When working with marketing teams, the “PESO” media model can come up.
PESO – Paid, earned, shared, and owned media.
Here’s a quick overview of each:
- Paid – These are the places we pay a fee to get our brand noticed (i.e. Media buys)
- Earned – This occurs when the press or your customers speak positively about you
- Shared – These are places where information can be shared (i.e. social media)
- Owned – Elements of a brand such as a website, content, and physical spaces
Companies spread their efforts in all four areas, ideally with the most focus on owned.
I started thinking about how this model might tie to being the MeEO of our career & life.
My Perspective
I think PESO can be a foundation for thinking about our personal brand.
We could start with the “owned” assets of our brand.
Writing thought leadership pieces.
Creating a personal website.
Defining how we want to be perceived in our industry.
These are just a few considerations.
Paid considerations might be taking a class / exam for a certification or degree.
Earned elements of your personal brand could include testimonials from co-workers.
Performance reviews from leaders.
Or media gained via your thought leadership platform.
Shared content is what we share with others on social media.
This could be short, thought leadership insights.
A POV on someone else’s content (via the repost feature).
Or links to interesting information you have come across that you believe others will enjoy.
Thinking through our personal content through these lenses could highlight our content strengths and weaknesses where we should focus more attention.
Note: I frequently replace the “S” (shared) with an “B” (borrowed). We don’t have control of social media; we are just borrowing space. Tomorrow, all our content could disappear and there is little to nothing we can do about it.
Your Turn
Are you familiar with the PESO model?
Do you think this framework could be used to better understand your personal brand?
Have you started leaning into each of the four areas?