According to Edelman’s Trust Barometer, over 60 percent of people now say they distrust corporate communications by default, which means credibility is no longer assumed and must be demonstrated repeatedly. 

To evaluate trust, audiences rely on two distinct pathways to evaluate trust: external validation from independent sources, and sustained exposure to a company’s consistent narrative over time.

Press coverage and owned media achieve credibility when executed together over the long term. It’s best to have an ‘always on’ approach to PR and media relations  to develop trust with the gatekeepers: high authority journalists and publications as well as meaningful stories vs. brand mentions.

Let’s discuss how to balance both as part of your strategic communications and content strategy to fuel growth.

How Does Press Coverage (Earned Media) Work? 

When a respected publication, analyst, or journalist tells your story, we call this third-party credibility. This has a higher value in the audience’s mind versus brand authored content. With research proving companies  with a long-term owned media strategy  generate higher engagement and audience retention. 

Benefits

• Establishes legitimacy at moments when stakeholders are forming or revising opinions, such as leadership transitions,M&As, regulatory exposure, market entry, or public controversy.
  
• Shortens trust timelines by borrowing authority from outlets that already influence your audience’s decision making.
  
• Signals relevance and seriousness to secondary audiences, including partners, investors, recruiters, and analysts, even when they are not the primary readership.
  
• Sets narrative context by determining what frame your company is discussed within, not just whether it is mentioned.

Limitations

Press coverage limits control over framing, hierarchy, or message lifespan. The reality is, it can be challenging to measure real success unless sustained and integrated into a broader strategic communications program. 

What a Press Led Strategy Actually Looks Like

A successful  media relations strategy is about Strategic and meaningful press coverage, versus volume. 

• Develop a short list of press outlets that your buyers, regulators, investors, or partners watch, read and follow. 
• Define the business moments where third-party validation changes outcomes, such as GTM launches, leadership positioning, risk exposure, or competitive differentiation.
• Invest in media training to prepare executives to deliver key messages and control  the narrative.
• Leverage press coverage as a credibility trigger across your sales teams, website, stakeholder and buyer audiences – then guide audiences to owned content that further  reinforces context.

Say no to stories that don’t  benefit from external validation. Fewer, better-aligned media moments create stronger signals of authority and better outcomes. 

How Does Owned Media Work?

When audiences repeatedly encounter company owned content that reflects clear thinking, relevant insight, and coherent positioning across channels, trust builds over time. It carries more relevance. 

Benefits

• Creates narrative continuity by allowing the company to explain its position clearly across time, topics, and moments.
  
• Builds trust gradually through repetition, depth, and clarity rather than relying on third-party endorsement – things AI search engines in ChatGPT, Claude and Google search must have in order to surface your organization in search queries.
  
• Supports audiences who need education or reassurance before making decisions, especially in long consideration cycles.
  
• Strengthens discoverability and recall by giving stakeholders a reliable place to understand how the company thinks and operates.

Limitations

Owned media does not carry automatic credibility and requires sustained discipline and content developed with an editorial approach, meaning written like a journalist.  

Results compound slowly, and weak governance or inconsistent publishing undermines authority rather than building it.

To be successful, brands must establish clear editorial guidelines, approval processes, and accountability. 

What Does an Owned-Media-Led Strategy Actually Look Like? 

A strong owned media strategy focuses on narrative ownership rather than content volume.

• Define three to five strategic themes that reflect how the company wants to be understood by its most important audiences.
  
• To become discoverable, and build authority, develop content that answers real stakeholder questions instead of reacting to trends or filling editorial calendars.
  
• Establish executive voices that consistently explain decisions, priorities, and perspectives in plain language who are media trained to deliver consistent key messages search recognizes as authority over time.
  
• Use owned platforms as the primary source of context that supports press coverage, investor conversations, and sales engagement. The north star should be to create a communications hub for all audiences, often referred to as a corporate newsroom. 

Dimension	Press Coverage (Earned Media)	Owned Media
Message control	Limited once published but media training and a communications strategy shapes the story	Full editorial control
Credibility	High due to third-party validation over self-claims	Built gradually through consistency
Speed	Dependent on media cycles	Immediate publishing
Predictability	Low	High
Longevity	Short to medium	Long term and compounding
Best use	Trust transfer and visibility	Narrative ownership and education

How to Choose Based on Your Company’s Goals?

The right choice depends on objectives and how quickly they need to be fulfilled. For example, if your organization must raise prices, or is facing layoffs, growing competition, it’s best to develop a communications strategy that encompasses earned and owned media. 

If your audience relies on external signals to assess credibility, such as regulators, investors, enterprise buyers, or institutional partners, earned media should carry more strategic weight. These audiences often look for third-party validation before engaging. 

If your audience requires education, reassurance, or repeated exposure to understand your value, owned media should take priority. This includes long sales cycles, emerging categories, or services where differentiation depends on expertise rather than novelty.

Most companies perform best when one pillar clearly leads and the other plays a defined supporting role. 

PR services for B2B Companies

B2B communications demand credibility, narratives that support long sales cycles, and a strategy that balances third party validation with sustained message ownership. We help B2B companies in highly regulated industries into authority that includes press coverage and owned media into a single, disciplined system built over time. 

About Verified Communications: Toronto-based public relations and strategic communications firm trusted since 2016. We have experience working with Gap Inc., Amazon, Walmart, and ambitious companies that demand strategic thinking, and seasoned judgment –  without the big agency bloat to build visibility and authority.