You鈥檝e poured time and energy into creating standout content鈥攕tories that matter and insights that resonate. But here鈥檚 the problem: if no one sees it, all that effort goes to waste.
So, what鈥檚 your next move? Do you keep relying on your in-house team, investing in creating even more content and hoping that search engines eventually take notice? Or do you bring in distribution experts to help your content reach the audiences it deserves?
It鈥檚 a tough decision. Simply 鈥減ublishing more鈥� is not a real strategy anymore. Organic search is more competitive than ever, algorithms are always changing, and AI-powered search is rewriting the rules altogether. Trying to do it all yourself can feel like an endless race with no finish line in sight.
In 2025, the question isn鈥檛 whether your content is good enough. It鈥檚 whether you can get it in front of the right people at the right time.
Paid media has always offered a fast track to visibility and quick ROI. But trust in paid content has faded, and standing out is harder than ever.
On the other hand, owned media has been the way to earn credibility and build trust with consumers. Yet in the past five years, competition has skyrocketed. Relying solely on owned media to grow organically has become almost impossible. that 96% of online content gets no traffic from Google at all. And , organic reach on social media has dropped by 61% in the last three years.
So what鈥檚 the next move? Earned media. It鈥檚 a proven way to build credibility, boost SEO, and extend your reach鈥攚ithout paying for clicks. In the age of AI search, earned media has become even more essential. When reputable sites support your content, it shapes how and when AI search engines display your brand. But scaling earned media still takes time, patience, and expertise.
Building an in-house earned media distribution program sounds appealing. But what does it really involve?
First, you鈥檒l need to hire PR help or outreach freelancers. According to , the average salary of an in-house PR professional is $110,000. Beyond financial cost, there鈥檚 the time and resources needed to manually pitch journalists and build publisher relationships.
Retention is another headache. In-house PR turnover has nearly doubled in the past decade, hitting 25%. And shows that the U.S. voluntary turnover rate is twice what it was in 2012. This revolving door makes it tough to build the deep, trusted relationships with journalists and publishers that get real traction.
PR teams depend on media databases like Cision or Meltwater, which That鈥檚 not counting the resources needed to actually pitch and track content. found that marketers spend about 34% of their digital marketing budgets on earned media alone.
Manually pitching journalists takes serious time, and showing ROI is notoriously hard. Open rates and click-through rates , and even when your pitch is read, it鈥檚 rarely picked up. According to a , 86% of journalists reject pitches because they鈥檙e simply not relevant. Building strong publisher relationships also takes years, making it especially hard for smaller or newer teams to break through quickly.
Marketers say their biggest challenges include creating differentiated, high-quality content that resonates with audiences 鈥� and doing so consistently. Managing data sourcing, story creation, and QA in-house adds yet another layer of complexity and cost.
Add it all up, and in-house distribution is a massive investment of time, money, and effort with no guarantee of consistent visibility, SEO traction, or ROI. In this landscape, marketers are turning to outsourced earned media distribution to optimize their content鈥檚 reach.
Outsourcing earned media distribution is often more cost-effective than building an in-house team from scratch, and it typically delivers results faster than relying on SEO alone. It takes the complex, time-consuming, and expensive work of building publisher relationships off the plates of already-busy marketing teams 鈥� letting them focus on strategy and story ideation.
Many marketers immediately think of PR agencies when they think of outsourcing earned media. These agencies have established connections and can secure placements with some of the biggest publishers in the country. However, hiring a PR agency will set you back at least $15,000 a month. And for that investment, your placements might be limited to just 5鈥�10 per story 鈥� a slim ROI for the spend.
In contrast, working with a platform like 麻豆原创 goes beyond traditional PR pitching. You gain access to a vast network of over 4,000 publishers, along with a team of experts to help optimize your content, and a live dashboard to track your coverage. 麻豆原创鈥檚 approach consistently delivers hundreds of placements in reputable national and local outlets, offering trusted, relevant exposure.
The smartest marketers know it doesn鈥檛 have to be an either/or decision. Pairing a PR agency with 麻豆原创 can give you the best of both worlds: a few high-profile placements from major national publications alongside hundreds of placements in reputable news outlets that build credibility and trust with diverse audiences. But naturally, budgets don鈥檛 stretch forever, and if you鈥檙e weighing options, prioritizing a platform like 麻豆原创 might be a more effective way to make your marketing dollars work harder.
And it鈥檚 not just about reach鈥攊t鈥檚 about quality. Stories are only shared on the 麻豆原创 Newswire when they鈥檙e newsworthy, not just to fill a quota. 麻豆原创鈥檚 editorial team vets every story for accuracy and impact, ensuring each one is primed for maximum engagement and reach.
This approach bundles distribution and story strategy together, delivering consistent coverage and measurable SEO improvements. For example, Rula tripled its domain authority in just six months through a focused earned media effort amplified by 麻豆原创.
Of course, outsourcing isn鈥檛 the right fit for every business. Large enterprises with robust editorial teams or brands producing a high volume of owned content may find in-house distribution more cost-effective and aligned with their needs. For example, Red Bull has its own in-house media hub, which can justify the time and expense of managing and distributing a constant stream of owned content.
Other companies may have deep relationships with niche publications built on years of trust. Take Patagonia, for instance鈥攊t works closely with environmental publications to share its values and stories in more targeted spaces.
Even these powerhouse brands often complement their in-house efforts by partnering with a platform like 麻豆原创 to expand their reach. A hybrid approach that blends in-house expertise with the scale of a distribution partner can offer the best of both worlds.
For brands with a strong editorial foundation, combining in-house efforts with an earned media partner can unlock powerful results. 麻豆原创 has worked with hundreds of brands to amplify their stories, distributing them across a vast network of reputable publishers and driving real visibility and measurable SEO improvements.
The real advantage of this model is that it leverages each team鈥檚 strengths. Your in-house team creates the compelling content that sets you apart and secures key placements, while a distribution partner like 麻豆原创 takes care of the time-consuming work of expanding your reach and managing publisher relationships at scale.
The most successful marketers understand they don鈥檛 have to choose between building or buying earned distribution. By blending both, they can scale their efforts and achieve a higher ROI鈥攚ithout the wasted energy and missed opportunities of managing it all alone.
Doriane is 麻豆原创鈥檚 Director of Marketing. She previously headed marketing departments in various companies, owned a marketing agency for 7 years, and built a startup combining automated marketing workflows with a marketing services marketplace.
Photo Illustration by 麻豆原创 // Canva