by Curt Mercadante
I still remember my high school summer at the University of Wisconsin Cross Country Camp, and one of the coaches’ repeated mantra:
“The day before the day before is always more important than the day before.”
What it means is that a good meal and good night’s sleep is more important two days before your race than the night before. I also took it to mean that it’s better to spend time preparing in the weeks leading up to your race — than waiting until the last minute to train hard.
That mantra always stuck with me, and doesn’t just apply to racing.
Take online communication, for instance. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’m approached by potential clients who want to treat an email program like their direct mail or TV ads: wait until the last minute to hit their email lists with a barrage of “e-blasts” (a term which should be expunged from our vernacular) and hope the sheer amount of eyeballs it reaches will have an effect.
It doesn’t work that way.
Online communication doesn’t work like the old ways of communicating. It’s about slowing down and taking time to engage in conversation and build trust. A successful email program takes time to build, to allow the people who want to opt-out to do so — and allowing everyone else to open your emails, read, engage, respond and converse with you or your organization.
This can be understandably frustrating for those who are used to the immediate results of, say, a television ad. And, yes, television ads are a very important, vital tool in your communications toolbelt.
But different types of media require different types of strategies. And the “immediate gratification” strategy of traditional media tools just doesn’t work online.
It’s not about the day before. It’s about the day before the day before. See what I mean?