THE TORTOISE OR THE HARE: WHICH WILL YOU BE?

Publicity creates “buzz.” It informs people about your product and gets them talking about it.

It's easy to generate publicity if you can come up with a great idea (see IMAX dinosaurs below) — and get it funded. Make a big enough splash in the old sensory pool and people will start buzzing all over the place.

But the impact of a big splash is fleeting. A big splash occupies a single point in time. After its initial impact, it kind of floats away like the rings you see when a pebble is thrown in a pool.

People forget. They move on. But, you have to keep the buzz going.

In an ideal PR world, you launch with a big splash and sustain interest with a program of frequent news reminders about your product. But maybe your budget is small.

What can you do?

Consider the fable of the tortoise and the hare. Hare runs fast and, man, he's cool! But the slow and steady tortoise wins the race.

Most publicity work isn't about the big splashes. It's just plain grunt work. Nibbling around the edges of the news cycle, looking for a way in. But when you are proactive and you get your message reported repeatedly, you CAN make an impression. People become aware of your product and they talk about it.

You create buzz with frequency.

“But,” you ask, “can't I just do that with advertising?”

Well, yes. But not as effectively. Because it's all about the old subconscious.

View an ad and the wheels start turning deep down in the gray matter. You know you're being sold. Even if you're naïve, you're no dummy. An ad's an attempt to sell you something. Your brain gets the message loud and clear. Skepticism creeps in.

But your mind processes editorial differently – especially when it's in one of the softer news arenas like travel or product publicity. Your guard is down. You read an article and your subconscious is much more receptive to what it's learning: “Hey, this is interesting! Intriguing. Nobody's pushing me to buy. This resort might be worth trying. Picture looks cool.”

When a news source spotlights your product, that reporting is perceived as a kind of recommendation to give that product a try. It's subliminal and it's what's called the “third party endorsement.” It's invaluable.

It's also way more powerful than an advertisement.

When your news appears over and over again in media aimed at your target audience, that frequency has an impact. People get your message and the buzz not only begins, it's sustained.

Don't have the budget to make a big splash and follow it up with a strategic publicity program? If you have to choose, put your hard-earned bucks into a sustained program and pursue frequent editorial coverage.

In the Aesop's fable, the hare bolts far ahead of the tortoise in the race. But then he stops to nap. Similarly, a big splash project will get you a lot of publicity— but its impact may fade within days.

With a sustained PR program, you may not have the flair of the hare; but, like the tortoise, you can win the race.


Illustration Credit: Tortoise & The Hare by Milo Winter