It’s late May. Do you know where your Christmas content is?
It’s ok; nobody does. Most retailers are way behind when it comes to planning a campaign and associated marketing for the biggest revenue season of the year—even though Christmas is the same day every year. (Sorry, old retailer humor.)
Right person, right message, right time.
This formula is the backbone of all marketing, right? If I can reach the people most likely to buy my product, with a message that moves them out of need or emotion, at the moment when they are most receptive to that message, I’ve got myself some paying customers.
In early 2020, many businesses struggled with how to react and respond to the pandemic. It was hard to seem empathetic without being disingenuous; humor didn’t feel “ok” until recently; and appearing to want to make money off struggling consumers just felt plain wrong.
For some organizations, though, it took little time to find the right thing to do, like when well-known restaurants pivoted to feeding the community when they couldn’t serve patrons. For others, there was no playbook for operating outside business as usual.
Why was that? It’s all about values.