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Lost in translation, part two.

For unpaid media, you take on greater responsibility to get your message across.

Last week, we discussed the complexities of conveying messages through different media, and how messages require tailoring to fit the medium--and the audience. We concentrated on paid media--television, radio, newspaper, and magazine advertising, and purpose-built websites.
This week, we're looking at non-paid media--publicity, blogs, viral content, and other information where you don't have complete control of the final message.

That adds a further level of complexity. Because before your message reaches its intended audience, it must earn the approval of someone else.

The "someone else" can be any of a number of people--a professional communicator like a reporter or editor, an industry insider who enjoys commenting through a blog, or someone who picks up your message off a YouTube clip and thinks it entertaining enough to send onward. In any of these cases, you must convince the gatekeeper that your information is important enough--and relevent enough--that they will lend their reputation to it.

This in itself is a remarkably valuable thing. In fact, Al Ries argues that as audiences become more and more wary of paid advertising messages, public relations has become the most effective way of introducing new products and ideas. Brands like Starbucks and Red Bull were created with virtually no paid advertising. And the reason it works is that someone other than the entity with the most vested interest is communicating the importance of the message.

Now, we don't necessarily see that marketers have to choose between advertising or public relations (e.g., paid versus unpaid media) to convey their messages. We believe they complement each other better than ever. Especially when you understand what can be done with each.

So, as we did last week, let's look at the structures of unpaid media and how these impact what must be done to get a message across.

Read more at http://www.brainposse.com/.