The state of public relations (PR) and marketing is in a constant state of flux — and in direct correlation to the change in public perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. Social media and mobile communications have created a wealth of new opportunities for building products and materials organizations to reach their customers. And, the PESO PR and marketing model can help you to strategize, utilize, and monetize them all.
What is PESO, how does it work, and why does it matter?
Developed by PR and social media expert, Gini Dietrich, the PESO model stands for Paid Earned Shared Owned. It describes a framework for complete control of the available PR and marketing strategies that your business can use to reach potential buyers and influence their perspectives about your company.
Here’s a breakdown of the PESO elements in detail:
- Paid Media. Any media that you pay for, and may include social media ads, sponsored posts, online advertising, direct mail
- Earned Media. Any media driven by what others say about your brand, and includes positive PR such as reviews, testimonials, and referrals
- Shared Media. Any media driven by social platforms — similar to earned media — and can include your social sites, video sharing, and online forums
- Owned Media. Any media driven by content you create, and may include content that lives on your website or a company blog
PESO works by giving you a complete picture of the available customer contact points across the marketing spectrum. It allows you to mix-and-match different mediums to create a custom public relations and marketing strategy to fit the way you interact with your customers — fully measurable and monetizable.
PESO matters because it subscribes to the axiom that ‘Content is King’.
Fox Business describes ‘a remarkably prescient piece written in 1996’ where ‘Bill Gates accurately foresaw the content boom years before Google, WordPress, Facebook and YouTube even existed’ and how Web 2.0 ‘transformed the internet from a collection of static websites to a richly interactive platform for user-generated content, blogs and social media’.
Putting PESO in terms of building products and materials marketing
They key to making the PESO model work for your business is creating a core message that guides your customer experience, extending that message into each core media area, and then mixing the media messages to draw customers from one touchpoint to another.
Think ‘Who we are’, ‘What we do’, ‘Who we do it for’, and ‘Why do we do it’ — answering each one of those questions in a singular statement — and then delivering this core message throughout each marketing channel using PESO as your guide. (i.e. ‘We are Kleber & Associates, and we create and deliver unique marketing and sales experiences for commercial and residential building product organizations to help them increase sales, increase sales frequency, and build their brands.’)
- Paid Media. We can create high-impact paid banner or video ads that earn likes and shares that drive your customers to a landing page for your newest product line
- Earned Media. We can scour PR sites to search for and highlight the reviews, testimonials, and referrals your customers leave that enhance your preselling performance
- Shared Media. We can launch unique campaigns on your various social platforms — including video segments — that drive traffic to your website
- Owned Media. We can research and create high-value content that your customers are actively searching for and publish that content live to your website or a company blog
It should be evident that by using PESO, the days of hit-or-miss marketing can quickly become a thing of the past. Create a strategy from the beginning, which all critical customer channels are considered, and leave literally no stone unturned.
In the end, PESO is all about giving your customers what they want
Yes, PESO is a critical system for helping you to control how your company represents itself to the outside world across all PR and marketing channels. But when all is said and done, PESO is about your customers. The maturity of the American B2C and B2B consumer means that the companies that survive are the ones that help first and sell second.
Consumers want to know that their best interests are your first priority. Only then will they consider doing business with you over a competitor. The PESO model can help you to give your customers that helpful impression from the very first meeting.
When they understand that you’re using your thought leadership and business resources to help them find information, understand concepts, and solve their greatest challenges, they’ll be much more apt to write you a check for the services and products you providce.
Team Kleber is ready to help your building materials business put the PESO model into action. Contact us today for a personal presentation of how we can help you personalize your own version of PESO that matches your company goals and meets all the ways you interact with your customers — saving your business both time and money in the process.
Kleber & Associates (K&A) is an Atlanta-based marketing and communications firm that focuses exclusively on building material manufacturers and building products. Our integrated marketing spirit specializes in brand development for clients in the home and commercial building products marketplace. For more information on our capabilities, please call +1-770-518-1000 or visit https://kleber3v.wpengine.com/contact/.
