It’s time to stop treating measurement as the wicked stepchild. Yes, I know it’s challenging. Yes, I know it requires math. Yes, I know most of you went into marketing or communications because you’re bad at math. Yes, I know it makes your head hurt.
But here’s the truth: measurement isn’t just a necessary evil. It’s the thread that holds your entire program together—whether you’re using the PESO Model© or not. And it’s not really about math. It’s about looking at the numbers and building a story around them.
The kind of story that proves what’s working, what’s not, and what deserves more investment. The kind of story your executive team actually cares about.
We all know the traditional metrics—impressions, clicks, follower counts—don’t cut it anymore. They don’t answer the question every CEO eventually asks: “What did this do for the business?” And yet, we still rely on them because…math.
The PESO Model helps you build an integrated communications program. Measurement helps you prove it’s working.
Why Measurement Needs a Makeover
The way we’ve measured marketing and communications for years is…lazy.
We’ve clung to whatever was easiest to count: impressions, advertising equivalencies, story placements, followers, likes. And sure, those became the things execs asked to review. Those things filled a slide deck. But, when push came to shove, we’d get questioned about whether or not they actually showed results; they make it hard to explain why what we did mattered.
I have very fond memories of my colleagues standing in my office door saying, “Can you create the dashboard for my campaign for me?” Or, “Remind me what the impression multiplier is for trade magazines?”
I was all too happy to help. I loved being the metrics maven. And I knew there had to be a better way.
And I was right! The world has moved on. AI search engines are changing how people find information. Stakeholders expect marketing to perform like sales—with attribution, ROI, and metrics. Meanwhile, leaders are asking tougher questions, “How is this helping us grow? What would happen if we stopped doing it?”
If your answer is, “Well, we got two million impressions last quarter…” you’re going to lose the argument.
It’s time to shift from measuring activity to measuring outcomes. That means focusing on things like:
- Pipeline influence
- Revenue influence
- Lead quality and conversion
- Search visibility and domain authority
- Brand sentiment and trust
- Speed to decision
Measurement today isn’t about proving you’re busy. It’s about showing your work is moving the business forward. It’s not just counting what happened—it’s explaining why it matters and what comes next.
And the best part? Once you learn to measure the right things, you’ll actually have more confidence, more clarity—and a lot more fun telling the story.
Measurement in the PESO Model
Modern measurement starts in a very different place than it used to. Far too often, we work backward. We launch campaigns, gather metrics, and then try to reverse-engineer a story about results.
I used to judge the PRSA Silver Anvil Awards every year. You could always tell when people created their results report that way. It was an automatic exclusion in my book.
If you don’t set objectives ahead of time and work to achieve them, you are cheating. And trust me, if someone reviewing your awards entry can tell, your execs or clients can, too.
There is a better way!
Start by asking, “What does the business need to achieve and how can our work help?”
Is it revenue growth? Market share? Faster customer decisions? Increased trust in a crowded category?
Your measurement plan should be built to reflect that from day one. That means your metrics shift from “what did we do?” to “what did we move?”
Instead of counting how many people visited your site, you should track:
- How many of them were qualified?
- How deeply did they engage?
- Did they convert?
- Did they come back?
- Are they further along in the customer journey?
Instead of just noting that your media coverage got picked up, you demonstrate whether or not it:
- Drove traffic
- Included your message
- Included valuable backlinks
- Showed up in AI-generated search results
And that last point? It’s a big one.
AI-driven search engines like Google’s Search Generative Experience aren’t just indexing keywords anymore—they’re prioritizing content based on Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust (the now-famous E-E-A-T).
That means your content, your spokespeople, your coverage, even your social interactions need to consistently reinforce that you know what you’re talking about—and that others trust you to lead the conversation.
This is great news for communicators. We’ve always known how to build credibility. Now it’s not just important—it’s required if you want your work to surface, spread, and stick.
But that’s still just the tip of the iceberg in a PESO Model program. As we discussed last week with integration, you have to look at how things connect. For instance, are people seeing your earned media more likely to engage with your owned content? Does paid amplification drive more conversions when it supports high-performing social posts?
Modern measurement is about connecting dots. It’s part detective work, part storytelling—and yes, part math. But the goal isn’t just numbers. It’s clarity.
Metrics That Matter in the PESO Model
Not all metrics are created equal. Let’s break down what to measure in each PESO Model category—and what those numbers should actually tell you.
Owned Media: Where the Story Begins
Owned media is the foundation of your PESO Model strategy—and the starting point for your measurement framework.
The key is to move beyond surface metrics like pageviews and focus on:
- Engagement quality: Time on page, scroll depth, pages per session, and time listened or watched
- Conversion performance: Downloads, form submissions, tool usage
- Authority indicators: Domain authority growth, inbound links, search rankings
Here’s what that looks like in action: A health brand created a content hub around a new treatment category. Visitors spent an average of 4.2 minutes per session, 32% explored multiple resources, and the hub generated more than 150 downloads of a physician discussion guide in one quarter.
Those are the kinds of signals that show content is driving real consideration and authority.
Earned Media: The Credibility Engine
Earned media shines when you stop counting clips and start measuring influence.
Focus on:
- Message inclusion: Did your talking points land? Were your experts quoted?
- Referral traffic: Who clicked through? How long did they stay? Did they convert?
- Backlinks: Do media placements have a link to your content? Are they helping you rank in both traditional and AI search?
- Domain authority growth: Has your domain authority increased due to your placements?
One B2C brand secured a contributed article in a top-tier outlet. The article included the brand’s three core messages, quoted its subject matter expert, and linked to its content hub with optimized anchor text.
The result?
