The PESO model is a framework that has been widely used in marketing and communications. It is based on four key marketing channels: paid media, earned media, shared media, and owned media. While each element plays an important role in promoting and increasing brand awareness, it is the synergistic combination of these four components that makes the PESO model so successful.
Paid media refers to digital advertising platforms such as display ads, paid search, television, and streaming ads. This channel gives you instant access to large audiences and enables you to reach them efficiently with creative campaigns and digital programs.
Paid media allows you to scale quickly, and it’s also predictable. You know exactly what type of results you will get based on how much you are investing in each platform. However, paid media can get very expensive for large, global brands.
One of the best examples of paid media is a Super Bowl commercial. It’s very expensive to reach a large audience simultaneously, but the results are worth it. A 30-second ad during the Super Bowl can cost around $5 million, but it will be seen by over 100 million people.
Earned media is another way of saying public relations. This channel is effective because it is one of the most trusted by consumers today. People are more likely to believe what they read in media coverage than in ads.
However, unlike paid media, earned media is difficult to control. You can’t always predict when a story will be published or which news outlet will cover it. Securing media coverage is achieved by pitching stories to journalists through email, phone calls, and social media. The biggest challenge with earned media is that the stories themselves have to be newsworthy. If you have a product launch and want a journalist from The New York Times to write about it, you have to position your message in a way that goes beyond just your product.
Also, successful media coverage doesn’t necessarily mean you have to get in the New York Times. There are other business and tech media outlets that can have an impact if you can get coverage there. They may not have the same appeal, but that shouldn’t matter in public relations.
Shared media is social media. It’s referred to as “shared” because you share the space with consumers. You may own the creative and messaging, but you cannot control how audiences respond to your content.
Shared media is a great way to connect with consumers on a personal level and build relationships. It’s also an excellent way to humanize your brand. The downside of shared media is that it can be very time-consuming. You have to be constantly creating new content, engaging with your audience, and monitoring what people are saying about you online.
For shared media, you may also have to hire a community manager and social customer support team. The community manager will be responsible for posting content, responding to comments, and monitoring social media metrics.
The social customer support team will help customers with product questions, complaints, and problems. While this isn’t considered marketing, it’s a fundamental piece of how shared media channels can be managed effectively.
Owned media represents all content directly controlled by a company, including the company website, microsites, blogs, apps, or email newsletters. With owned media, you have complete control over the customer experience.
You can use it to build loyalty, drive sales, or promote brand awareness. The downside of owned media is that it can be very costly to produce high-quality content. It also requires ongoing maintenance and updates.
One of the core attributes of managing your owned media channels is having a strong SEO strategy. You can use the other channels to drive traffic to your owned properties, but if your website isn’t optimized for search, you’re not going to get the results you want. Likewise, if your website is outdated or difficult to use, people will leave quickly and may never come back.
One potential grey area of the PESO model is your influencer marketing strategy. Mostly because working with influencers can involve paid, earned, shared, and owned media. Typically, when you work with an influencer, you pay them to create and share content on their channels (paid and shared media).
The hope is that their audience likes the content so much that they share it beyond the initial post (earned media). And finally, if the relationship is successful, you may be able to get the influencer to agree to be featured on your owned channels (owned media).
The value of the PESO model lies in its ability to combine these various channels to create an integrated marketing strategy that engages customers on multiple levels. Whether running online ads targeted at specific audiences or pitching a story to the New York Times, the PESO model ensures that all the disparate pieces of a marketing campaign are working together towards one common goal.
