Three Things That Keep You from Getting Noticed
A product or service debut frequently hinges on many things – customer demand, resources, unexpected technical challenges, and competitive threats – among other factors. When planning launches companies consider many things, but carefully orchestrating timing in light of what’s happening in the world isn’t typically one of them. Yet timing can dictate success or failure. It’s frequently tied to market activity and other events that determine the likelihood that you will be heard. The goal must be to reduce the amount of ‘noise’ that stands between you and your audience. As a result, you always want to announce on a date that has little competing activity. Sometimes these dates can’t be predicted. The death of Steve Jobs is a tragic example of this. But most of the time we know when these times are:
- If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If an Apple watch is announced and everyone you hope to influence is attending the event and writing about it before, during and afterwards, will anyone pay attention to your news? Maybe, but why tempt fate? Avoid major industry and news events. Your PR firm should be able to tell you if any announcements are occurring that can negatively impact your launch. And conversely, they should tell you if you can positively leverage the news to your benefit. For example, we contacted reporters on behalf of a client that was a Google Glass competitor when an incident in a bar became the catalyst for the airing of concerns about the ability to secretly record others. And when there was a DDoS attack on a major web hosting center, we pitched our security client as an industry expert
- The event as announcement magnet.Nothing inspires a desire to do something like a conference does. You want to make a splash at an event that many of your top prospects are attending. This would be a good strategy if hundreds of other companies weren’t also vying for everyone’s attention. Of course, in some instances it makes sense to announce at a conference, but most of the time a better strategy is to announce at least two weeks in advance when you can acquire a reporter’s undivided attention and go into the event on the heels of a successful launch.
- Friday’s a great day to prepare for the weekend; a bad day to announce anything.Most of the days of the year are good days to make your announcement. As PR pros we know there are also some days that are not, including Fridays, the last week in August, between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, and many more.
As author and critic Marya Mannes wrote, “Timing and arrogance are decisive factors in the successful use of talent.” When choosing a date to make an important announcement, make sure you master the former and abandon the latter.
Julie Karbo, Founder and CEO