Executive visibility and personal PR glossary

Executive visibility and personal PR terms should distinguish who buys, pays, decides, approves, owns, publishes, and bears risk. Use the definitions consistently in briefs, proposals, contracts, and reports whenever a distinction changes cost, control, attribution, disclosure, or ownership.

Buying terms separate service, payment, and control

Buyer. The person or group that evaluates and selects the service within delegated authority. The buyer may be the executive, a company leader, procurement, or an intermediary.

Payer. The person or entity that pays the provider. Payment does not by itself establish ownership of the executive's identity, personal account, audience, or every resulting asset.

Program manager. The person who runs the engagement, routes decisions, manages access and calendars, and coordinates the executive, payer, company, and provider.

Client. The party named in the agreement as receiving the provider's services. Identify the client precisely when the executive is the public subject and a company signs.

Executive communications. Communication support for a leader's internal and external responsibilities, often performed inside an organization. It may include speeches, employee communication, board materials, and public content.

Executive visibility. Work that makes an executive's relevant expertise, decisions, and accountability findable and understandable to defined stakeholders.

Personal PR. External support for a person's positioning, media presence, publishing, opportunities, and reputation. The term can cover different scopes, so list the actual services.

Retainer. A recurring commercial arrangement for defined services, capacity, or provider availability during a period. It does not guarantee independent editorial outcomes.

Project fee. A fixed or staged fee for defined work, acceptance criteria, and timing.

Scope of work. The contractual description of services, outputs, responsibilities, assumptions, timing, fees, rights, measurement, and change control.

Publishing terms reveal selection, payment, and control

Earned media. Coverage or participation that an independent editor, journalist, producer, or organizer chooses and controls. A provider may pitch the opportunity but cannot guarantee selection or framing.

Paid media. Distribution or placement purchased from a platform, publisher, event, or intermediary under stated commercial terms.

Sponsored content. Content or programming produced, placed, or distributed with a sponsor's financial or in-kind support. Apply governing disclosure law and publisher or platform rules.

Controlled media. Content whose release the executive or company controls, such as a website, newsletter, or account. It is often called owned media, although a host platform may still control access and distribution.

Shared media. Content and audience interaction on social or community platforms where the platform and participants also shape distribution.

PESO. A planning shorthand for paid, earned, shared, and owned media. Report each type separately when selection, payment, disclosure, or control differs.

Paid access. A fee that buys entry, eligibility, participation, a seat, or consideration. Selection or treatment may remain independent. Report the commercial relationship either way.

Editorial control. Authority to select, edit, frame, schedule, or decline material. Payment, access, and editorial control can sit with different parties.

Embargo. An agreement that specified information will not be published before a stated time. Its enforceability depends on the agreement and jurisdiction; it does not replace confidentiality controls or legal review.

Exclusive. Material or access offered to one outlet or partner under defined limits. Confirm subject, territory, format, and duration.

Syndication. Republication or distribution of material by other outlets or services under a license or platform arrangement.

Usage rights. Permission to use an asset in specified media, territories, contexts, and periods. A license can grant usage rights without transferring ownership.

Content terms separate attribution from production support

Positioning. The deliberate association of an executive with specific expertise, stakeholder relevance, and differentiated, supportable positions.

Narrative. A connected explanation of context, problem, choices, evidence, and the executive's role. It remains subordinate to verified facts.

Thought leadership. Public material that attributes a substantive, supportable point of view to a person or organization and is intended to help a defined audience understand or decide something.

Ghostwriting. Drafting material for publication under another person's name or voice. The named executive remains responsible for substantive contribution, factual approval, and claims attributed to them. Check the publisher's authorship and disclosure rules.

Voice capture. The provider's process for understanding an executive's reasoning, language, boundaries, and relevant experience through interviews and source material.

Byline. The name under which material is published. A byline alone does not identify the researchers, drafters, or editors.

Source file. A controlled record of approved facts, evidence, examples, links, qualifications, limitations, and review status used to support public claims.

Substantiation. Evidence sufficient to support an express or implied claim in context. The required evidence depends on the claim, jurisdiction, and regulated field.

