What is Paid Media? Types, Benefits, and How To Use It

From Google Ads to sponsored social media posts, paid media is a fast-track way to reach your target audience, enhance brand recognition, and generate measurable results.

Paid media refers to any marketing effort that involves paying to feature your advert on external platforms, whether that’s online on social media or offline on a traditional billboard. It’s a direct channel for broadening your reach as a business and increasing brand visibility. 

By investing in paid media, your business can place well-crafted ads and brand messages in front of targeted demographics, ensuring they resonate with the right consumers at the right time. 

This article will break down the different types of paid media, explain the key benefits it offers to businesses, and provide strategies on how to leverage it effectively. Whether you’re just starting with paid media or looking to optimize your current efforts, understanding its power can be a game-changer for your marketing success.

What Is Paid Media?

A type of advertising where businesses pay to display their promotional content such as social media posts, display ads, paid search results, video ads, pop-ups on external channels.

Paid media is a type of advertising where businesses pay to display their promotional content on external channels. This includes things like commercials on TV, ads on social media, banners on websites, and offline space, like billboards. Essentially, businesses buy space or time on the platform of their choice to showcase their brand or products and attract more customers. 

Paid media channels are the various platforms or avenues where you can pay to display your advertisements. There’s an ever-expanding number of them, which means companies can choose the ones that best match their target audience and marketing goals. 

Popular channels include social media platforms, search engines, display networks, video platforms, billboards and audio streaming services. 

Understanding Owned, Earned And Paid Media 

There are three main types of media businesses use to promote themselves and engage with their audiences. These are earned, owned and paid media. Each serves a unique purpose and offers businesses a different degree of control. Let’s explore them in more detail:

Earned Media

Earned media is publicity gained through methods other than paid advertising, which covers everything from press coverage to word-of-mouth referrals. It’s a powerful form of media because it doesn’t come with the in-built bias of paid promotions, which adds authenticity. 

Unlike owned or paid media, earned media can’t be bought or controlled directly by the brand—it must be naturally given by others as a result of good practices, high-quality products, or positive customer experiences. It’s earned, rather than bought, as the name suggests. 

This type of media can be especially valuable if it comes from a credible person or entity, as it carries their implicit endorsement. 

Owned Media 

Owned media refers to the channels and assets that you control and use to engage with your audience. This includes your website, blog, email newsletter, social media accounts, mobile apps and any other similar channel or tool. 

The main benefit of this media type is that you own and control it completely, allowing complete decision-making power over the content, message, timing and delivery. 

Owned media provides a good way to connect with customers who already trust you. You can use it to send personalized messages, develop relationships and gather data on behavior and preferences. 

Paid Media 

Paid media refers to any marketing effort that requires payment for you to feature your message or offering on external channels. As discussed, this covers advertising methods like TV and print ads, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads, display banners on websites and social media ads. 

It’s a powerful tool for expanding reach and visibility, with the option to target demographics with precision using data-driven strategies. It provides immediate results and is essential for driving new traffic to owned media assets, thereby boosting the effectiveness of organic efforts.

What Are The Different Types Of Paid Media Pricing Models?

There are different pricing models available to choose from depending on what action you want to incentivise and the specific goals of your campaign. Whether you’re after visibility, engagement or for customers to take a specific action, there’s a model that can help you while ensuring maximum ROI. 

Here’s an overview of some of the most popular pricing models:  

Cost-Per-Click (CPC)

CPC advertising involves you paying an agreed upon fee every time a user clicks on your ad. This model is typically used when advertising on social media platforms and search engines with the goal of driving targeted traffic to a specific webpage. 

CPC is the go-to advertising method when you want to ensure you only pay for advertising that generates direct engagement from viewers. It’s highly effective for conversion-focused campaigns, encouraging advertisers to optimize their ads and landing pages to maximize the click-through rate (CTR).

Cost-Per-Impression (CPM)

Cost-Per-Impression, otherwise known as Cost-Per-Mille involves payment based on the number of impressions, or views, that an advertisement receives. Advertisers usually pay per one thousand impressions, hence the name. This model is great for driving brand awareness rather than immediate sales because it can reach broad audiences. 

While effective at reaching large audiences, CPM can still be used to target ads based on interests, geography and demographics, ensuring messages reach the right people. Because you can easily forecast the cost of exposure based on the chosen platform’s traffic, you can easily manage budgets and calculate potential reach. 

Cost-Per-Action (CPA)

CPA is a highly appealing advertising model because it directly links the cost of the ad to the effectiveness of the ad in generating desirable results. It achieves this by charging the advertiser only when a specific action is taken, such as a click, sale, sign-up, subscription or another form of conversion. 

CPA is often used by businesses focused on conversion optimization, as it reduces the risk of ad spend that does not result in tangible business benefits. It’s ideal for campaigns where the advertiser wants to closely align advertising costs with ROI and use data to continually improve campaign performance. 

Examples Of Paid Media Channels

Selecting the right channels for your paid media campaigns is crucial for reaching the right audience and achieving your goals. Each channel has its strengths and weaknesses depending on who you’re trying to target and what message you want to convey. Let’s take a closer look at the different options:

Social Media Advertising

Popular social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter all offer great advertising opportunities, with the option to target ads based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and more.

Through these platforms, you can create highly customized campaigns that can include video, images, and interactive elements to engage directly with users. Social media advertising is especially effective for building brand awareness, promoting special offers, and driving traffic to websites or landing pages.

