While public relations has always fallen under the umbrella of marketing, it was typically kept in its own silo delegated to media relations only. Historically there were clear lines drawn between advertisers and PR professionals, where PR would develop relationships with journalists to ensure coverage for their clients via earned media while advertisers would focus on the creative strategies for a campaign through paid media.
For years marketers focused solely on the Paid (advertising) Earned (media relations) and Owned (content that you own) model (PEO). However, with the rapid growth of digital and social media, a new element emerged: shared. With social media and digital technology drastically changing the media landscape, marketers found themselves desperately struggling to stand out.
The PESO model became the answer to the question of how one can get heard in an extremely busy media environment.
– Burghardt Tenderich, Professor of Professional Practice at USC Annenberg
The PESO model was officially coined in 2014 when Gini Dietrich, founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich (an integrated marketing communications firm) published her book Spin Sucks: Communication and Reputation Management in the Digital Age. It takes the four media types – paid, earned,shared and owned, and merges them together:
- Paid Media: Paid media is exactly what it sounds like: media that you pay for -essentially advertising. Examples of paid media include the traditional radio and television buys, billboards, social media ads and sponsored posts.
- Earned Media: Earned Media is what the public relations industry is typically known for: media relations. Media placement in print, having your client appear on the news or securing an interview on behalf of your brand are all examples of earned media.
- Shared Media: Shared media is primarily comprised of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat and more. These platforms are considered “shared media” because they can typically be approached as paid,earned or owned media.
- Owned Media: Owned is everything you have editorial control over, such as your logo, website, blog and all the content you create. You control the messaging and tell the story in a way you want it told.
An easy way to look at the PESO model is to view every form of media as a part of PESO, meaning every media is shared and everything can easily run through the who PESO model. As Megan Keohane stated in her 2018 article Putting the PESO Model into Action, for the PESO model to work, there must be blending and cohesion between the four elements.
In the case of influencer marketing, there is a crossover between earned, shared and paid media. When pitching influencers are a part of your media outreach plan, you may come upon some who request a fee in order to cover your client. If you reach out to an influencer who does require a fee and you pay said fee, you have just merged shared and paid media. Conversely, if the influencer does not require a fee,you’ve just merged earned and shared.
By using PESO, and especially the social aspect of PESO,you are enabling conversations and you’re expanding above and beyond one-directional communication, which both PR and advertising traditionally have been, PR less so than advertising. If you use PESO, you’re starting a conversation.
– Burghardt Tenderich, Professor of Professional Practice at USC Annenberg
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