The strongest and longest lasting brands branch off of an\rexisting category. Branching takes patience and time.\rThere are two speeds for launching a brand, each one with\rits own pros and cons.

Speed A, like a hot air balloon, takes a long time to\rprepare before the actual launch. PR, media marketing,\rfavors A. Longevity success favors A. A tree grows\rstronger with a well-established roots. And this can only\roccur with good soil, careful fertilizing, watering, and\rtime.

Speed B, like a helicopter, takes off quickly but requires\rmore fuel on take off, fuel that isn't there later on.\rAdvertising favors B. Speed B for the Internet means viral\rmarketing--spreading by word of mouth. For the Net, this is\rusually e-mail marketing.

The main reason A is usually a wiser choice is because\rpeople are suspicious of new and different. Another reason\rwhy it takes any business years to build their success. A\rtypical reaction: "Wait and see if this new concept turns\rout to be worth while". Letting the brand build slowly\rusing PR techniques can be like watching a tree grow. You\rcan be lulled into falling asleep, however, don't be. There\ris a pivoting point where PR needs to turn into massive\radvertising.

There are two hurdles each speed endures--credibility and\rconventional. Advertising fails because it usually can't\rconvey credibility. It can create conventional--people want\rto buy what other people want. People buy to be normal.\rPeople like to visit restaurants that have lots of cars out\rfront. Yet conventional cannot succeed without credibility.\rCredibility is why the most effective brand launching starts\rwith PR. The only exception to this rule is selling to the\rearly adopter market.

Real success is a combination of short-lived and longevity\rproducts and services. Short-lived can provide the\radditional capital needed to fuel big advertising campaigns\ror new research. If you look at the toy industry, you can\rsee every Christmas they have short-lived fad items and they\rstill maintain items, like the Slinky, now celebrating over\r50 years.

Service businesses need to use a combination as well. Few\rin these areas understand the concept and usually brush it\roff as N/A, non-applicable, to them. Mainly due to the need\rfor multiple marketing campaigns and the work needed to plan\rand implement. This holds a higher truth the smaller the\rpractice usually due to time limitations.

Another gear in the branding wheel is the number of\rgenerations of buyers. Each generation have their own way\rof buying charactertics. The only answer for this, is to\rknow how they are thinking and why they make the choices\rthey do.

How do you move fast enough in a slow building process and\rstill build credibility along the way? You can use the same\rmethod many public relations firms use--the leak. You leak\rthe information before its ready for launching. The\rgestation length of the leaking period depends on the\rradicalness of the concept. The more revolutionary the\rconcept, the less advertising should play into the campaign.

Advertising is used for brand maintenance not brand\rbuilding. As I mentioned earlier, advertising lacks\rcredibility, the crucial element for brand building.

The best way for PR use is to announce a new category not a\rnew product. The media wants to talk about what¡¯s new and\rwhat¡¯s hot, not what¡¯s better. What they say about you\rdelivers credibility. It¡¯s because someone else is talking\rabout you.

Launching a PR campaign and an Advertising campaign are two\rtotally different plans. This is a frequently misunderstood\rconcept.

For the accompaning article, Seven Simple Steps To A PR\rLaunch, visit the Abundance Center's article section.

(c) 2004, Catherine Franz

Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing &\rWriting Coach, specializes in product development, Internet\rwriting and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters\rand articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com\rblog: http://abundance.blogs.com