The PESO model, brainchild of PR Guru Gini Dietrich, is a useful tool to organise our thoughts and efforts. The PESO model allows us to include all aspects of marketing communications in our business plan. If your background is in communications, then you will be very familiar with the diagram below. Cue university nostalgia… We are going to tell you how you could be using this model to better your business communications.
PESO stands for paid media, earned media, shared media and owned media.
Schedule a zoom meeting to find out how your communications plan can be organised to include the PESO model.
Paid media refers to any sponsored content or activity that requires payment for promotion. Examples of exchanging money for distribution include sponsored posts on Facebook or Twitter and native advertising.
Tools which are useful for managing, scheduling and posting your paid media content online include Loomly and Hootsuite. If your business is in the health space, you might want to look at an advertising packages with the Medical Republic or Australian Doctor . Make sure to select the media outlet that is relevant to your target audience. Packages that include paid social media promotion are a great way to reach your audience through a number of avenues.
Earned media relates to your company’s public relations efforts. This involves trading valuable content for an established authority’s audience. Examples of this include building relationships with influencers and bloggers. They become organic advocates of your brand and post about your product or service without receiving payment. The most common form of earned media is organic media coverage.
For our clients in the healthcare industry, we start by identifying patient case studies. Their stories fuel the media pitch with human interest, which journalists crave. We also involve a healthcare professional who is happy to comment on the subject of the media release. It’s also helpful to involve a health consumer organisation, that can increase your likelihood of being published.
Use this earned media checklist to understand how to prepare for earned media activities for the healthcare industry.
Shared media is anything you have created in the paid, earned and owned media space that is amplified through your own audience. This could be a company blog post that is shared on LinkedIn by a user with a high following. In turn their followers begin to interact and engage with the content you have created.
For those in the healthcare industry, why not try sharing a whitepaper or useful branded resource. You can post it across your company’s social media platforms to a targeted audience. This will encourage them to share and interact with your content. The key to successful shared media activities is reaching users who have an interest in your company’s expertise. You can learn more about feeding content to a targeted audience here.
Owned media is something you are consuming right now. It is a company blog, an informative video or an employee’s story that lives on your company’s website. We create owned media for the benefit of our customers. It tells the company’s story or teaches customers something useful relating to their business needs and interests.
The below diagram is a useful reminder of what each section of the PESO model represents. It also includes details of the important crossovers between each media type. This is a good visual to consult when you are developing your communications strategy. Ensuring each circle has been included and utilised to its full ability is paramount.
Image source: www.spinsucks.com
As communicators, we tend to focus on the areas in which we are most comfortable. Whether you are a marketer, PR practitioner or an outsider to the communications game, the PESO model is important as it allows us to think outside the box. Instead of focusing on what we do best, the real success of the PESO model lies in combining all four channels of communications.
Take it from the person who invented it, Gini Dietrich who said: “If you aren’t using the PESO model for your communications work and measuring the meaningful metrics that help an organisation grow, you will not have a job in 10 years.”
Schedule a zoom meeting to learn more about how your communications plan can be organised to include the PESO model.
