Communication Matters: Timing

Choosing the best way to communicate can have a marked effect on impact. However, few message senders consider this. Moreover, few consider different means to send.

When I was a marketing research director at a confectionery company, I noticed that I did not get responses to what I thought were important emails. During the week I approached my colleagues and asked how they wanted messages to arrive. Frew wanted emails because my messages got lost in other information. Most wanted short texts (if not critical) or in-person meetings (for complex issues). Either way, they said “keep it brief). If a team was not required, then one-on-ones were best.

McNeil Laboratories is a pharmaceutical company that was founded in 1879 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of their products is Tylenol. In the early 1980s the contents of one bottle poisoned a customer. McNeil went into immediate lockdown. They recovered all existing bottles in a matter of weeks. They advertised progress nightly. Not only did they locate all other poisoned bottles, but their private detectives also found and arrested the poisoner. The costs to McNeil were staggering --- though that seemed not to matter! Tylenol became the number one brand. McNeil changed their packaging to deter any nefarious attempts in the future. Even today hundreds of companies use McNeil’s playbook.

Consultant Sara Genrich has summarized that one size does not fil all:

“Always consider the audience when putting your communication together. It may be something on your to-do list, but, by design, communication will impact the recipient in some way. Where will the recipient be when they receive the communication? And how would you anticipate your audience’s frame of mind to be when receiving the communication?”

The McNeil story shows that planning is key to avoiding future disasters, not just reactive reliance. Genrich shows the importance of crafting messages with the audience in mind.

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