RIGHT MESSAGE + RIGHT TIME + RIGHT PEOPLE = SUCCESS
Part II: Right Time
“Strategy and timing are the Himalayas of marketing. Everything else is the Catskills.” — Al Ries
There is an irony to the second part of our formula. Timing is arguably the most important aspect of the right formula for marketing success, and yet, it is often the most overlooked and the least understood.
Ever suffer through the telling of a joke by someone who didn’t know how to tell a joke? Painful, wasn’t it? What was the problem? Probably timing. He didn’t know when to pause for dramatic effect and when to deliver the punch line. Or maybe he said the punch line before the whole joke was told, so that the entire joke didn’t make sense, and he had to tell it over. [insert rolling of eyes here]
While I admit it’s a goofy analogy, marketing timing can be similar. Let’s say you’re a doctor, and you and your practice administrator have decided to do a direct mail campaign to families moving into the area. Smart idea! You’ve carefully written your copy (message), and you know to whom you want to deliver it (people). All that’s left is the timing.
So, when would you mail it? If your answer is that you’d time your mailing for delivery to the new family’s home within the first week of their arrival, you’d be in good company. Probably 90% of us would think that’s a great time to do it, but we’d likely have gotten the timing wrong. Why?
Think about it. They’ve just arrived. They’re busy busy. They’re unpacking boxes. They’re wrenching their backs dragging one-ton armoires up stairs and hanging pictures and smashing their thumbs. They’re getting phone, cable, and internet service. They’re enrolling the kids in school. They’re meeting new neighbors. They’re tired and cranky. They’re getting piles and piles of junk mail with offers from pizza to checks to address labels, and there’s your piece, in the clutter of it all, on their kitchen table. Chances are, it’s barely glanced at or never even seen. It gets tossed. Bad timing.
Mailing a week or two later would make all the difference. Why? Because you’re probably a “second tier” priority in their to-do list, unless someone is sick upon arrival. It’s important for them to have a local doctor, of course, and they will look for one, but LATER, when the dust has settled a bit. Same message; same people; different time.
An actual example of timing is a cardiology practice that noticed that 35% of all individuals with a hypertension diagnosis had a cardiology-related event within two years. They sent a brochure about heart attack warning signs and their heart center after the initial hypertension diagnosis and increased their patient base. Another is an OB/GYN practice that increased obstetrics volume by sending a mailer about birthing services, with an offer for a free pregnancy planner, to women with children around the ages of 18 to 20 months (the average time between births is 31 months).
A lot of timing is also just common sense, of course. Most immunologists know to market just prior to spring, fall and back-to-school. Plastic surgeons and aestheticians tend to advertise quite a bit in the first quarter of a new year, when prospective patients are making resolutions to look and feel better.
The results? Better ROI because of timing. Sometimes several months of intense marketing at the right time generates a better return than marketing the entire year. Yep. You heard me. A marketing guy said some of you don’t always have to market 24/7/365.
So how do you get the timing right? As mentioned in Part I with the right message, start by putting yourself in your client’s shoes. Think of yourself as a customer. Ask yourself when you would want to hear the message you’re sending.
As you know, consumer behavior is changing rapidly. Market rhythms, cycles, and trends are not as predictable as they once were, and the market is fragmented and cluttered. Increasingly, timing is key. Consumers want — demand, even — companies who will meet them at their very moment of need. That moment may sometimes be what marketers call a “life event trigger”: a new baby, a new job, change in marital status, etc., and it can help us with timing. Using the trigger as a key, relevant marketing messages can be customized to the individual and delivered in direct response to or anticipation of those windows of opportunity.
Using these and other methods of smart marketing timing will result in successful campaigns that generate revenue for your company. Try it.
Next time, we’ll look at the last piece of the marketing formula: PEOPLE.
Chuck Morris is a marketing communications and branding consultant with Morris Creative Group LLC in Knoxville, Tennessee. www.morriscreative.com.
Getting it Right - A Marketing Formula - Part II, Right Time - To learn more about this author, visit Chuck Morris's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Articles |
|
 Self Confidence
|
| |
Product knowledge and hard work. It has never failed me, quite the contrary, knowing this information has enriched my life. If you believe in yourself, you will be amazed how others will believe in you, and how easy...
|
|
Be Do Have
|
| |
If I were to take to heart this profound advice, I would first start by imagining myself to be a writer/editor who could heal and empower by clicks of a keyboard. Then I would do what that kind of person does: write...
|
|
A Simple Formula for Consistent, Predictable Results
|
| |
How would you like to be able to predict your future outcomes? How about achieve any kind of goal? You may not realize this but you have already perfected a simple formula for consistent, predictable results.
|
|
Fear Free Selling
|
| |
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
Mark Twain
|
|
How To Attract Clients: The Magic Formula
|
| |
Ah, those magic words – "Attract Clients". Virtually every professional I know loves the idea of attracting clients, and would be even happier if there was a “magic formula” for accomplishing it. Well, actually ther...
|
 |
Related Businesses - Evan Elite Authors |
|
Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development.
Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit.
He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine.
He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball.
He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|
Dr. John Oda
John Oda Ph.D NLP is a business peak performance expert, an author, and speaker frequently called upon to provide corporate training, workshops and seminars for many companies in the United States. He is an expert in coaching sales and business professionals in overcoming the behaviors and obstacles that may impede their sales results and affect their bottom line. Since 1995, John has created a speaking bureau such topics, which include: time management, sales training, human diversity, leadership programs and etc. He provides companies with a strategic plan to increase their bottom line by over 25 percent yearly. - Visit Dr. John Oda's Website |
|
Dianne Crampton
Dianne Crampton is an Executive Leadership Coach and Team Building Consultant and creator of the TIGERS team development model. For the past twenty years she has helped leaders and teams achieve goals with high levels of collaboration and teamwork.
Crampton is a published author. Her contribution to Working Together: Diversity As Opportunity was endorsed by Stephen Covey. She has written for trade magazines. Merrill Lynch nominated her business for Inc. Magazine’s regional small business and entrepreneurial awards. Her work with Native Americans was recognized at a United Nations sponsored conference in 1994.
The TIGERS model passed two rigorous validation studies in 1992 and 1994. The TIGERS Survey is able to measure and track team development over time.
Dianne is also the creator and distributor of the TIGERS Team Wheel game. This game helps groups identify behaviors that build collaborative groups and behaviors that cause conflict, morale problems, production failures, and misunderstandings.
For more information, or to subscribe to TigerTracks, a free monthly leadership and team newsletter go to http://www.corevalues.com - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|
Accessible Business Consultants
Dave Turkin, President, of Accessible Business Consultants is a full service business consultant that has over 32 years of experience working with small-medium size businesses. Dave has designed and implemented numerous business and marketing plans, designed internal programs for accounting and operational procedures. He has analyzed businesses and prepared strategic plans setting budgets for growth, expansion and business restructuring.
He currently sits on the Board of Directors of various corporations as an advisor. For many years he has been the Business Coach to many executives offering advice and guidance from old and established companies as well as new companies just getting started.
Dave has the ability to analyze a business quickly and get a strong indication as to the necessary steps to improve operations, productivity and profitability. - Visit Accessible Business Consultants's Website |
|
Anne Barr
Anne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations,
networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business
ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|
The Evan Elite Authors program is currently in beta phase. For details please contact us.
|
|
|
|
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
