The new book of popular political commentator Annabel Crabb was launched just prior to Australia's recent Federal election.
During the week before our recent election here in Australia, I noticed the launch of several books written by either political journalists or authors with a political connection. It got me thinking about about timing.
So much of business and marketing strategy success is about execution, and in this respect, timing is everything.
Never forget implementation, boys. In our work, it’s what I call the ”last 98 percent” of the client puzzle.” – Al McDonald, former Managing Director, McKinsey & Co, to a project team, reported by subsequent McKinsey MD, Ron Daniel (from Tom Peters)
In marketing strategy, timing is not only the planned sequence of activity, but is also the “when”: the precise time of execution to leverage and maximise opportunities which appear in the market place.
These opportunities can provide the perfect time to launch a product (eg a book), distribute content related to your product and tailor that content to suit the opportunity.
They may also be perfect for a special promotion. Indeed Borders (more books) conducted some cheeky election related promotions – such as offering discounts to customers with red hair or those presenting in their “budgies”!
The Nandos ambush promotion of the Bruno premiere last year is another example of well timed activity to seize an opportunity and promote their product.
So, how do you secure perfect timing?
- Do your situation analysis – understand and anticipate the activities occurring in the market place which are relevant to your customers. Keep up to date with current events, movies, books which can provide opportunities that your brand could potentially leverage.
- Consider your objectives What are you trying to achieve? Does seizing the opportunity help you achieve your overall marketing objectives? How does it complement other activities in your action plan? Will the activity add value to your brand?
- Review your action plan. As the business environment is dynamic some opportunities can only be leveraged if an organisation is sufficiently agile to seize them. Do you have the resources (time, finance, human) to seize the opportunity, and to track and measure the results?
Sometimes the thought and consideration required to seize an opportunity and implement a well timed activity, needs to be done quickly if an opportunity arises suddenly. As we noted in a previous post “Marketing Strategy: Just Try It”:
“If you hesitate when an opportunity presents itself to you, it may be the fear of failure that makes you procrastinate” – Donald Trump
However as Tom Peters says:
Try it! Try it! Try it! If a suggestion is made, your instinctive response should be ‘Try It’. In 40 plus years of study and practice, I sometimes think I’ve only learned one thing: ”He or she who tries the most stuff wins”
Great timing can result from a mix of planning, agility, commitment to seize an opportunity and a little bit of luck. However, well timed marketing activity will enable more powerful results and a greater return on your marketing investment.
