How fluent are you in paid media? The vocabulary that was once exclusive to the advertising industry has become required learning for today's top PR professionals. This quick guide defines key paid media terms and explains why they matter to all communicators.

1. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIATHE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
© 2014 ACCESS COMMUNICATIONS

2. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
INTRODUCTION
Despite the massive explosion of media over the past decade consumers
continue to trust authentic opinions and recommendations. According
to Nielsen, 84 percent of consumers worldwide say they trust earned
media, including word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends
and family, over all other forms of advertising. What’s more — when
it comes to consumer action, 70 percent trust consumer opinions
posted online.

3. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
THE NOT SO
GOOD NEWS?
Business Insider’s Jillian D’Onfro summed it up perfectly when she wrote,
“Headlines don’t last long.” There is so much content being generated
on a daily basis that a single earned media placement no longer has the
same impact it once did. Savvy public relations professionals recognize
they need to leverage paid media — once strictly the domain of those
in the advertising world — in order to guarantee their earned media is
seen by the target audience beyond organic reach.
Paid media terminology may sound like a foreign language to those
without an advertising background, so we’ll review a framework for
integrated media engagement, break down several key paid media
phrases and explain why they matter to communications professionals
across disciplines.

4. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
++ PAID
Content that brands pay to have placed on
various channels in order to get in front of
target audiences. Examples: television spots,
banner ads, social ads, sponsorships, etc.
++ EARNED
Online or print coverage garnered when
brands work with traditional and digital
media to secure placements about their
company or products without compensation.
++ SHARED
Content produced by or about a brand that is
then shared by consumers with their personal
audiences. Examples: Re-Tweets, Facebook
shares, Re-Pins, etc.
++ OWNED
Channels owned, controlled and maintained
entirely by brands themselves that are used to
distribute content. Examples: company website,
corporate blog, newsletter, YouTube channel, etc.
Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned (PESO)
Media disciplines that have traditionally operated in silos must be tightly integrated in order
to reach today’s consumer in a meaningful way. The paid, earned, shared and owned
(PESO) framework is a powerful tool that can help guide the planning process for integrated
campaigns. With each media type working to compliment one another, brands are able to
holistically engage a target audience throughout the path to purchase.

5. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
PAID
New Audiences
SHARED
New Audiences,
Customers, Employees,
Fans, Followers
CONTENT
OWNED
Customers,
Employees,
Fans,
Followers
EARNED
New +
Familiar
Audiences
Advocates
Brand Journalism
Promoted Content
Native Ads
Display Ads
Paid Search
Website
Blog
Mobile App
Email
Microsite
Promoted Content
Company Spokesperson
Comments
Shares
Likes
Re-Tweets
Influencers
Comments
Shares
Likes
Re-Tweets
Media Coverage
Blog Coverage

6. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
BID
Most online ad display networks are auction style markets, where groups of advertisers bid
on an ad slot being served to a user (impression). Advertisers will set their bid price to what
they’re willing to pay for either a click or impression. The frequency an ad is served and the
cost at which it is served is determined based on market conditions and how competitive an
advertiser’s bid is compared to others bidding on the same audience.
OFFER / BID
FUN FACT
Auctions have been present in various forms throughout history, with the
first recorded auctions taking place as early as 500 B.C.

7. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
CPC/PPC
Generally, the cost-per-click (CPC) or pay-per-click (PPC) model refers to a cost metric an
advertiser pays for each click on an ad. CPC can also refer to a bid type, where an advertiser
only pays if an ad is clicked on.
Internet advertising revenues in the United States totaled $42.8 billion
for the full year of 2013, an increase of 17% over 2012 according to the
Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

8. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
CPM
CPM is the most common method for pricing digital advertising, referring to the cost per
thousand impressions. CPM generally refers to the competiveness of an audience; if an
audience is small or being targeted by a large number of advertisers, the CPM will be high.
Like the CPC metric, CPM can also refer to a bid type that an advertiser defines in their
advertising campaign. That said, most campaigns are run utilizing CPC bidding because it
measures the interactions performance advertisers care most about.

9. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
WHAT’S AN IMPRESSION?
A cross-industry initiative known as Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) has
championed a movement to embrace the Viewable Impression metric for display
advertising. According to the group’s latest guidelines, 50 percent of pixels must
be in the viewable portion of an internet browser for a minimum of one continuous
second in order to qualify as a viewable display impression.

10. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
CTR
The click through rate (CTR) refers to the percentage of people that, when served an ad, click
on it. Click through rates vary from network to network, but generally CTRs sit below 1%. In
CPC campaigns, the high CTRs back out to lower CPCs because ad networks favor individual
ads and advertisers with proven high CTRs.

11. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
CTA
The call to action (CTA) is an explicit encouragement for the user that is served the ad to
engage in a particular way. It is a best practice to have a call to action in all advertising
and you generally want to have a CTA that combines an eye-catching visual, a clear value
proposition and copy that inspires people to act.
Subscribe!

12. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
TARGETING
When running a digital campaign, advertisers can select targeting criteria to define the
audience they will bid on. Targeting criteria corresponds to demographic qualifiers (age,
gender, geo location) and additional information about who they are as a group and how they
behave online. This information can be pulled and compiled based on the online properties
they visit, the pages they like on Facebook, or information they provide about themselves on
social networking profiles.

13. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
RE-TARGETING
& RE-MARKETING
Advertisers leverage retargeting (or remarketing) campaigns to reengage individuals who have
already interacted with the brand in some way. Generally, remarketing campaigns are pixel-
based (see “tracking pixel” on page 13), but they can also leverage custom audience targeting
(see “custom audiences” on page 15) or email remarketing. Advertisers utilize retargeting
campaigns because conversion rates tend to be higher; the users have already interacted with
the brand on some level, whether it be viewing a product (and then abandoning the item),
entering their email address, or having previously made a purchase.

14. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
TRACKING
PIXEL
A tracking pixel (sometimes known as a ‘cookie’) is a piece of code embedded in a webpage
that, when triggered, gives the website information about how that specific user has behaved on
the site. For instance, if you view an item on an ecommerce website, then add it to your cart, but
ultimately don’t end up purchasing the item, the website will see that you fired pixels associated
with the first three steps in the conversion process (landing page, product view, add to cart). It
can take that information and remarket the item you viewed or added to your shopping cart in
the form of an ad on Facebook, Promoted Tweet on Twitter or an ad on display channels.
Tracking pixels live in your browser for up to 45 days (depending on your browser settings and
privacy rules dictated by the ad network), so it can track your interactions with a brand up to a
month and a half after you initially visit a website. For instance, if you click on an ad and visit
a website on day-0 and return to that website on day-7 and make a purchase, tracking pixels
enable us to attribute that purchase back to the initial click on the ad.

15. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
INTEREST
TARGETING
Advertisers will leverage interest targeting to create an audience of new users that have
interacted with specific brands or properties or have shared content related to a specific topic.
For instance, if an advertiser is running a user acquisition campaign for a trendy women’s
clothing brand, they could leverage interest targeting to reach women who like J. Crew,
Nordstrom, and Michael Kors on Facebook or who follow fashion and style on Twitter.

16. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
CUSTOM OR
TAILORED AUDIENCES
“Custom audiences” refer to a retargeting mechanism on Facebook that enables an advertiser
to target people based on their email addresses. The advertiser can simply upload a .csv file
of customer email addresses to specify the audience to be targeted. The email addresses must
match the one the user associated with their Facebook profile to validate for targeting. Often
times advertisers will leverage this type of campaign to try to get individuals who have registered
for a website, but have never purchased or who have purchased once but never returned to try
to facilitate a conversion. “Tailored Audiences” refers to Twitter’s version of custom audiences.

17. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
LEADS CAMPAIGN
A leads campaign is an advertising campaign that focuses on collecting email addresses or
other first steps in the conversion funnel that the advertisers can later use to remarket to those
potential customers. Generally leads campaigns are the first step in an advertising strategy that
includes longer-term goals of multiple purchases or highly considered, high valued purchases.

18. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
CAMPAIGN
OPTIMIZATION
Once the ads have gathered data, the advertiser can execute optimizations based on the
information they’ve learned throughout the course of the campaign. For instance, if an audience
segment within a campaign has performed poorly, an advertiser can turn the ads running to that
segment off or lower the bids on that audience. Conversely, if there’s an image that performs
well (has a high CTR and conversion rate), the advertiser can raise bids to try to win more
impressions on all ads with that image.

19. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
WHERE DO WE
GO FROM HERE?
One of the hottest topics of the past couple years has been native advertising.
While a clear and specific definition is somewhat difficult to pin down, the growth
of the industry is not. According to eMarketer, US native ad spending on social
media alone will grow from $3.1 billion in 2014 to $5.0 billion in 2017.
Experimentation with new advertising formats isn’t limited to big brands or
specific industries. In September 2014, The New York Times launched a series
of five native ad placements on Mashable. A Times’ spokesperson told Poynter
“Our hope is to increase engagement with this audience and also gain new
loyal readers and subscribers.”

20. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
STAY INFORMED
Job one as a communications professional is to be diligent about keeping up
with the ever-changing media landscape. Communicators must be willing to
experiment and take risks with new formats and new ways of reaching the
target audience. The mindset that paid media is the responsibility of “someone
else” is short-sighted and indicative of the siloed approach of yesterday.
Get informed and stay informed on how things like native advertising and paid
media are impacting the way information is shared and consumed. Malcom X
summed it up best when he said “The future belongs to those who prepare for
it today.”

21. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
++ This Week in Social Media
++ Our Digital Playbook
++ One Fundamental Change Brands Must Make to Their Digital Strategy
++ The Secrets Behind Addictive Storytelling
++ Four Key Takeaways from the Instagram vs. Vine Smackdown

22. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
ABOUT ACCESS
We are a communications agency obsessed with our clients’ success. Good enough simply isn’t
good enough for us. We create connections that count, turning brands’ audiences into activists
and stakeholders into strategic partners. We are clever storytellers who help companies find
their voice and make it heard. We knock the norm with every aspect of communications, creating
custom-designed campaigns that impact and inspire. For more than 20 years we’ve built trusted
partnerships with companies who seek to stand apart — from global brand names to emerging
growth companies and start-ups.
Want to learn more about paid media or how we can help with your communications
challenges?
www.accesspr.com

23. THE PR PRO’S QUICK GUIDE TO PAID MEDIA
GET IN TOUCH!