We like to think of our brands as immortal. They will live forever as long as we keep adapting to the marketplace. But what if your brand needs a sell-by date and you had a limited amount of time? What would you do differently? What if you were only going to own the business for a set period and then either sell it or start over?
- How quickly might you make decisions?
- How aggressive would you be to test new ideas?
- How focused would your efforts to be grow and expand versus to concentrate on a niche market?
Does Your Brand Needs a Sell-By Date?
Time restrictions can be powerful marketing tools.
A nice little thought experiment is to imagine you only have five years to meet a goal. By 2020, you have to sell your brand and you can’t buy more time. Putting a time constraint around a project, a brand or a business really helps to focus the mind and concentrate the effort. You don’t get as distracted by too many rabbit holes. You keep your team, your message and your actions limited to a very clear cut goal.
A blank page or an open field can be restricting. Guidelines, restrictions and limits can help you achieve goals where you can succeed because of the ticking clock.
Try This Timely Experiment
Pick a very specific goal you want to achieve. I want to have 3 new customers. I want to sell my new product to 2 new retailers. I want to increase my response rate on email efforts by 10%.
Put 100 days as the time frame to get it done.
Set up clear and measurable objectives for the effort. Don’t over think the action but allow your team to be creative and independent in how they solve the problem. Resist say, “we don’t do things like that.” Don’t provide an exception to the 100 days for any reason. Force the team to meet weekly to keep refining, responding and reacting to the target.
What you will find is extraordinary progress because of the time limit. The team will probably achieve the goal, but more importantly, they infuse a sense of urgency into their ongoing work.
They don’t keep having meetings, they do stuff. They don’t get distracted by BSO (bright shiny objects), they concentrate. They don’t go all over the place; they get the core job done. Time concentrates the mind. Limits pushing an effort toward action versus thinking. Stuff gets done. Progress is made. Time restraints become a marketing advantage.
Maybe it is about time.
Are you looking for a coach who can help you in a timely fashion? Now is the time to call me.
Photo credit: Found street art at 60th & Catherine in West Philadelphia
