There’s an old saying in public relations (well, maybe I made it up…) but anyway it goes like this: If you turn on a light, and then you turn it off again, the room is just as dark as it was before the light came on.
What does that mean? Well, done right, a solid foundation of strategy, PR and content promotion basically keep the brightest lights shining on your business all the time. Once you shine a light on your company, you should never ever go dark again, because unlike Google, the market has a very short memory.
And for PR to be successful, your messages have to indelibly stick in the market’s memory with a steady drumbeat that never lets them forget you and your brand promise.
But what exactly is this thing called memory, how long does it stay, and how do we measure it?
Well, research tells us that memories start to decay immediately after they’re formed. The decay follows a curve that is pretty steep at the beginning. In fact, the steepest rate of decay happens in the first 24 hours, and then levels off over time. A controlled memorability experiment run by Nielsen, found that branded recognition fell nearly in half over just one night.
The good news is that research also proves that relearning explicit information that is almost fully forgotten is much faster than learning it the first time around. Studies confirm that repetition is the only way to create durable, long-lasting memories and that agrees with our experience at Rainier – once you start marketing, never ever stop. And don’t do that “pause” thing, either – same thing.
So effectively, all the PR and content creation and promotion activities you perform right now while COVID-19 strangles the economy, serve to futureproof your company and your brand for the day the economy reopens for business.
We all know there are going to be winners and losers from this crisis, and if you keep the lights on, and keep marketing aggressively without breaking momentum, your business will be in the best possible position to emerge stronger and more successful than ever.
