The Time is Now
By Nathan Johnson

It’s the end of the summer, and everyone is preparing to get back to work. A few lucky souls with vacation time left are out of the office this week or next, but they’ll return from vacation soon, ready to knuckle down and psych themselves up for everything that has to be accomplished before the end of the year. Unfortunately for many companies, it’s not just their employees that have been on vacation, it’s their advertising and public relations programs, too.

For some businesses, summer means a slowdown in advertising and PR. Companies sometimes back off on budgets or delay starting new programs. It’s not ideal, for many reasons, especially since advertising and public relations work best when they remain consistent over time – with no breaks – but the slowdown happens almost every year. And, since we’ve hit the end of the summer again, it’s time to start focusing on the future and get those programs underway again.

As soon as the fall starts up, most companies that took a break get back in gear with their advertising and public relations programs. However, every year, there are always a few companies that try to see how long they can hold off without making a decision to reengage those programs. The problem is that delaying those programs could end up costing you in the long run.

Starting or restarting any advertising or PR program takes time for ramp up. Plan development, updates on business direction, concept creation, list building, etc., are all tasks that must take place long before you see any tangible results. If you’ve been away for long enough and have to re-educate the market, media and/or customers on who you are and what you’re all about, that’s a further setback, and every day you delay makes it that much more difficult to recapture mindshare. Wait too long and the industry could move on without you. It also means that you might be weeks or months behind competitors that have maintained steady programs or have already restarted their own programs. And competitors that were lagging behind you may have caught up.

Another issue with delaying these programs is that deadlines (for advertising in specific publications, producing direct-mail pieces, launching a new product, securing a speaking opportunity, applying for various awards and other items) don’t change – meaning that you could be in a real rush to meet them by the time you get started. On the advertising side, being in a rush can sometimes mean paying extra “rush charges” to get your work finished on time. For public relations, starting late and rushing to meet deadlines can result in strained relationships with the media and/or event organizers. For a program that is dependent on building good relationships with these outlets, rushing them or being pushy can be extremely detrimental.

You’ve heard it before – probably hundreds of times – but, if you’ve been holding out on starting or restarting advertising and PR programs, there is no better day to begin than today.

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