Timing is Everything
July 10, 2009
Serindipidity – basically being in the right place at the right time – is a wonderful thing. But timing is everything, and sometimes events completely out of your control can have a profound impact on your life.
Starting on June 25, and continuing as I write this now, the airwaves are still dominated with stories, retrospectives, and allegations about Michael Jackson. I suppose this is fitting. After all, he was one of the major musical figures of my generation; his 1982 release Thriller is the best selling album of all time, having sold over 28 million copies; and, well, he was good!
Unfortunately, earlier the same day, another icon of the ’70s also died: Farrah Fawcett. She was in a collection of TV commercials, did a couple of guest spots on several shows, and is best known for her role as Jill Munroe on the hit series “Charles Angels.”
She also holds a record – her pinup poster sold over 12 million copies, and could be seen everywhere during the late ’70s.
But on June 25, 2009, because she happened to die on the same day as Michael Jackson, her entire legacy – the complete body of her work, including her outstanding performance in 1984’s “The Burning Bed” – was reduced to nothing more than a footnote in the media circus surrounding Jackson’s death.
Even Billy Mays – the near-screaming pitchman for “OxyClean” and “ShamWow!” who died just three days later got more press than did Fawcett.
Setting aside the tragedy of three people losing their lives and the impact on their respective families, there is an important lesson for us as marketers: make sure you’re not playing to a crowded field.
This means identifying and targeting specific niche markets, developing value-rich propositions, and presenting them when the target audience is most likely to be receptive.
It means recognizing your competitors’ fears about spending and taking advantage of a less-crowded media space to draw more attention to your offers.
And it means you have to truly understand the concept of timing as it applies to every aspect of your business. It may not be possible to control everything that happens in your environment, but to the extent possible, remember that “timing is everything” and make that knowledge work to your advantage.
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