Public Relations Remains Relevant with the PESO Model

In the industry of public relations, it is imperative to continuously adapt to new technologies and communication platforms in order to craft and share our messages effectively and reach the intended audiences. The communications playing field is evolving and many marketing professionals are taking control of their own content and social media. To the untrained eye, it may seem as though the necessity of public relations is fading. This could not be further from the truth. While any person can write blogs and post on social media, public relations professionals have a unique skillset to craft intriguing narratives and build lasting relationships with clients and customers. Sponsored and advertorial content may be easily controlled by marketers, but PR professionals remain the master storytellers.

At Novitas Communications, we encourage our clients to adopt a PESO model, which embodies an integrated communications model using various channels. The PESO model showcases the quantifiable success of our efforts to our clients. Our team seamlessly merges the four media types—paid, earned, shared and owned – to create lasting brand reputations and tangible client returns.

If you are unfamiliar with the PESO model, let us explain how it works….

Paid Media (P)

Paid media consists of social media ads, digital media ads and keywords, boosted and sponsored content, fan acquisition, lead generation and paid publishing. Over the years, organic social media posts have successfully led our campaigns and they still do, but social media is now primarily a pay-to-play platform and paid media dominates. To ensure your message is heard, it is important for our team and clients to always consider paid digital media ads. Novitas’ team members have expertise in Google, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook ads by creating targeted audiences, messaging and creative for the ads to reach stakeholders. A campaign can be phenomenal, but receive zero engagement if the target audience is flawed. While we don’t sponsor all of our content or that of our clients, our agency uses paid media as part of a holistic communications strategy.

Earned Media (E)

Earned media is the most traditional form of public relations in the PESOs model. It is often the primary focus of public relations and includes news media, and influencer, investor, and blog relations. The key to our success with earned media at Novitas is our longtime connections and reputation with both local and national publications. Novitas and our employees have built relationships with various reporters across the country for over 20 years, so we know who to call to ensure coverage for our client’s news. When media outlets nationally and here in Colorado receives an email from a Novitas employee, they know the content is trustworthy, fact-checked, and beneficial for their audience.

Shared Media (S)

Shared media refers to almost any content posted to a social media platform including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. It has become highly relevant over the past several years with the rise of social media and online networking. It is a primary method of communication both internally among a team and externally to the public. At Novitas, we consider shared media to be much more than just posting on Instagram or Twitter. Shared media includes active community building and engagement with followers though personal interactions, utilizing social media influencers and brand ambassadors, and sharing user generated content. In addition, corporate social responsibility, charity initiatives, coalition building, and community service are becoming more relevant in the shared media realm. The public wants to see how an organization is contributing to the world to make it a better place, and often form loyalties to a brand based on these initiatives. For ourselves and our clients, we strategize how to best engage the facets of shared media and distribute the content on the social platform where it will be best received.

Owned Media (O)

Owned media involves any content an organization creates internally, such as this blog post. In contrast to earned media where a reporter is writing the story, the messaging of owned media is controlled by the agency of record or an organization, and the person writing chooses how to tell their own story. Owned media usually lives on the company website as blogs, white papers, articles, etc., and is then disseminated across paid and shared media. Owned media is important because it demonstrates proactive thought leadership and industry knowledge that a person or organization has. Novitas often uses owned media to help clients tell their stories. Engaging and interesting owned content can ultimately act as a sales funnel for new business inquiries from your website.

As PR professionals, it is our job to strategize with our clients around the PESO model to transform our clients’ reputations with forward-thinking, integrated communication plans. Modern technology creates the ability to connect with stakeholders in many different ways, and we must proactively use each outlet robustly and correctly. We are professional storytellers, so when our clients entrust us with their narratives, we show them why public relations is such an essential tool for their success.