Your PR will fail if you do not apply this PESO model

Knowing and applying are different things, aren’t they? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 20% of businesses fail within the first year, and only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or more.

Where did the failing businesses go wrong?

The reason often lies in inappropriate recruitment. Not being industry experts, business owners and HR managers tend to trust the self-presentation of potential employees but cannot always effectively measure their skills.

But we know a way around this difficulty! As a PR company, we daily review marketing materials, some of which are expert pitches. We have already realized that their main mistake is not putting into practice what they state in their business cards.

The poor PESO model

PR professionals misapply and misinterpret the popular PESO model. For example, they don’t have a good mix of different kinds of communication and spend the whole budget on paid advertising.

By learning from others’ failures, we have figured out how to explain the PESO model in an accessible way and prevent common mistakes. Want to learn more about us? Read the previous post!

Four types of communication

The main objective of the PESO framework is to market products and strengthen a company’s brand. To achieve this, all four types of communication — Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned — must be used.

Paid media are the ones where you spend money in order to get customers’ attention, i.e., social media ads and sponsored publications in magazines. Earned media are those based on your brand’s relationships, such as free blogger reviews or recommendations from investors. The last two are shared and owned media. The first refers to customers’ reviews and mentions of your brand in Google search, while the last but not least is all about public content your company produces, such as Instagram and other social pages, your website, etc.

To apply them effectively, you need to strike a balance. Namely, to spend the same amount of time and money on their implementation.

Why is it important to integrate them simultaneously?

Each of the channels affects a specific segment of the target audience. For example, you might produce children’s clothes. Both young mothers and grandmothers of children may be interested in it at the same time. The first segment will see you on social media, while the second will see you on paid media. If you exclude one of the channels, you will lose some customers, and therefore money.

Where to start?

Let’s remember again: there is no ‘most effective’ PR tool. You need to start with what suits your objectives. If you are a new company and don’t have a spare budget for promotion, we suggest starting with social media development — set up Instagram and Facebook pages and shoot content in the likeness of your competitors. If you want to expand your team, start by placing in paid media and creating your own media — in this case, a recruitment landing page.

Don’t forget that in the end, you should apply all types of communication — Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned.

Tell us if you have more questions — let’s discuss them in the comments section. And don’t forget to follow us — more useful marketing materials are ahead.