One story. 50+ newsroom pickups. Authority AI already trusts.
Google and AI tools recommend brands that trusted publishers cover, and buying links one at a time won’t get you there. EarnedEdge is Tonic’s earned media service: we create one original, journalist-style story on a topic you choose and distribute it across 4,000+ U.S. publishers, with 50+ guaranteed pickups and DR 30 to 75+ backlinks in every campaign.
THE PROBLEM
Links bought one at a time don't build the trust AI looks for.
Google, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and other AI tools lean on trust signals when they decide which brands to recommend. Earned placements on real news sites build exactly those signals.
Most brands try to get there one link at a time, and one-time placements can lose value. EarnedEdge takes a different route: one strong editorial story, picked up by 50+ publishers in a single campaign, building coverage that compounds over months and years.
Journalist-style content that earns the coverage, brand mentions, and backlinks that Google and AI systems treat as trust signals.
Not a press release.
No wire services. No boilerplate announcements.
Not paid placement.
Coverage is earned through editorial quality and relevance.
Not blog republishing.
Every story is original, written by an editorial team in AP style.
WHAT YOU GET
Everything that comes with one campaign.
One story, written once and distributed widely. Here’s what every EarnedEdge campaign includes.
One original, journalist-style story
Data-rich, written to AP editorial standards by an editorial team, and optimized for news pegs and syndication pickup. It reads like reporting, not an announcement.
4,000+ trusted U.S. publishers
Distribution across national and hyper-local newsrooms.
50+ guaranteed pickups
Every campaign, with DR 30 to 75+ backlinks.
Brand mention with a backlink
Links to your homepage, or a custom landing page on request.
Original bylines and artwork
Distributed with every story.
Editorial review and optimization
For news pegs, AP style, and maximum pickup potential.
A detailed performance report
Every pickup, publisher, domain rating, location, and audience reach.
HOW EARNEDEDGE WORKS
From your topic to 50+ pickups in four steps.
You bring the topic. The editorial team handles the story, the distribution, and the report.
Submit a topic or headline
You provide a topic, angle, or headline. You can also submit a published URL for editorial review.
Editorial review and story creation
An editorial team writes an original, data-rich story optimized for AP style, news pegs, and syndication.
Syndication across 4,000+ publishers
The story is published and distributed across the partner network, earning organic pickup from real newsrooms.
Results and reporting
You get a full breakdown of pickups, publishers, domain ratings, locations, and audience reach.
- DR 74National
- DR 61Texas
- DR 52California
- DR 44Ohio
- DR 33Florida
Every campaign comes with a detailed performance report: every pickup, each publisher and its domain rating, where your coverage landed (with a map view), and total audience reach. No guessing, no black boxes.
WHY EARNED MEDIA WORKS
Coverage that keeps working long after the campaign.
Authority Google and AI trust
Earned placements on real news sites build the trust signals Google, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and other AI systems use to recommend brands.
Credibility that compounds
Coverage from trusted publishers creates authority that grows over time, not links that expire.
Real newsroom distribution
Stories go to actual editorial teams at national and hyper-local outlets. Earned pickup, not paid placement or press release wires.
AI-ready brand signals
Every campaign builds brand mentions, entity signals, and citations that help AI systems recognize and recommend your business.
Earned media is one part of AI visibility. DiscoverOS runs managed SEO plus AI visibility, RepShield manages your GBP and reviews, and RefreshBoost brings older content back up to date.
STORY RULES
Built to read like news, because it has to.
Every story goes through editorial review. These are the guidelines it has to meet before it’s distributed.
What makes a story work
- Data-rich, newsworthy topics perform best
- Informational and editorial in nature
- An individual's name as the byline
- Your subject matter experts can be quoted
- Cited data includes methodology and source links
What gets sent back
- Purely promotional content, or anything that reads like advertising
- First-person language
- A brand name as the byline
- Quotes from C-suite, marketing, or sales personnel
- Advertorial content of any kind
WHO IT'S FOR
Made for brands that want to be the trusted source.
Brands building long-term authority
You want coverage that compounds over months and years, not one-time link placements that lose value.
Businesses that want to show up in AI results
EarnedEdge builds the entity signals, brand mentions, and citations that AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity use to recommend brands.
Companies that need credibility at scale
You want 50+ editorial placements from a single campaign instead of buying links one at a time.
FAQ
Questions about EarnedEdge.
What is EarnedEdge?
EarnedEdge is Tonic’s earned media service, an editorial syndication service. We create an original, journalist-style story and distribute it across a network of 4,000+ U.S. publishers. Each campaign guarantees 50+ pickups with DR 30 to 75+ backlinks.
What problem does earned media solve?
Google and AI systems use trust signals to decide which brands to recommend, and earned placements on real news sites build those signals. Instead of buying links one at a time, one campaign earns 50+ editorial placements, plus the brand mentions and citations AI tools like AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity use.
What do I get in a campaign?
One original journalist-style story written to AP editorial standards, distribution across 4,000+ trusted U.S. publishers, 50+ guaranteed pickups with DR 30 to 75+ backlinks, a brand mention with a homepage backlink (or a custom landing page link on request), original bylines and artwork, editorial review and optimization, and a detailed performance report.
How is this different from a press release?
Press releases announce news and are distributed through wire services. Earned media is journalist-style editorial content that earns organic pickup from real newsrooms. It reads like reporting, not an announcement, which makes it more credible to both readers and AI systems.
How is this different from content syndication?
Content syndication republishes an existing blog post to 200+ sites. EarnedEdge creates a brand-new editorial story written to AP standards and distributes it to 4,000+ publishers with 50+ guaranteed pickups. The quality, scale, and authority signals are significantly higher.
What kind of content gets created?
Each story is original, data-rich, and written in AP editorial style, with original bylines and artwork. Stories are optimized for news pegs and syndication pickup. No advertorial content, promotional language, or sales links are included.
What publishers will my story appear on?
Stories are distributed to a network of 4,000+ U.S. publishers, including national and hyper-local outlets. Pickup depends on story quality and editorial relevance, so specific placements are not guaranteed.
Are the links dofollow?
Links from publisher pickups are syndication-style and include a rel canonical tag. The link authority comes from appearing on high-DR, editorially trusted domains.
What does the reporting include?
You receive a detailed performance report showing total pickups, each publisher and its domain rating, the geographic location of pickups (with a map view), and total audience reach.
How long does a campaign take?
About 10 business days from order to distribution: 1 day for editorial review, 7 to 8 days for story production and optimization, and 1 day for publication and distribution. Results are reported about 10 days after publication.
What topics work best?
Data-rich, newsworthy topics perform best. Stories should be informational and editorial in nature. Content that is purely promotional, contains first-person language, or reads like advertising will be revised or declined during editorial review.
Are there any content restrictions?
Stories must have an individual’s name as the byline, not a brand name. Your subject matter experts can be quoted, but C-suite, marketing, or sales personnel cannot. All cited data must include methodology and source links. No advertorial content is distributed.
Can I use EarnedEdge in a restricted niche?
Topics related to gambling, weapons, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, adult content, cryptocurrency, and similar categories are not eligible.
Ready to earn coverage that compounds?
Book a free consult and we’ll talk through your topic ideas, the story rules, and whether EarnedEdge is the right fit. No pressure, no pitch deck.
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