Speed, good. Slow, bad. Not so fast!!

God’s speed.  He’s a fast learner; a quick study.  Sadly, their little Timmy’s a slow child.  Internet speed!  And the holy grail: real time.

There’s a ton of baggage around the idea of “speed.”   You don’t have to look at your marketing, it’s in our DNA:  Old High German spuot prosperity, speed; Old English spōwan to succeed; Latin spes hope.  That’s why fast is better than slow, speed has always had a positive connotation, especially in matters of marketing.

But it doesn’t always lead to positive results, at least not from a marketing perspective.

“Sales are slow, fix things!  Fast”  I don’t blame you for feeling that way.  But if we put too much emphasis on going fast we might miss the real reason sales are slow.

I actually see this often.  Owners want a new brochure or new ad to be the fix.  Again, I don’t blame them.  But it often is a worn out message (something not always updated when the brochure or ad is updated) or a product that is becoming less relevant (as in putting a fresh coat of paint on a house nobody wants to buy).

Fixing your message is slower than designing a cool new brochure.  Resetting your value proposition via product changes is even slower.  Yet, if getting sales back up is your goal, and it is (right?), then going slow will get you there faster.  Weird how that works, huh!  Know when to go fast and when to slow down.