More than 500 high-intent visitors were referred from that article, key resources were downloaded at a 28% rate, and dozens of direct consultation requests were made.
That’s earned media doing business-level work.
Shared Media: The Trust Builder
Social media metrics get a bad rap because we’ve relied too long on likes and shares. The smarter approach is to focus on quality over quantity.
Key metrics include:
- Conversation depth: Meaningful comments, DMs, shares with context
- Saves and shares: Are people sharing your content? Are they saving it to refer back to occasionally?
- Sentiment and advocacy: Are people responding with trust? Are they sharing organically?
- Conversion behavior: Is your social content driving traffic that actually takes action?
A B2B company saw strong results by focusing its LinkedIn strategy around educational content tied to a new product category. Those posts averaged three times more meaningful comments, drove 280 visits to a gated content hub, and led to 40+ uses of a “find a provider” tool.
That’s not vanity—it’s visibility with value.
Paid Media: The Strategic Amplifier
Paid media doesn’t work in a silo—it’s most powerful when it amplifies what’s already resonating across owned, earned, and shared.
These are the metrics that matter:
- Cost per qualified lead: Not just cost per click, but what’s the cost to bring in the right people?
- Conversion rate by campaign: Which audiences or messages are converting best?
- Return on ad spend: How are your dollars actually performing?
In one campaign, a brand used lookalike modeling to target audiences similar to their highest-value customers. Paid traffic converted at a 24% higher rate, delivered a $42 cost per qualified lead, and was 30% below target.
That’s what paid media should do: amplify what’s working, not just spend budget.
Integration Metrics and the Multiplier Effect
This is where the PESO Model moves into a strategic superpower. When your media types work together, you don’t just get incremental gains, you get exponential results.
That’s what I refer to as the multiplier effect. If you’re not integrating your media types, you leave value on the table. And if you’re not measuring it, you’re leaving cold, hard cash on the table.
I talked about this in detail last week, but let me give you another example.
Let’s say you publish a resource on your website (owned). Then you pitch a story to the media (earned) that links back to that resource. You share the media placement across social (shared). You boost the best-performing post with a paid campaign.
And guess what happens when you do that? Everything performs better!
- Media coverage gets more clicks.
- Social engagement increases.
- The resource sees a spike in qualified downloads.
- Your domain authority improves from backlinks.
- Leads from the campaign convert faster.
That’s the multiplier effect in action.
So, how do you measure it?
Well, look for patterns like:
- Did a user discover you via earned media, visit your site, and convert after seeing a boosted post?
- Are people interacting with multiple media types spending more time, taking more actions, and converting more often?
- Are key messages showing up consistently across media types—and driving higher retention or recall?
- Is integrated content driving faster improvements in search rankings and E-E-A-T signals?
You’re not just connecting the dots between media types. You’re proving that integrated communications doesn’t just support the business—it accelerates it.
This is the part most programs miss—and it’s also the part that earns you credibility, budget, and a seat at the table.
PESO Model Reporting That Drives Action
Now that you understand the importance of integration and measuring those efforts, let’s talk about the difference between a report that gets read and one that gets results.
It’s not about how many charts or how much data you have. It’s about whether your data answers the question, “What should we do next?”
This is where most get stuck.
We may pull reports or build spreadsheets, plug in the numbers, and hope the executive team looks at them (and understands them!).
But real reporting isn’t just about showing what happened. It’s about making the case for what comes next—clearly, confidently, and in a way that resonates with your audience.
And, as you’re using data to tell stories about your work, remember that different stakeholders need different things.
For the C-Suite
Keep it high-level and strategic. Focus on:
- How much revenue your work influenced
- Cost efficiency
- Market share or brand lift
- Stock price
- Competitive positioning
No jargon. No channel-specific KPIs. Just clear answers to, “Did this help us win?”
For Department Leaders
This group wants performance and optimization. Give them:
- Program-level insights
- Channel comparisons
- Resource allocation guidance
- Strategic recommendations backed by data
This is where you can start showing which levers to pull—and why.
For the Execution Team
Get tactical. Help them improve performance in real time. Show:
- Content performance by topic
- Social platform breakdowns
- Paid campaign benchmarks
- Conversion patterns and testing insights
The goal is to drive smarter daily decisions, not defend the whole program.
And across all levels? Wrap your data in a narrative. Use comparisons, baselines, and business language. Make it easy for your audience to connect the dots between what you did and why it matters.
Your metrics don’t just tell a story. They drive the next chapter.
The PESO Model Requires Continuous Improvement
The best measurement programs aren’t static—they evolve.
They don’t just report results; they drive decisions.
They don’t try to be perfect; they aim to get smarter every quarter.
That’s what continuous improvement looks like in a modern PESO Model program.
You’re not building a perfect dashboard that stays frozen in time. You’re building a feedback loop that helps you learn what’s working, shift what’s not, and optimize as you go.
Here’s how to do that:
- Set benchmarks before you launch. You need a clear starting point if you want to show progress.
- Establish measurement rhythms. Monthly for channel insights. Quarterly for strategy checks. Annually for big revenue and pipeline reviews.
- Document response protocols. What happens if something spikes? Or tanks? Or flatlines? Who acts, and how?
- Prioritize progress over perfection. You won’t track every data point out of the gate—and that’s OK. Start with what matters. Grow from there.
Think of it like a muscle: measurement gets stronger by lifting heavy shit.
Oh, wait. That might just be me.
Measurement gets stronger with consistent reps. And like any good strategy, your PESO Model program should evolve with the data.
When you measure your work this way, it won’t just prove your value. It will make your work better. More focused. More aligned with business goals. More deserving of the resources you need to grow.
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