“Without promotion something terrible happens,” Barnum once said, “nothing!” A master promoter himself, Barnum understood the importance of making a splash and just how to do it. He first started his circus at a time when every Tom, Dick and Jane had their own traveling road show. Thus, he knew he had to make his just a little bit different than the rest in order to stand out. Indeed, it was by using showmanship and promoting himself to no end that Barnum succeeded where the others failed.
One of the many houses Barnum owned was located in Connecticut. It was a large estate, situated near a set of high traffic railroad tracks. What made the land so unique was that Barnum would frequently use an elephant to plow his yard. He could have used a regular lawnmower, which would have no doubt saved him some time. But, Barnum took every chance he could to promote his circus. Each time a train passed by his house on its way to New York City, hundreds of passengers would see Barnum and the elephant.
It was a living advertisement that spoke volumes and intrigued the commuters as they zipped by. Who was this man and why was he on an elephant in his backyard? They all wanted to find out. “Newspaper reporters came from far and near, and wrote glowing accounts of the elephantine performances,” said Barnum. “The six acres were plowed over at least sixty times before I thought the advertisement sufficiently circulated.”
Even if you did not have a ticket to his show, when Barnum’s circus was in town, you would know it. He would sweep into the city with gusto; elephants would be paraded through the streets, clowns would be sent to local hospitals to visit with sick children. Barnum was providing a pre-show to his circus that he hoped would get people talking and raise excitement about his show even more. He would offer tours of his circus to anyone who wanted to see inside the Big Top, and also offered a myriad of free contests in order to attract crowds to his show. Barnum was, in fact, one of the first to establish beauty and baby contests.
Barnum’s schemes always worked; people would show up in droves, as would the media. However, it was not just Barnum’s showmanship that brought in the crowds. Barnum also used other methods of self-promotion to get his image out there. Towards the later stages of his career, Barnum wrote an autobiography and regularly updated it, releasing new editions every so often. He then used mass publication to raise its popularity, which eventually made it the book with the most number of copies printed in North America at the end of the 19th century, second only to the New Testament. It was so popular in fact that some collectors strove to get their hands on a copy of every edition.
In another example of successful self-promotion, Barnum once convinced a hat manufacturer to bid for a ticket for a new act. The bid reached hundreds of dollars, but more importantly, resulted in more publicity than he could have ever bought.
Barnum was always thinking of ways to promote both himself and his circus. From making splashy entrances to using cross-promotion, Barnum did what it took to make sure people knew who he was.
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