The WHEN is NOW!

Recently on an overnight business trip to Winston Salem, N.C., I was craving a fresh, spicy tuna roll. I had never been to Winston Salem, and had not done any research prior to my arrival, so I was completely ignorant of any local restaurant information. Around 7:00, as my hunger mounted and demanded action, I whipped out my Blackberry and texted "sushi, Winston Salem" to Google. Within ten seconds, Google magically served up three tempting choices. Linking to the websites I was able to check out the menu, price range, user reviews and exact location of all three choices so that I was able to make a well informed decision that, in the end, was extremely satisfying. This entire, "sushi research project", occurred in the length of time it took to walk from my room, ride the elevator down to the first floor, and walk to the front lobby of my Hotel.

Why is this important? Marketing has changed. As marketeers, we had better be serving up hot messages when our customers are thinking about consuming the products, services or cause that we are representing. The web, messaging apps, and all forms of viral, social and immediate media are literally retraining consumers on how and when the "spend evaluation" process occurs. The consumption and donation process is now a more informed and reflexive action, and that trend only seems to be strengthening. Need more proof? Look at the American Red Cross' latest campaign, "text Haiti to 90999". In the wake of such a disaster, when media outlets across the world have awareness of the needs in Haiti sky high , the campaign was clever in the sense that the rallying cry became the desired action of the message. Smart, simple, affective and most importantly, placed so that people would see it during the height of awareness, the campaign is a huge success. If the campaign would have occurred a year ago would it have worked? I think not. And yes, there was still an extreme humanitarian need in Haiti long before the earthquake.


Identifying windows when your target audience is evaluating your product and service will be extremely profitable for you. We call that a "WHEN" audit. The WHEN audit is just one part of the seven question approach to successful marketing that we created. We have used our WHEN audit to help health insurers, banks, car care centers, energy companies and other customers invent success. We also have many BIG IDEAS for other verticals as well.

Don't forget, the WHEN is NOW.