. Boulder has seen an insurrection of economic growth immediately during all home games due to Coach Prime’s ability to market. The town was packed with Buffaloes fans, alums, boosters, recruits, businesses, and more.
Wins and Losses
Two news stations featured our company.
1) Fox 31 News on their late-night segment
and Denver 7 News ‘In Good Company’ where they highlight local Denver businesses. Plus, each of these interviews live on their website. This continues to build credibility and trust as we grow our company’s brand.
Not to mention the industry publications we’ve received.
All this gives us new content to share on social media, our email list, our website, and other channels.
However, not everything went perfectly. We wanted to be noticed by Coach Prime, the Sanders family, Buff athletes, and national media such as ESPN and Fox Sports. Plus our UGC campaign, though clever, didn’t create as much traction as we would have hoped.
Was It Worth It?
In short, yes. I probably spent about 3 weeks launching and managing this campaign. But, the amount of earned media we created is worth its weight in gold. An earned media strategy is 100% branding. But when executed correctly, your reputation will grow immensely because of the compounding effect.
