Slow and steady does not win the race
Over the past few years there have been many changes in the workplace. Some of the obvious ones have been a reduction in headcount and fewer people having to do the same amount of work. One that has also crept in is the need to examine every penny spent with a microscope.
Now, in isolation this is a good thing and it is often required, however many businesses are dealing with this by ensuring every said penny is signed off by a committee, a board and then the CEO. To actually get anything done is like walking through treacle.
In some areas of a business and for some sectors this won’t really matter too much; Fred’s computer will see him through for another month and the restaurant tables won’t fall apart before Christmas. But, in the world of marketing this is value destroying in the extreme. We often hear right time, right place and right person – one of many snappy lines dressing up the basic principle of selling something. This all usually starts with the right idea of course, yet if it takes months to get moving and communicate to customers then we may as well forget all the right time, place and person!
Everything from data, customer opinions and needs change over time, so we can probably assume our campaign planned months ago is now less likely to reach the right customer in the right place and we know for certain it’s not the right time.
So, next time someone complains about how they were expecting more from a campaign, ask yourself this question. How long did it take to actually launch and how old was the data when you finally got to use it? I bet the answer is scary!