Inspire Media Outlets to Tell Your Story (8 Reasons Media Outlets Will Help Expand Your Audience)

Jeff Rogers (l), host of World Views' “Jeff’s Homemade Game Show,” shares the fun and value of our show with WGN Morning Show hosts Dan Ponce (r, above) & Ana Belaval (r, below).

Not only does a great story connect with potential customers, but it can also become a valuable asset to media outlets in their quest for content. You can create a video production that is so engaging and relevant to your area of expertise that news outlets, talk shows, podcasts, and social media sites can envision how your product or service would captivate and excite their viewers. And when they share your story, their audience becomes your audience.

Marketers call this “earned media,” distinguishing it from advertising (paid media) or media hosted on your own site or social media channel (owned media).

A Win-Win
Business researchers (references below) have found that earned media does affect brand awareness and purchase intent. Furthermore, the spin of that earned media (how positive or negative it is) can also affect customer satisfaction. The data is there: creating high-quality video storytelling that other media outlets want to share is good for business.

Earned media is also good for media outlets. They need to stay on top of trends, gather inspiration for their own content, and consistently release interesting content. They might watch your captivating video to help them understand trends, gather inspiration for their own content, and potentially repurpose it for their own platforms. They might also be interested in discovering new storytelling or visual styles, or even use your video production for its news value if it relates to a current event.

How Does It Work?
Ideally, the media outlet would replay your inspiring video and even invite you to participate in their broadcast or post. This would allow you to delve deeper into the subject matter and potentially connect directly with a new audience. As a result, a new version of your original story would be shared on the web and hopefully viewed repeatedly over an extended period of time.

But it all starts with two major qualifications: relevance and quality. The content of your video production needs to relate to the needs or wishes of an audience and the storytelling needs to be clear and to connect with people emotionally. To capture the attention of a media outlet and its audience, your video must meet one or more of their needs:

1. Identifying Trends:
   Captivating videos can reveal popular content, stories, and emerging themes that media outlets might want to incorporate into their own strategies. 
   
2. Understanding the Story:
   A captivating video might effectively communicate a story or message that media outlets want to explore further, potentially leading to a news story, documentary, or other form of content. 
   
3. News Value:
   Depending on the video's subject matter, it might contain news value, such as footage of an event, a public statement, or a unique perspective on a current issue.
   
4. Keeping it Fresh:
   Your video production can be a readily available content source, helping a channel to fill content gaps. Regular posting is a key to success for media outlets, and your video can help them continue a consistent stream without needing to create everything from scratch.
5. Inspiration:
   Media outlets might find inspiration in a video's visuals, narrative, or overall approach, leading them to create similar or related content. 
   
6. Repurposing:
   They might also consider repurposing the video's content or its experts (that’s you) for their own news stories or social media feeds. 
   
7. Visual and Technical Inspiration:
   Media outlets might also be interested in the video's visual style, editing techniques, or technical aspects, to make sure it meets a certain standard of video production. Provide a professional video, and they don’t require resources to create visuals.
   
8. Audience Expansion:
   Certainly, channels that already focus on your field will benefit from your video production. Additionally, media outlets in domains tangential to yours can use your video to help them access new audiences, extending their viewer base while also helping you reach your target audience.
   
   

Relevant, high-quality video storytelling can be mutually beneficial for the organizations that create it and the media outlets that pick it up, providing earned media for the creators and content for the outlets. Turn your story into a well-crafted video production and see how far it can go.

REFERENCES
Colicev, A., Malshe, A., Pauwels, K., & O’Connor, P (2018). Improving Consumer Mindset Metrics and Shareholder Value Through Social Media: The Different Roles of Owned and Earned Media. Journal of Marketing, 82(1), 37–56. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44878276.

Lovett, Mitchell J., and Richard Staelin. “The Role of Paid, Earned, and Owned Media in Building Entertainment Brands: Reminding, Informing, and Enhancing Enjoyment.” Marketing Science, vol. 35, no. 1, 2016, pp. 142–57. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44012140. Accessed 10 June 2025.

Shaozhi, W. (2020). An Empirical Research on Social Media Marketing and Consumer Responses: Leveraging the Power of Online Opinion Leaders. The Kyoto Economic Review, 87(182/182), 34–63. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48619711
Stephen, A.T. & Galak, J. (2012). The Effects of Traditional and Social Earned Media on Sales: A Study of a Microlending Marketplace. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(5), 624–39. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41714453.