Timing in Marketing

At 9.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday, an advert came on TV for a very well-known high street shop, advertising sale prices on many of their goods.

Those sale prices were available in-store until Bank Holiday Monday, i.e. that same day. The store had closed several hours earlier, meaning the offers had ended.

All Publicity is Good Publicity

Now … there is arguably some merit in bringing to the attention of the public the fact that these products are sold in their store. However, what impression does it give when the prices are likely to be higher when people next have a chance to visit the store and potentially make a purchase? And how much did it cost to run the advert?

Right Message, Right Person, Right Time

There are three major considerations when running any kind of marketing or advertising campaign … delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. You may recall in the past how we have banged the “Right message, right person, right time” drum. Well, no matter how the world evolves or how technology develops, if your message is wrong or your timing out, or if you’re emailing the wrong person, your campaign will not perform as well.

Timing is relevant in several ways, so besides making sure your offer is still available when you deliver your message, you should also consider these things:

Taking advantage of current events – how many so-called “GDPR experts” have appeared over the past few months? Whether they are experts or not, they’re certainly demonstrating this facet

Considering seasonality – how many Fireworks shops spring up in October, or Christmas decorations shops in November

Exploiting Themes – one example of this would be when it’s “British Pie Week”, or “Movember” – can you exploit such theme periods with your own products and services?

The above list is far from exhaustive, but to finish, also think about the timing of any further contacts for the campaign. If you’re running a series of emails, for example, make the timing between each email appropriate. Don’t bombard them daily, as this would be counter-productive, but don’t wait 2 months between emails as they may not remember you.

If you’re following the email with a telephone call, make it timely. If your software has the capability of advising who has opened your email or clicked a link within, you may want to call them within a short period of time. By the same token, those who haven’t acted on your email can still be contacted, though I would suggest after a longer period of time. Your call should clearly differ in content too, though that’s for another future blog.