Material connection. A connection between an endorser and marketer that viewers may not expect and that could affect how they evaluate the endorsement. The FTC's U.S. endorsement guidance covers relationships such as employment, payment, gifts, family ties, and personal ties. Context determines whether clear and conspicuous disclosure is required.

Correction. A disclosed or recorded change that fixes materially inaccurate published information. Define who may request, approve, publish, and log corrections.

Governance terms assign approval, access, and risk

Decision right. Explicit authority to decide a subject, claim, channel, opportunity, account action, expense, risk acceptance, or release.

Approval. Recorded authorization of a specific version or action by the party with the relevant decision right.

Personal voice. An executive's own reasoning, language, opinion, or experience. Audiences may still associate it with the company because of the executive's role.

Company position. An authorized organizational statement. A personal account does not automatically turn company information into personal speech.

Account owner. The person or entity entitled to retain control of an account after the provider engagement ends. Determine that entitlement from identity, platform records and terms, organization records, and the contract.

Administrator. A user with permission to manage an account, users, settings, or assets. Administrative access does not necessarily confer ownership.

Least privilege. Restricting a user or process to the minimum access needed for assigned work, consistent with the NIST definition. Remove access when the assignment ends.

Multifactor authentication (MFA). Authentication that requires two or more factor types, such as something known, possessed, or inherent to the user. CISA advises businesses to use the strongest available option and aim for phishing-resistant MFA in its current guidance.

Impersonation. A person or system falsely presenting itself as the executive or an authorized representative. Response plans should distinguish fake accounts from takeover of a real account.

Crisis communications. Decision support and communication during an event that creates material stakeholder, operational, legal, safety, or reputation risk. It is not a guarantee that negative attention can be removed.

Reputation monitoring. Defined observation of relevant public sources for mentions, claims, changes, threats, or stakeholder response. Monitoring cannot see every private conversation or predict every event.

Conflict of interest. A relationship or incentive that may impair, or reasonably appear to impair, independent judgment. Disclose provider conflicts, executive interests, referral fees, and competing obligations before they affect work.

Regulation FD. A U.S. issuer-disclosure rule addressing selective disclosure of material nonpublic information to specified market professionals and security holders. The SEC says companies may use social media for compliant announcements when investors have been alerted to the channels the company will use. See the SEC's social-media guidance and use securities counsel for application.

Measurement terms preserve the causal chain

Baseline. The measured starting state, recorded with its source, method, population, date range, and limitations.

KPI. A key performance indicator selected because it provides decision-relevant evidence about progress toward an objective. A metric is not key merely because a platform reports it.

Activity. Work performed to plan and produce communication, such as research, interviews, drafting, pitching, or preparation. Activity counts measure completed work; audience response requires separate evidence.

Output. Communication distributed and received by an audience, such as coverage, an appearance, a post, or an event. Output counts do not establish what the audience understood or did.

Out-take. What an audience initially takes from communication, including attention, awareness, understanding, interest, engagement, or consideration. AMEC defines this sequence in its evaluation taxonomy.

Outcome. An effect on the audience, such as learning, attitude change, trust, preference, intention, or advocacy.

Impact. An organizational, stakeholder, or societal result caused in full or in part by communication. Claims of impact should account for other plausible causes.

Reach. An estimate or count of people or accounts exposed to distribution. Methods vary by platform; reach does not establish attention or relevance.

Impressions. Counts or estimates of content displays. One person can generate multiple impressions.

Engagement. A platform-specific interaction such as a click, reaction, comment, share, save, or message. Define the included actions and stakeholders. Treat engagement as an out-take unless evidence connects it to the intended audience outcome.

Share of voice. The executive's measured portion of a defined set of relevant coverage or conversation. State the subjects, sources, comparison set, geography, date range, and weighting.

Attribution. A supported assignment of an observed result to a cause. When several influences remain plausible, report contribution rather than exclusive causation.

Advertising value equivalency (AVE). A monetary estimate that prices earned coverage by reference to advertising space or time. AVE does not measure audience response, outcome, or impact.

Apply these terms in the buyer brief, scope of work, and provider scorecard so bidders and reviewers use the same definitions.