Menu
The acronym POE refers to the different ways of generating branded content which has accelerated and rebalanced to the benefit of the consumer with the digital transformation.
The P refers to Paid media which is a medium for which the advertiser pays whatever its form, i.e. TV or radio spots, posters, newspaper inserts, SEA (Search Engine Advertising), Display, Videos, sponsoring, influencers paid by the media and directory listings, mailings, letterbox leaflets for non-media for example.
These are therefore promotional messages whose content is designed and controlled by the advertiser, who will also control the distribution of this content as well as the targets to be reached (or on the contrary to be revoked) and the frequency and repetition of the message. This is a push approach where content is pushed towards a consumer or groups of consumers in the hope of obtaining a result which may be either an increase in their awareness (Top of mind) or the evolution of their brand attributes (Brand Value or Brand Equity): This can be either an increase in brand awareness (Top of mind), or the evolution of brand attributes (Brand Value or Brand Equity: aided or spontaneous awareness, consideration, esteem, approval, purchase intention, recommendations), or a more business-like result such as the generation of traffic in a shop (Drive to stores), or on a website (Drive to web), or a concrete action (transaction, requests for information, registration, call, etc.. .).
Before the digital transformation, this was the most common way of communicating in media.
The O for Owned refers to all the points of contact and content produced by the brand and made available to the consumer (advertising brochures, website, Facebook page, Linkedin account, Twitter account, Imsnstagram account, points of sale, shops, point of sale advertising, blogs written by the brand, press releases, interviews) which presuppose a voluntary action on the part of the consumer in order to become aware of them. We are therefore in Pull mode and the content is controlled by the brand but the distribution and exposure are much less so since they depend on the consumer’s willingness to either go to the site or to the point of sale for example.
E for Earned covers all brand-related content that is not produced or controlled by the brand, and which with the digital transformation has become increasingly important and influences the Brand Equity or Brand Value of the brand. These include all comments about the brand on social networks, Twitter content in which the brand appears as @brand for example, and also consumer reviews on websites. We can classify influencers when they have not been remunerated by the brand (in any form whatsoever) as well as word of mouth (whether it takes place IRL “In Real Life” or OL “Online”) in the form of reviews, posts, publications of content of any kind citing the brand, whether positive or negative. There are also obviously all the press articles, works and books devoted to the brand, if any, and blogs devoted to it but whose content it does not control. This is free content for which the brand has not paid any money, but for which it does not control the content or distribution, and whose influence value can be considerable insofar as the public pays more attention to it, due to its greater supposed objectivity than content generated by the brand of the Paid or Owned type, which are perceived as being less objective.
Recent studies indicate that Earned represents for some brands between 15 and 30% of their visibility. The important point is that today, with the digital transformation, brands no longer control the type of content that will be proposed to Internet users when they do research on them before considering a purchase, for example, as happens in 90% of cases if we believe the recent convergent studies on the subject.
It is therefore becoming vital for brands to constantly monitor Earned content to ensure that it does not damage the brand and to sense weak signals to anticipate crises that may affect Brand Equity where possible.
This is where the monitoring of the brand’s E-reputation takes place on the one hand, and on the other hand all the community management activities intended to animate, when possible, communities of consumers who are interested in the brand and who are likely to produce content concerning it and which could have an impact on it. It is also wise to prepare escalation and crisis communication plans to anticipate crises affecting Brand Equity. The second part consists in being able to decide very quickly, when a crisis breaks out, on the possible crisis communication actions to be implemented to minimise the short and medium-term impact of the crisis. In view of the above, it is undeniable that good communication integrates as much as possible a solid strategy that takes into account all content relating to the brand, whether Paid, Owned or Earned.