Financial services companies like to measure everything.
When discussing communications and earned media, executives usually see the value in a broad, general sense, but get uncomfortable when things are harder to quantify. So inevitably some version of the same question comes up: “How can I measure it?”
There are ways to measure earned media, but to understand the broader value to a company’s brand, it’s important to go beyond the numbers and take a qualitative understanding of value. It can be helpful to think about it in business terms that might be more familiar.
A Trust Dividend
Given the sensitive nature of financial services firms, they need to earn trust, and a long-term media relations program can generate that trust. Credible coverage in reputable media outlets, quotes alongside other leaders, analyst mentions, awards, conference speaking, and other media participation all act as important third-party validation.
Companies can pay for advertising – which has its own unique benefits – but over time, the totality of a firm’s earned media creates a public profile that reinforces trust and establishes the credibility required to stand out from competitors. Articles can rank in search results for months or years; investors and clients reference coverage in their diligence, and sales teams can reuse stories as evidence that they are the right firm to partner with. Financial services firms that invest in a long-term media relations program will see the fruits of those efforts in the form of a metaphorical “trust dividend” that pays out over time.
Reputational Insurance
While earned media helps build trust, it also builds a reservoir of goodwill that can be a difference maker when something goes wrong. A company with a history of engaging with the media to tell the story of its good work, building relationships with reporters, and proactively communicating with key stakeholders is more likely to receive the benefit of the doubt from reporters and their own customers.
This can be especially beneficial in the face of a market downturn, product or service issue, or regulatory scrutiny. The same way you can’t sign up for an insurance plan after an accident, you can’t suddenly rely on reputational goodwill to mitigate an adverse incident if it hasn’t been built over time through an earned media program.
Market Positioning
Earned media can also help companies proactively differentiate themselves in a competitive space, “own” certain subspecialties, and establish themselves as true thought leaders. Pick a financial services specialty – blockchain firms, private equity fund administrators, online mortgage originators, private real estate lenders, digital payments networks, etc., and remember that at one point, nobody was talking about it. Then reporters took notice and needed to speak to industry leaders who could help educate them on the business.
Companies that proactively engage with reporters and industry analysts over time can help shape the contours of how the subsector is covered, placing themselves at the center. Consistent media participation positions a company and its executives as thoughtful leaders in the eyes of current and prospective clients, partners, peers and the general public.
AI-First
Financial services companies—like everyone else— are scrambling to rebrand themselves as AI-first or tech-enabled. While an earned media program can’t make a company’s internal operations more efficient the way a team of AI agents can, it can help train the large language models (LLMs) that consumers and businesses alike increasingly turn to for information processing and knowledge-based work.
A May 2026 Muck Rack Report, “What is AI Reading?” found that ~99% of links cited by AI come from non-paid sources, with journalism accounting for 27% of all citations. Large Language Models (LLMs) that also use search engines to find up-to-date information can incorporate new content within hours of it going online and include it in results.
Firms covered consistently in credible publications are more likely to be recognized by the various LLMs and associated with the right themes (e.g., “Company X is a leader in private credit technology solutions”). LLMs function by building internal “maps” of entities (companies, people, products), and consistent appearances in media coverage train the models to associate these entities with the themes in media coverage. Without a strong base of coverage from trustworthy media to draw on, LLMs may confuse a specific company with others, omit it entirely from relevant answers/summaries, or worse, misattribute its offerings/capabilities.
Long-Term Programs Pay Off
They may be hard to quantify, but financial services firms should view earned media programs as an important part of their overall business strategy whose qualitative results compound and pay out over time in the form of increased awareness, trust, differentiation, and more.
By Alex Varney, Vice President, and Thomas Zadvydas, Account Supervisor, at Stanton.