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Putting All the Pieces Together 3
Quick question: Does the name Gini Dietrich ring a bell? No? Well, then we suppose a brief introduction is in order.
Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, an integrated marketing communications firm. She is a PR and marketing expert who also happens to be a lead blogger on Spin Sucks, and the founder of Spin Sucks Pro.
Gini is one of the innovators in the field of PR and marketing communications, and one of her contributions to the world of marketing is the PESO model.
The PESO Model
The PESO model is a media model strategy. It stands for Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned media. According to Gini, her company had been using this model internally since 2009, but it was in 2014 that the model, as we know it, came into being.
The intention behind the creation of the model was to highlight the evolution of PR. The model sought to establish a connection between PR activities and various communication models.
The concept was to create a model that was fluid and gave marketers a structure upon which they could base their communication strategy. It shares four media types that can work in cohesion to help the brand build awareness, create authority, and increase conversions.
Although PESO is supposed to be a holistic marketing model, Gini herself has acknowledged that one does not have to be the jack of all trades to use this model. Simply put, you will still need to have SEO analysts, copywriters, and designers on the team to make the most of the individual components of this model.
Speaking of which, let’s take an in-depth look at each of the components of this model and determine how you can incorporate it in your digital marketing strategy:
Owned media
Although Paid media comes first in PESO, Gini Dietrich herself states that marketers should start with the media they own.
It also makes sense because owned media refers to all kinds of content that you own. It’s the content that you either post on your website, other websites, or other marketing channels. It reflects the brand persona and serves as a foundation for all other marketing channels.
Some examples of owned media include blogs published on web pages, ebooks, and guides written for your website along with additional content like podcasts.
Marketers need to remember that it is unlikely that customers will ever interact with a company’s employees. The only way to interact with customers is through the brand’s content. Owned media is the first medium of communication between a business and customers, so it needs to be on point.
Although owned media is usually free, sometimes companies need to spend money on content creation. One way around this is to hire people internally, get an agency on board, or work with freelancers. No matter which option you chose, the end goal remains the same— to create a library of content that customers find engaging.
You will also need to create personas of your target customers and develop content strategy accordingly. Do your research and identify keywords that you feel your customers will use. Finally, decide upon the content publication platform.
Throughout the process, you will continue to monitor the performance of your content and optimize it for the best possible results.
Shared Media
Gini Dietrich has confessed to her love of social media on multiple occasions and rightly so. After all, it plays an integral role in a company’s digital marketing strategy. Social media falls under the umbrella of shared media, which in itself is an extension of a company’s owned media.
The company might use social media channels, but each of these platforms has its share of characteristics because of which they are referred to as shared media instead.
Your job is to identify the differences in these platforms and develop your content accordingly. The trick is to ensure consistency in all of your communications.
Consider the following example. Suppose you were developing a content strategy for high-speed internet providers like AT&T etc. Your content on Facebook will focus on images, and text, while the content on Twitter will be only text-based.
However, the core message of your communication will remain the same, something like AT&T internet is superior to others, and hence it should be your choice of internet provider.
Once you share content on social media, it’s no longer yours. It now belongs to the audiences who will be the ultimate judge of the content’s quality. The likes, comments, and shares will depend on how engaging your content is.
Brands need to be especially careful when they are posting content on social media. A slightest mistake can trigger a chain reaction, which in extreme cases, can lead to a brand losing all of its credibility in the online world.
Earned Media
In essence, earned media is all about relationship building. Historically, earned media referred to PR pitches that were sent to publications so that they could print something related to the brand in the form of an article or a story.
Of course, with the advent of social media that has changed. Today brands are more interested in reaching out to social media influencers than journalists.
These influencers have a large following, and they have an impact on customer preferences. They also handle the job of content creation.
Brands also reach out to bloggers and editors of popular websites and request them to feature a guest post or integrate a backlink of their website in a content piece to boost traffic. Adding backlinks to other websites also helps bring traffic to the brand’s website.
Search Engine Optimization can be considered an example of earned media since search engines use more than 200 factors to evaluate a website and determine its ranking.
Of course, the process of securing earned media is slow, but it is also rewarding once you have overcome all trials and tribulations.
Paid Media
There is a lot of clutter in the digital landscape, and with so much content, it becomes very challenging for brands to carve out space for themselves. One way to overcome this problem is through paid media.
Paid media is the best strategy for a brand to reach its target market and maintain control over who gets to see its content.
Paid media revolves around PPC campaigns developed on Google. This tactic is known as native advertising. Native ads are advertisements that fit the form and function of a web page so that the content appears to be native to the page. Following are examples of native advertising:
Social media promotion: Social media promotion involves creation of sponsored posts on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. These ads look like ordinary posts, but the difference is that they sometimes feature a CTA button and are labeled as sponsored posts.
Sponsored content: Technically sponsored content does not refer to an ad. It is a long-form piece of content published on a media publishing web site. The idea is to reach the audience on the publisher’s website and use it to generate conversions.
Since this form of native advertising is more subtle, chances of people interacting with the content are higher.
Content Discovery: It is quite common to find native advertisements on content discovery platforms. These platforms feature snippets of thumbnails, headlines, and links to specific content at the end of the page. Clicking on the see more option redirects users to the brand’s website.
Putting All the Pieces Together
All of these media strategies work in cohesion with one another to generate awareness and conversions for a brand. We would like to reiterate that you don’t have to be an expert in every single one of these components in order to create a successful digital strategy.
The trick is to ensure consistency in all of your communications and establish your brands’ objectives before preparing the content.
Baldwin Jackson is a successful digital marketer with expertise in search engine optimization and content marketing. The perfect balance of his analytical ability and creative thinking is what sets him apart from other practitioners in the digital marketing realm. He has helped a lot of small and medium-sized businesses in crafting their digital marketing strategies that are not only cost-effective but delivers results as well.
Baldwin is also a proud father of two kids and a Sports enthusiast. When he is not working, you will find him watching ESPN and NFL network. He has been able to get an amazing package on his favorite channels from Buytvinternetphone.com.
