Connect the places where people form their views

A buyer comparing suppliers, a journalist investigating a technology and a public official examining an industry proposal do not need the same material. Before selecting channels, I identify what each needs to understand, who they consult and which decision the company hopes to inform.

This work often reveals a gap between the audiences a company reaches and those it needs to convince. A publication can generate reactions among familiar peers while remaining absent from a specialist debate. The question is then whether to develop a better argument, make an expert available, work with an intermediary or pay to reach a defined audience.

PESO helps organise these choices once the purpose is clear. It does not require four campaigns: it helps decide what the company can publish itself, what it can sponsor and what others must choose to examine or discuss.

The PESO model, developed by Gini Dietrich and introduced in 2014, distinguishes paid, earned, shared and owned media. It provides a way to examine their relationship beyond separate budgets and publishing schedules.

Each connection requires a reason. A journalist needs something relevant to their readers, a professional needs material for a discussion and a buyer needs to examine a problem. Adapting the format helps, but the first question is what the recipient could use the content for.

These categories describe relationships, rather than a list of platforms. A paid creator partnership belongs to paid media; the same person’s independent commentary may be earned. A brand’s social account remains subject to platform rules. Search and AI answers cross these categories: they may surface the company’s website, a press investigation or a public discussion.

A website gives lasting access to an analysis. An executive contribution can explain the decision it implies. A campaign buys exposure to a defined audience. A peer recommendation brings context and a relationship that these means do not reproduce. Their different roles create opportunities to work together.

Media, communities and partners have priorities of their own. They may select a secondary point, shorten an explanation or challenge its conclusion. Distinguish the facts and conditions that must remain accurate from wording the organisation can allow to change.

That independence makes circulation less predictable than a distribution plan. It also requires coordination: media relations, experts, sales and marketing need to locate the source, explain the finding and flag misleading reuse. Adding channels without those connections mostly adds work.

Consider an analysis of industrial continuity: the website sets out assumptions and data; a journalist compares them with other situations; a professional community discusses where they apply; a campaign reaches people not yet exposed to the work. This is an illustration, not a prescribed sequence or a requirement to use all four media types. If a disputed assumption needs examination, more paid impressions cannot replace access to the data and experts.

A specialist journalist may bring attention to a question an industry handles poorly. A creator can make a profession understandable to people who never read the company’s own publications. A trade association can compare experiences and convene a wider discussion. Their value comes from subject knowledge, judgement and a relationship with people the company needs to reach.

Those relationships need useful material: accessible data, available experts, an opportunity to understand the work or an explanation of business decisions. Their editorial interests need examination before proposing a message. My analysis of collaborations with B2B creators develops this point: reaching an audience does not replace the value of a distinct perspective on the organisation.

When institutions debate the conditions in which a market operates, public affairs also belongs in this picture. A company can contribute to a consultation, document the consequences of a proposal or work through a trade association. Its argument should make the interests it represents and the implications for others understandable. Social reach and a contribution to a policy discussion require different preparation and assessment.

SEO addresses the questions audiences put to search engines. Material should be findable when a subject becomes useful, sometimes long after publication. A reference page, a specialist analysis and a commercial document serve different needs; links between them help readers examine the reasoning and reach the evidence.

LLM-based search engines and assistants introduce another intermediary. They combine information from the company’s site and external sources to generate an answer. The work concerns the questions with which the company is associated, the accuracy of its description and the sources that allow verification. A mention in an answer, a website visit and a supplier recommendation are distinct outcomes.

Google’s documentation retains established SEO principles and now specifies the inclusion control for generative AI features in Search Console. It does not require special markup or writing broken into fragments for machines. These conditions establish eligibility, without guaranteeing selection.

Impressions, clicks and costs describe distribution. Reuse, invitations to contribute and documents used in a tender reveal other uses. Keep their context so the assessment can establish what travelled and who encountered it.

Greater exposure may be useful without demonstrating a change in reputation. A citation may be critical. An idea may be reused without its original attribution. Examine these differences before recommending more investment in a channel, a deeper treatment of a subject or a revised claim.

LinkedIn brings publishing, professional discussion and paid distribution together. My analysis of LinkedIn in B2B explains how to connect company content, executive and expert voices, organic reach and advertising. Its performance still needs to be read alongside media relations, third-party recommendations and other places where people research a subject.