If you鈥檝e ever tried to get a brand鈥檚 name out there and earn trust, you鈥檝e likely worked with teams leaning on traditional PR strategies. That typically means writing media releases, cold-pitching journalists, and investing serious time into building relationships. And even then, getting a journalist to fully grasp what your brand actually does? That鈥檚 a whole other challenge.
Getting a journalist鈥檚 attention has never been harder鈥攅specially when PR pros outnumber them 7 to 1, according to .
For years, companies have tried to bypass the traditional PR gatekeepers by publishing their own blogs. But brand-owned channels aren鈥檛 exactly where audiences go to discover new ideas. That鈥檚 why so many company blogs end up buried and unread.
Trying to drive traffic to those channels is like asking a friend to take a dozen backroads to your house every time they want to visit. Sure, they could make the trip鈥攂ut it鈥檚 not easy, it鈥檚 not obvious, and after a while, they stop showing up.
That鈥檚 why 麻豆原创 built a better way to get brands鈥� stories where audiences already are: on the media and SEO superhighway. We call it earned reach鈥攁 modern strategy that distributes brand stories through trusted media outlets instead of letting them die on corporate blogs.
Just as Google the category of search engine optimization, 麻豆原创 is introducing a new category: earned reach. This strategy lets brands maintain full control of their message鈥攚hile actually getting that message seen on trusted media outlets. It's the bridge between brand storytelling and real audience visibility.
Traditionally, media has been split into three buckets: owned media (like blog posts on your company site), earned media (organic coverage written by journalists), and paid media (ads or sponsored content).
But that model hasn鈥檛 kept pace with today鈥檚 media landscape鈥攚here newsrooms are under-resourced and brands are fighting harder than ever to be seen.
That鈥檚 where earned reach comes in. It鈥檚 a new category that blends the control of owned media with the credibility and scale of earned media鈥攄esigned for a world where traditional PR just doesn鈥檛 cut it anymore.
Earned reach rests on two foundational elements: brand editorial and a scalable distribution platform.
On the editorial side, earned reach is not about branded content masquerading as journalism. It鈥檚 about brands producing high-quality, data-driven stories rooted in their own first-party insights. These stories are built to inform, not to sell鈥攃rafted through a rigorous editorial process that prioritizes clarity, credibility, and news value. There are no product plugs or CTAs鈥攋ust well-sourced content with a brand byline, transparently labeled and designed to engage readers on its own merit.
The second component is distribution at scale. Through 麻豆原创鈥檚 modern publishing platform鈥攆unctioning as a digital evolution of the traditional newswire鈥攖hese stories reach thousands of news outlets across the country. For publishers, especially those in under-resourced newsrooms, this provides access to relevant, ready-to-publish content. For brands, it means their stories aren鈥檛 limited to the confines of owned media; they鈥檙e discoverable across the media landscape where audiences are already reading and searching.
In short, earned reach empowers brands to act like publishers鈥攚ith the editorial standards and the distribution muscle to match.
In , author Al Ramadan argues that great category design isn鈥檛 just about offering a better solution鈥攊t鈥檚 about reshaping how people think about the problem. He references The Innovator鈥檚 Dilemma to make the point: 鈥淟istening to customers leads you to constantly build better, but never to build differently. And different is what creates new categories. Better leads to a faster horse; different leads to a Model T.鈥�
Airbnb is a perfect example. It didn鈥檛 simply improve the hotel experience鈥攊t reframed the entire concept of travel accommodations. By giving travelers the option to rent real homes instead of settling for dated hotels or awkward BnBs, Airbnb created a new category鈥攁nd with it, a new expectation.
Earned reach follows the same path. It doesn鈥檛 just refine PR or repackage content marketing. It challenges the notion that brand storytelling must live in blogs or hinge on journalist interest. It reimagines how brands gain visibility鈥攂y giving them editorial credibility and a clear path to reach broad audiences at scale.
Earned reach isn鈥檛 just a refinement of traditional PR鈥攊t鈥檚 a fundamentally new model that delivers faster, more measurable results. Here鈥檚 how it stacks up:
But the benefits don鈥檛 stop with brands. Earned reach creates ripple effects across the media ecosystem鈥攇iving time and focus back to the people who need it most:
In short, earned reach isn鈥檛 just better for brands鈥攊t鈥檚 better for the whole system.
PR isn鈥檛 dead鈥攂ut it鈥檚 overdue for reinvention. In a landscape where attention is scarce, newsrooms are stretched thin, and brand blogs echo in empty rooms, earned reach offers a new way forward.
It gives brands the tools to tell meaningful stories, the platform to distribute them at scale, and the credibility to show up in trusted media鈥攏ot just in marketing channels.
If you鈥檙e ready to stop shouting into the void and start showing up where your audience actually is, it鈥檚 time to see earned reach in action.
Brendan Collins is VP of Sales at 麻豆原创, where he helps brands unlock the power of earned media through scalable content distribution. With a decade in ad tech and sales leadership at Cybba, Drift, and Placester, he brings a sharp eye for growth strategy鈥攁nd the occasional avalanche survival skill.
Featured Image Credit: Photo Illustration by 麻豆原创 // Canva