The PR Shop

WITH DAVE BULLARD

YOU’VE GOT GREAT CONTENT. SO WHAT?

I spent a few days recently reading press releases, websites and social media posts from fantastic festivals large and small throughout the IFEA ecosystem, including my own. I found case after case, too many to count, of failing to put the customer first, including in my own. Time after time, releases touted long lists of things that will take place during their events – concerts, displays, food, games, fireworks and special events. However, time after time, I also failed to find these features boiled down into reasons why people should choose your festival over going to someone else’s, or doing nothing at all. This, friends, is the battle of features vs. benefits. Our festivals are complicated events made up of hundreds of moving parts, all designed to lure people off their comfy couches. Each festival has its unique elements. So what? I’m here to tell you that the great bulk of people who come to your event translate your features into benefits that work for them.

“Wait. You mean that my great concerts, spectacular art, beautiful flowers and faithful historic recreations don’t really bring in the crowds?”

That’s not what I mean. I mean that the package of programming you offer needs to be boiled down to a simple and desirable benefit that will make people – and sponsors – more likely reach for their wallets.

For a great example, look no further than McDonald’s. It’s tricky for McDonald’s to tout the high quality of its food, and while they do that from time to time, they almost tend to ignore their food to sell other benefits. A new ad focused on a men’s kickball team called the Varsity Gay League. “We like to have fun,” the ad’s narrator says. “We go to McDonald’s after every game.” “The best thing about being here with you guys is just being ourselves,” another player says. They call it their “happy place.”

What did the fast-food giant just sell here? Chicken nuggets and soda? Or togetherness and love?

Another ad, squarely aimed at teens and young adults, urges them to buy a Big Mac, a fish sandwich and a chicken sandwich (helpfully sold as a combo) and put the chicken and fish into the Big Mac to make a menu hack called the Land, Sea and Air. Nowhere does it say this will be delicious.

McDonald’s spends millions on research and billions on ads and you can benefit from their work.

Here’s the opening paragraph of a press release, simulated but similar to hundreds you’ve seen and written:

“West Nowhere’s celebration of all things turnip, Rutapalooza, returns to the city’s Swamp City Park beginning Feb. 30. Rutapalooza features great live music on the Big ‘Baga, exciting childrens’ performers on the Tiny Turnip stage, fun root vegetable-themed games, unique art and delicious food, and much more. Admission is free.”

Okay, it’s got music, food, games and art. Like pretty much every festival on the planet, in varying amounts. We also have an extensive array of empty-calorie adjectives such as “great,” “exciting,” and “unique”. What has been said here that would make me want to go to Rutapalooza?

Not much.

Turning your features into benefits is harder. It means listening to your customers. It can mean doing some research. Here’s a way to get started:

In one column, make a list of all your features. In the other, list the benefit your customers will derive from that feature. For example, my phone’s 12 megapixel camera (feature) lets me take crystal-clear photos and videos of my family and friends (benefit). My box from Hello Fresh has all the ingredients for dinner (feature) so I can spend less time and have less stress cooking (benefit). Now, try to articulate all of that into a single core benefit of attending the entire festival.

Almost all marketing appeals to one of three things that are important to us: Time, money and peace of mind. Does this product save me time or make more time in my life? Does it save me money or make me money? Does it give me peace of mind or prevent me from losing my peace of mind? (That last one, peace of mind, is a little harder to define than the others, but think about insurance. We buy it to ease our minds about what happens if we get hit by the proverbial bus.)

Then there’s Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – physiological needs such as food, shelter, safe air and water are at the base, with Safety next, then Love and Belonging, Esteem, and at the top, Self-Actualization, or becoming all you can become.

When we asked people why they came to our event, they mentioned food, music, rides, animals – everything you’d expect them to say. But one result stood out: 95% of the people who come to our event do not come alone. It’s a family outing, date night, a night with friends. Then we made word clouds of the open-ended responses in our surveys and it turns out many of the most-used words depict emotions, like love, fun, family, safe, tradition.

Which got us to our final benefit statement: The Fair is time well-spent with people you love. It’s a frame for our marketing and a dead-simple thing we can say on social media. Some of our social posts show people in groups, having a good time. Our TV spots showed happy families and fairgoers sharing a kiss.

Once you unlock the secret of the subconscious reasons people come to your event, your marketing language will improve and you’ll be able to leave wimpy adjectives in the dictionary where they belong.

Now it’s your turn. Go gett’em.

Dave Bullard is the Public Relations and Marketing Manager for The Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, the nation’s first and oldest state fair, dating to 1841. He has spent his entire life in and around media, spending many years in print, radio, TV and online media in addition to running a solo PR, marketing and video production business and founding one of the nation’s first online-only local news publications in 1999.

Dave is also the moderator for the IFEA PR and Marketing Virtual Affinity Group every 2nd Tuesday of the month and welcomes you to attend their monthly chat! Dave can be reached anytime at dave.bullard@agriculture.ny.gov and is here to support the great people and events of our industry. Don’t hesitate to drop him a note with suggestions, thoughts or counterarguments anytime.

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