QUESTION: What does great marketing have in common with great comedy?
ANSWER: Timing!
Marketing & timing
I received an email earlier, announcing the launch, today, of a new website. If you check the date of this post (20th January 2009) you will see that it’s the day that President Obama was inaugurated.
This international, mass media event, has received blanket coverage across the news networks and even seen services like Twitter struggle to cope with the huge increase in activity.
In other words, it’s a terrible day to try and launch a new website!
If you are thinking of launching something for your business, make sure you check out what’s happening on that day.
Email marketing and mail shots
Of course, timing is important to many elements of marketing. For example, the day of the week your mail shot arrives, will have an impact on your response rate. I advise B2B marketers not to have their mailings arrive on a Monday; because Monday’s are typically very busy for businesses AND your letter will also be with all the other mail that arrived over the weekend.
The day and time of day that your email marketing arrives in someone’s inbox, will also impact your results. An email, which arrives at 7am on a Monday morning, will arrive in an inbox filled with a weekends worth of junk mail and spam.
That same email, arriving at 11am on a Tuesday morning, will arrive in an inbox, which has already had the spam / junk mail removed. This makes it easier for your message to stand out and increases the chances of it being read and acted on!
Always check out what’s happening in your prospective client’s world before setting a time to take action.
Related posts:
On a related theme, what’s the best time of day, day of the week to post a blog post, any blog post? Does the same rule re checking out your audience’s preoccupations still apply?
In other words is blogging about not Obama a good idea on #inaug09? What about regular event days in the calendar, Martin Luther, 4th of July, Xmas, Thanksgiving, election days etc, how far do we need to check?
Jim:
It’s always good to be reminded of the basics of good marketing execution. So many, otherwise well done campaigns have been hobbled by just this kind of small detail.
Thanks for the reminder!
David,
You ask a superb question. Regarding blog posts. The best way to find the ’sweet spot’ regarding the time of day / day of the week to post is to use the ‘test, measure, test, measure’ approach.
http://jimsmarketingblog.com/2008/09/11/how-to-test-and-measure-your-marketing/
Regarding annual event days, you only need to consider those that are:
1. Relevant to your niche market.
2. Holidays, where people are not likely to be at their desk (if you sell B2B).
Mike,
You are absolutely right. It’s important to get the basics right!
It’s funny though because this weekend, which was a holiday weekend, I’ve actually regained old ground on traffic to Sciencebase. Sunday uniques were double what they were for the peak during last working week. It’s as if forced to be off work all the Americans turned to their computers and started surfing
David,
It also explains why you should test / measure different approaches – some sound counter instinctive, like your example, but generate a positive result.
Good information there Jim, i know when i worked in a office the first few hours on a Monday morning were to clear out the junk mail and drink coffee since i am still half asleep
The timing mistake seems so obvious AFTER you make it. We published a piece on Diagnosis Twitter http://tinyurl.com/diagtwitter on MLK’s birthday. Bad timing!
Very important point Jim!
If one is smart, they will use media events and storied to their advantage. Clearly, this person used it in an opposite manner.
Timing is always critical not just from when you should send out such a message during the week but understanding your market.
Timing is also about understanding if the timing of the market demonstrates that your product will be in demand.
If the market is crying out for the solution that your product that you offer then you are good shape.
This is an element of timing that is crucial to review before you do anything.
To Success,
Joseph Parton
I remember years back organising a seminar and bewildered as to why we had had no US sign-ups until I realised too late it was on the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Was a harsh lesson I will never repeat!
Thanks for posting yet another GREAT article, Jim.
Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Edward Brown
From your post I would gather that timing is mostly about increasing the probability of an announcement being read. I’m wondering if timing also applies more specifically to considering the audience and the right time in their life to receive the message. I’m not referring to just receiving it in their in box but being open-minded enough to really “hear” the message. You’ve got me thinking, thanks.
Hey Tom,
that was exactly the point that I was making in my above comments. What you have mentioned is certainly an important consideration.
To Success,
Joseph Parton
Jim
You are absolutely right. Timing indeed plays pivotal role in email campaign.
I have a question hovering in my mind. If we have any products or announcements related to particular event what will be the response?
Sorry to ask silly question. I just want to know visitor behavior.
It depends on so many factors, from; the quality of the mailing list, the quality of your copy writing, the cost of the products etc – through to how long people have been reading your information and how well they know you. Response rates for a credit card are usually well under 1% – response rates for an invite to a free talk given by a well known speaker can get over 90%.
Does anyone have any experience of frequency of marketing emails? I find its very different depending on if its B2B or B2C.