Despite What It May Look, Now is the Time

I got an email in which someone was advising public relations professionals that if they had bad news to announce (about their own company or on behalf of a client), today is the day to do it.  The thinking, of course, is that it’s just going to get lost in the noise of all news outlets focused squarely on tomorrow being Election Day.

It kind of makes me think of that day in the summer when – during the Major League Baseball All-Star break – there are no pro sports being played (meaning, NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA).  As a result, the proverbial tumbleweeds are blowing through the studios of a place like ESPN.  In that case, if you’ve got big sports news that can be held until that slow news day, that’s the time to announce it!

Heck, look at how many big brands wait until Super Bowl Sunday to do something big – whatever “really big” is to them, meaning, a product launch, the sheer magnitude of their commercial for the football game’s broadcast, or maybe even combining the two by having a mega celebrity emerge as the face who helps with the release of that item.

The fact of the matter is, you can and should be strategic with your timing in a lot of different ways.

You don’t release a Christmas song in May.  You don’t make a big splash for what you feel is going to be the most popular Halloween costume on the 4th of July.  And no, you don’t announce your company’s big breakthrough on Election Day.  It's kind of like how you don't propose to your girlfriend at someone else's wedding.

But the other side of the coin is that you can’t hold everything until all conditions are perfect.  Yes, this is coming from someone who has historically leaned towards being a perfectionist.  But I have seen enough examples to know why more times than not you’re just not going to check all the boxes.

In fact, if you’ve ever read “Start Ugly,” which was an Amazon bestseller, you know that the reality of it is that you just have to launch.  Period.  No, it’s not going to be perfect, but you’ll not only get “it” out there, you’ll refine along the way and eventually it will be where you can stand back and admire the now finished product – with maybe even a “Tada” sound effect to christen the moment.

I have seen this up close and personal with people who say they’re going to start a podcast.  They plan and they dream, and they write, and they attend conferences, and they brainstorm – yet they never get their show launched.  And all around them, podcasters are releasing new episode after new episode.

Songwriters, I’m afraid that lots and lots of you are guilty of this too.  You’re just holding on with dear life to that song that you feel still isn’t finished.  You’ve gone back to it time and again, many times not changing anything, and all the while thinking it still needs something else.  In fact, what it needs is for you to record it, release it, and move on!  (I know, or demo it, shop it, and so on, but you get the point.)

Authors, I’m sorry to say that you need to be included here as well.  While there is an exception such as, “The release of the book is going to coincide with the xx anniversary of xx,” my gosh, all of civilization isn’t holding their breath waiting for the one and only book that’s ever going to be published to come out.  I admire the heck out of wanting it to be the best book any reader will ever consume and remember, but even Michaelangelo got to a point where he decided the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was done.

YouTubers I feel your pain too.  There’s a video you’re working on that you can’t seem to come to terms with as far as feeling it’s ready to put on your channel yet.  You can do two things, but continuing to wait isn’t one of them.  If you feel so strongly that it’s missing something, ask an uninterested third party to watch it and give you their feedback.  Secondly, if maybe it’s the look and feel, have a qualified video editor look at it and give you some pointers.  Either way, boom, you can get tweaks made, publish it to YouTube, and move on.

In all these cases I should be saying, “To the next one.”  Consistency is key and you’re not going to be able to keep cranking out songs, podcasts, videos, or whatever else you’re creating if you have a death grip on the one currently sitting in front of you.

Timing is important.  If you’ve got an election parody video, put it out tomorrow, for Pete’s sake.  Do you know how many videos have gone viral that have looked amateurish?  Heck, think back to the days of “The Blair Witch Project,” a 1999 film done by a few film students at a budget of only 60 thousand dollars – yet grossed nearly 250 million dollars, all despite looking like it was made by a few film students in 1999.

The time might not feel right to you, which could very well be an indication that, yup, the time is right.

For twenty years I have been helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, filmmakers, small business owners, and more.  What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to?  Let’s get on a short call together so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.