This weekend, my family and I had a blast at Top Golf, a local computerized driving range and miniature golf course. My five year old son and three year old daughter have been asking to go back every day. So, my wife and I (mostly me) thought it would be a great idea to head back over there this evening after work and try to have some more fun.
The result: nowhere near as fun. Although the weather was about the same, if not a little better, the experience was underwhelming. The place was packed, the service was slow and the kids were flat out exhausted from a long day of sun and preschool. My wife made the joke that “it was a good thing this wasn’t our first time there, because if it was I would have sworn it off.”
She was right. If this was my first experience I might not have gone back. I definitely wouldn’t have rushed back three or four days later. That led me to think about the importance of timing in everything – including communications. So, I thought I would prepare the below list of the best times to communicate with your audience based on popularly accepted stats:
Best time to send an eblast – Mid-week eblasts usually have the best open rates.
Best time to tweet – Everything I’ve seen/read points to about 12 noon East Coast time in the US.
Best time to do a direct mail campaign – Avoid major holidays unless you’re doing a holiday mailing. If you are doing a holiday mailing, a popular sentiment is to pick off-beat holidays to make a bigger impact or gain more awareness.
Best time to seek PR or earned media placements – Approach the media when you have a unique and timely success story, not just something big “coming up”.
Best time to do a blog post – Regularly. Every blog is different, but to develop followers and a consistent audience your timing needs to be somewhat predictable or people won’t keep checking back. Feeds and following tools help, but not everyone uses them. I try to post 3-4 times a month personally. Some folks post daily. Just be consistent.
Best time to launch a new website – When your team is embarrassed to send people to the site, it’s already too late. But, if you’re not yet in that boat, you should expect to redesign your site when the technology and style are outdated. As an example, Flash sites were all the rage several years back, but with the emergence of Google Analytics they have become relatively useless for tracking (without a lot of work-arounds). A simple, well-designed site can last a while, but most will start to look outdated within two-three years. Content should be updated regularly though, whenever you have something new to communicate.
Best time to go to Top Golf in Alexandria, VA – Not after a full day of school.