Search Engine Advertising

This form of advertising involved strategically placing ads on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS), with Google Ads and Bing Ads being the best platforms to use. You can target users precisely and grab their attention while they’re showing intent to buy based on the keywords they search for. For example, if you’re a car dealership, you could bid on the keyword “car dealership near me.” 

It’s important to strike a balance between search volume and competitiveness to efficiently manage your budget and to ensure you can realistically rank for the keyword. Search engine advertising is highly effective for capturing demand when users are actively searching for related products or services, making it ideal for lead generation and direct sales.

Email Marketing 

While typically considered a form of owned media, email marketing can also become paid media when you place ads on popular newsletters or use a third-party mailing list, for example. This can be a good way to tap into a specific, pre-established audience.

It’s well-suited to direct-response campaigns aimed at audiences that have opted-in to receive marketing communications, allowing you to personalize content and offers that can drive conversions and customer loyalty.

Flyer Distribution

Flyer distribution involves physically distributing printed flyers to promote a product, service, or event. This method is one of the traditional forms of paid media and can be highly effective in local marketing campaigns. 

Flyers can be distributed door-to-door or handed out in busy public spaces. This channel works well for local businesses or events aiming to attract a local audience, offering tangible, immediate reach within a specific geographic area. Learn more about Oppizi’s trackable flyer distribution solutions here.

Key Benefits Of Paid Media

Here are just a few of the benefits of using paid media:

Instant Visibility 

One of the main benefits of paid media campaigns is that they can gain you a lot of visibility quickly, which is ideal when you’re launching products, offering promotions or raising brand awareness, for example. 

As soon as you launch a campaign, your advertisement starts being shown on your chosen platform. Unlike organic strategies, which can take time to build momentum, paid media offers a fast-track to the spotlight.

Wider Reach

Paid media helps you promote your brand or message beyond your established audience. By leveraging the large networks of social media platforms, search engines and other channels, you can connect with a global audience or target specific demographics, geographic regions, and niches. This capability to scale up quickly and reach audiences who might not otherwise discover your business organically can be a significant advantage.

Enables Data-Driven Decisions

Another major benefit of paid media is that it enables you to make data-driven marketing decisions. With comprehensive advertising tools built into most advertising platforms, you can track ad performance in real-time and make quick adjustments as necessary. 

This includes data on user behavior, ad engagement, conversion rates and ROI, besides other key metrics. These insights allow you to optimize campaigns and test different messages and visuals to maximize your ad spend. 

How To Use Paid Media

If you’re interested in getting started with paid media, here are some steps you can follow:

1. Define Your Target Audience 

The first step in launching a paid media strategy is knowing where your audience is and how to reach them. Analyze demographic data, interests, purchasing habits and behavior patterns to define your audience with precision. 

Consider whether your ads will have the most impact on social media, search engines, video platforms of perhaps an offline channel. This helps you direct your marketing efforts to those who are most likely to convert.   

2. Set Objectives 

Decide what you want to achieve with your paid media campaign, whether increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, generating leads, boosting sales, or promoting a new product launch. Your goals will dictate the choice of platforms, ad formats, targeting strategies, and budget allocation.

3. Set A Budget

Allocate a budget to the campaign. Choose which pricing models you want to use, whether CPC (Cost-Per-Action), CPC (Cost-Per-Click) or CPM (Cost-Per-Impression) or a combination of them, depending on what you’re trying to achieve. Closely monitor spending to ensure you’re achieving a good ROI. 

4. Create Ad Content 

Invest in high-quality ads that resonate with your target audience, which may mean hiring an agency or freelancers if you don’t have any experience doing it. Ensure images and ad copy are highly personalized for your audience, with strong CTAs. Also, be sure to adapt content for the platform you’re using.

5. Optimize Continually 

Use the data produced from your campaign to make beneficial changes, such as tweaking ad copy, adjusting targeting settings, changing your budget, or trying out different ad formats. Regular optimisation based on actual performance data is key to improving efficiency and maximizing ROI.

Key Takeaways

Paid media is a fantastic tool for marketers looking to expand their reach and tap into large networks beyond their existing audiences. It’s also a useful tool for driving specific actions quickly and effectively. 

With a diverse range of channels available, from social media and search engines to email marketing and traditional flyer distribution, companies can tailor their paid media strategies to target exactly the right people.

At Oppizi, we specialize in supplementing your online efforts with innovative offline strategies, like flyer distribution, which can add something tangible to your marketing mix. 

Paid Media FAQs

Still have paid media questions? Here’s what you need to know:

What Is An Example Of Paid Media? 

Examples of paid media include Google Ads, social media ad campaigns, TV ads, print ads and billboard advertising. It’s any form of advertisement where businesses pay to have their ads shown on external channels.  

Is Facebook a Paid Media Channel? 

Yes, Facebook can be a form of paid media. All major social media channels, like Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snapchat offer paid media advertising.  

Are TV Ads Paid Media? 

Yes, TV ads are a traditional form of paid media advertising. Businesses pay for airtime on TV channels to broadcast adverts to viewers. 

What Is Paid Media vs. Owned Media?

Paid media refers to paying to place your ad on an external channel, like a social media platform or search engine, whereas, owned media refers to using your own channels or assets, such as your website or blog page.