What Is Editorial Coverage? An Introduction

Thriving in a cluttered digital landscape means producing and curating various content types. Content is how B2B and B2C consumers learn about the brands they love, discover new products, and build relationships with companies. However, it’s important to remember that there are various types of content for companies to consider, each with its unique benefits. 

Editorial coverage is a form of “earned content”. In other words, it’s an asset capable of promoting your brand, but it’s not something you produce and publish yourself. With editorial coverage, stories about your company’s recent events or accomplishments are generated and promoted by third-party publications, newspapers, or magazines.

Editorial coverage is a unique form of content marketing that boosts your company’s credibility and extends your brand reach. Here’s your guide to editorial, what it means, and how it works. 

Defining Editorial Coverage: The Basics

Simply put, editorial coverage refers to the news stories, reviews, and “editorial” pieces promoted by other third-party companies on your behalf. Editorial pieces are persuasive text, often intended to share opinions, news, and objective information. 

There are various types of editorial coverage in the digital world, from news reports published on dedicated industry forums to videos, podcasts, and even product reviews. Editorial coverage can also be provided through statements posted on social media. 

As a form of “earned” media, editorial coverage isn’t typically something you’d pay for. This separates the content from “sponsored” pieces, which involve paying a company to place a piece of content on their website to attract new customers to your business. Instead, editorial coverage is something companies will usually inspire through the release of new products, the successful completion of an event, or some other accomplishment.

Journals, newspapers, and magazines publish this content to provide relevant and helpful information to their target audience. For instance, a website specializing in CCaaS might post a piece about a new contact centre technology to keep their customers up-to-date. This brings value to readers while allowing growing companies to unlock more significant levels of brand awareness.

What are the Benefits of Editorial Coverage?

While you can always publish reviews, opinion pieces and news stories on your website as forms of “owned content”, most customers agree editorial coverage is generally more trustworthy than the claims a company makes about itself. Even journalists say they trust the information posted by their colleagues more than anything else they read online.

Editorial coverage doesn’t necessarily try to push customers into buying your products or services, but it does give your business greater credibility. The more coverage you get, the more professional your business looks. This is particularly true when the range of your brand is placed alongside content referencing other well-known companies in your industry. 

Editorial coverage also helps to get your business in front of new audiences you may not reach on your own. For growing companies struggling to make a name for themselves in a saturated landscape, editorial pieces can be an instant way to grab audience attention. 

The most significant benefits of this form of “earned content” include:

• Credibility: Editorial coverage establishes you as a reputable, trustworthy brand. 
• Visibility: Your brand name and product information appear in front of new prospects.
• Boosted name recognition: The more people cover your brand, the more recognizable your company and the brand name becomes. 
• Value: When companies promote an accomplishment or new product created by your brand in editorial coverage, it highlights your business value.

Editorial coverage can be particularly beneficial in the B2B, where buyers and professionals rely on news reports to provide insights into the latest products and services. 

How to Make the Most of Editorial Coverage

The first step in successfully leveraging editorial coverage is to do things other companies will want to promote. This means introducing new products, launching webinars or hosting events, and contributing to your community. In other words, you need to be “newsworthy”. 

It also helps to form connections with editorial publications in your industry. Following other brands on social media, reaching out to journalists with your latest stories and staying active online will improve your chances of being featured. Once you’ve secured editorial coverage, you can boost the ROI of your campaigns by:

• Promote the posts: When another company or publication posts a story about you, promote it on your social channels. Link to the page and highlight quotes or essential information from the story to send more of your audience in that direction. You can add links to your editorial coverage on your website pages or email campaigns. Some companies will also allow you to post versions of the content to your website. 
• Ask for links: Ask the company to include a link back to your website, product, or a page discussing the topic they’re covering on your website. This will help to get more people from the third-party website coming to your site so that you can boost connections and traffic. While you might not be able to implement a link on all posts, many publishers will allow you to implement at least one link if it’s not considered spammy. 
• Expand your horizons: Once you’ve earned editorial coverage from one or two publications, you can highlight those stories when reaching out to other news publications. This can give other companies thinking of featuring you an insight into the kind of traffic and engagement they can expect if they highlight your brand. Reaching out to more publications will also help you to expand your potential audience reach. 

Don’t Underestimate Editorial Coverage

While editorial coverage may be one form of “earned” content worth considering in your advertising strategy, it’s something no business can afford to overlook. The right editorial coverage can give you significantly more credibility and generate trust among your target audience. 

Make sure you’re using this valuable tool in your next marketing campaign.