Keeping up with the latest marketing trends is a challenge for even full-time marketing managers and directors. But combined with the demands of running a local business makes it feel just about impossible. You may remember—or have even seen—influencers and brand ambassadors taking over social media feeds across the globe. Their devoted masses bought on their say-so. And companies rushed in to capitalize.
As the influencer trend became a mainstay of most major marketers, it started to lose its touch. Audiences felt suggestions weren't rooted in an authentic relationship between brand and influencer. In its place arose micro-influencers. Smaller audiences, deeper trust, better return-on-investment for companies.
For a local business, the micro-influencer approach seems promising. As promising as it appears, it's still just that, a trend. When it comes to your marketing needs, you need more than trends, you need something tried and true. That's where partnering with owned and operated marketing channels, O&O for short, comes into focus. Let's explore what O&O is, its benefits, and how to partner with a brand you can trust.
What is O&O Marketing?
Owned and operated marketing is a strategy that uses owned and operated marketing channels to deliver compelling messages to your target customers. If that seemed vague, that's because O&O encompasses various marketing techniques, some of which may be familiar.
For example, when Meta puts up an ad for Instagram on your Facebook feed, that's O&O. If Meta runs a commercial for Instagram during the Super Bowl, that's not. Meta owns and operates Facebook, not the station airing the big game. But if that station runs a commercial promoting itself, that would be an example of O&O.
What is and is not O&O marketing depends on who is doing the marketing and where they're placing their messages. A blog on your website can be O&O marketing, assuming you're the focus of the blog. Painting your building with your brand logo and colors would also count.
Pros and Cons of O&O
One of the great benefits of pursuing an O&O strategy for your business is that it can be incredibly affordable. Besides the time to write and post blogs or paint your building, there's little in the way of additional costs. You can add an entire marketing channel or channels to your marketing mix with very low costs. Surely that should set you up for a high ROI, right?
Unfortunately, low costs don't automatically create high ROI. Not to mention the fact that these strategies aren't exactly low cost. While you may not need to pay some extra, they will require extensive time and effort.
Further complicating the outlook is the reach of your owned and operated channels. The reach of your blog could be limited to monthly visitors to your website. If you want to grow that reach it will require a concerted effort that may be beyond your current capacity.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. You can harness O&O's cost efficiency & high ROI, the authentic trust of a micro-influencer, and the reach and frequency of a major marketer. You just need the right brand partner.
Choosing a Brand Partner
Choosing to boost your marketing strategy with a brand partner is at the top of mind for leading brands this year. In their marketing plans for 2025, the majority are looking to work with publishers with first-party data, and a near majority are looking for influencers and partnerships. So what should you look for if you're going the same route?
Selecting the right brand partner starts with finding someone you can trust. Without it, it's unlikely audiences will trust them either. Next, you'll want to assess whether they have any owned and operated channels likely to reach your audience. Finally, you'll want to ensure you have a simple, accessible point of contact with your brand partner. Being able to get updates on campaigns, get questions answered, and make changes create successful brand partnerships.
Join A Family-Owned and Operated Legacy
If finding the perfect brand partner feels like looking for a needle in a haystack, choose CMG Local Solutions, the O&O brand partner that knows a thing or two about haystacks. We trace our roots back to our founder, James M. Cox, who started working on the family farm southwest of Dayton, Ohio.
While we at CMG Local Solutions aren't doing as much farming these days, that ethos provided us with powerful lessons. Namely, the seeds you nurture produce the best harvest. Just take it from our Brand Partner Manager, Regina Rockey, who's been with us for 30 years and counting. For Rockey, trust is central to a strong marketing message or brand partnership. Trust between readers and Cox's original Dayton Daily News is what fueled our growth into radio, then television, and now the digital world.
Our 15 television stations, 50 radio stations, and numerous streaming platforms are able to reach over 60 million Americans across 10 high-quality markets because of the strong relationships we've built over 125 years. When you partner with CMG, you're not just reaching into our audience, you become part of that relationship.
It's a relationship we take seriously and believe needs to be intentionally cultivated. At CMG, Rockey says, "we don't believe in one-size-fits-all packages, we're about people and passions." In her over 30 years at CMG, she takes time to learn about the people behind the businesses, who they are, and what they care about. Rockey remembers birthdays, when clients will be out-of-office for a child's graduation, and what keeps them going day after day. Sometimes these vignettes even make it into the marketing—if the client is up for it, of course. It's all part of ensuring our partners get the most from our services, year after year.
Advantages of a Brand Partner like CMG
Why take the time to establish a brand partnership with CMG? A successful partnership with CMG can help you deliver cost effective messages that reach your customers and drive them to convert.
Score Cost Effective Ads
A great brand partner should provide cost-effective advertisements because they own and operate the channels you'll be marketing on. Unlike going through platforms that charge fees on top of the ad costs, CMG's O&O channels have one upfront cost. It's like a wholesaler for your marketing needs.
Our O&O Helps You Stay Front & Center
But brand partners shouldn't just be offering a better than average rate, they should also offer better than average reach and frequency. At CMG, we can offer you direct control over where and how you want to appear on their channels. You can decide whether you want to be a banner ad at the top of the page or scrolling ad further down. Decide the pages, times, and locations you want to appear to reach your target audience. We'll give you control with just as much guidance to help you decide who and how often your message gets seen.
Boost ROI with CMG's O&O Marketing
You can get a better return on investment with CMG as your brand partner because we offer lower costs and more control over your marketing. We also have the audience you're looking to reach, understand what kind of messages resonate with them, and we've earned deep trust with that audience. With our advice and guidance, you can deliver the right message, at the right time, to the right customer—every time.
O&O + CMG = R&R
Don't take time away from your business' other vital needs to try and keep up with the latest marketing trends. While the major companies have the time and resources to get caught up in whatever's going viral at the moment, you deserve something consistent, fair, and effective. You need something that can ease the stressful burden that marketing can be. You need CMG Local Solutions as your O&O brand partner.
We know that any relationship thrives on consistency and fairness, and we pride ourselves on our effectiveness. When you partner with CMG Local Solutions, we'll help you select the ad formats and placement that maximize your budget and craft a message that resonates. Reach the audience you've been searching for with quality messages built on trust. It's been a successful formula for us for 125 years and counting.
Contact us today to reach new customers with O&O marketing.
