Why PESO now — from one-way ads to platform conversations

Communication, at heart, is a message traveling from sender to receiver. For a long stretch of marketing history, that trip was one-way. The receiver had little chance to answer back, and a small guild of media owners controlled the channels like toll roads. Then the digital tide came in. Audiences found their own megaphones, platforms became the public squares, and the sender’s grip on distribution slipped. The PESO model takes this new terrain seriously. It gives us a clean way to sort the channels without pretending the map is still the same.

Origins and evolution of PESO

The model took shape in 2008 and was first put to work at NOKIA, went public in 2009, and in 2018 gained a fourth pillar: Shared Media. The name is an acronym of the four channels it organizes: Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned.

The four pillars at a glance

Paid Media — you rent reach and pay for the privilege.
Earned Media — you don’t pay; you persuade others to feature you.
Shared Media — your content spreads through social sharing and conversation.
Owned Media — you publish on channels you control.

Paid Media — rented reach you can dial up and down

Paid Media means communication on channels you must book and pay for: banner ads, Google Ads, social placements like Facebook or TikTok campaigns. Inventory is often allocated by auction—bidding in real time, price dancing with demand.

The bill is the obvious downside. The upsides are why it endures.

Targeting
Platforms offer precise audience segments with fine-grained attributes. Even small niches can be reached on purpose, not by accident.

Speed and scalability
With budget, you can buy reach quickly and scale it like opening a tap.

Tracking
Results are measurable in near real time. You can tune creative, placements, and pacing—automated A/B tests keep you honest.

Control
Turn it up, turn it down, or pull it entirely. You’re not waiting on a gatekeeper’s calendar.

Earned Media — credibility you have to earn

Earned Media are channels you don’t control and don’t pay, yet you appear there because someone chose to feature you: journalists in magazines, editors at blogs, independent reviewers. In this frame, social sharing does not count as Earned—that lives under Shared.

The promise is credibility. The catch is control. You don’t pick the headline, and a friendly interview can still yield a thorny pull-quote.

What actually fuels Earned:

• Provide high-quality information that meets journalistic standards
• Build dense infographics and interactive charts that carry real substance
• Produce videos that entertain instead of parroting ad copy
• Interview market-makers and genuine subject-matter experts
• Publish lists, awards, and reviews that help others shine
• Release studies and meta-studies with fresh findings
• Reference peers and competitors where relevant—be a good citizen

Content outreach — partnerships over pitches

Content outreach means looking for partners—site owners, bloggers, influencers, journalists—and inviting cooperation that makes both sides win. The partner gets strong material; you benefit from their reach. It’s unpaid; if money changes hands, you’ve crossed into Paid.

Many firms also maintain mailing lists for industry insiders to flag new developments worth covering.

HARO and kindred platforms

HARO (Help a Reporter Out) connects reporters seeking sources with people who can speak from experience. Companies that show up with substance can build lasting editorial relationships. A widely used sibling was ResponseSource—its German arm has since closed.

Content seeding — make it easy to reuse

With content seeding, you release assets designed to travel—embeddable graphics, quotable stats, media kits—free to use with attribution. You “sow” among insiders, influencers, and working journalists, and if they pick it up, you harvest reach and credibility. Seeding often bridges directly into Shared Media.

Shared Media — the user-driven spread

Shared Media is what happens when content catches wind on social networks: Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, X, LinkedIn. The company publishes in hopes of sparking interaction; users do the sharing, commenting, stitching, and remixing. Energy is the feature and the hazard. Speed rises, surprises happen, and your editorial team needs fast feet.

What tends to get shared: work that inspires, offers something singular, is well crafted, and feels either delightfully entertaining or honestly emotional—made for a specific audience, not “everyone.”

Don’t overlook classic forums and closed groups (think Xing or Facebook communities). They draw focused crowds. Use tact: contact moderators first, avoid spammy link drops, and post as a real person—say, your social media manager—rather than a faceless brand. Overt advertising in communities often backfires loudly.

Owned Media — the channels you control

Owned Media are channels under your direct control and essentially free to use: your website, your blogs, your brand’s social profiles, your email list. The tone is usually recognizably commercial.

Pros
Control is high. There are no media fees to occupy your own real estate.

Cons
Reach and traffic depend on the strength of your site and the size of your audience. Long-term gains require sustained investment in content and community. Credibility can be lower because readers expect a sales angle.

Core Owned channels: your website, email marketing, and your social profiles used as owned outposts.

Where PESO blurs — model limits and gray zones

PESO is a sturdy scaffold, not a courtroom. Some channels refuse clean labels. SEO is a hybrid—rooted in Owned content but rewarded as Earned visibility. Social content posted on your brand profile is Owned, while the very same asset being shared peer-to-peer is Shared. The point is orchestration, not taxonomy theater.

Putting it to work — orchestrate the mix

Map business goals to the channels that do that job best. Decide how content seeding and outreach will bridge Owned stories into Earned coverage, how Paid will accelerate what’s already resonating in Shared, and where each piece will be measured. Set a cadence. Name owners. Keep the loop tight between what you publish, what travels, and what you learn. The model gives you the parts; your craft is in how you make them sing together.