JIT marketing is really a matter of developing the strategic positioning of a company while working on the tactical elements that will get the client through this quarter. The key to success is that it is an ongoing, fluid process. The process of developing a positioning statement or repositioning a company used to take at least three months if you wanted to do it right. There was always enough time for the due diligence of researching the industry and interviewing management and customers just to find the sweet spot in the marketplace. A Never-Ending Process JIT marketing allows you to develop the positioning for a company that needs strategic and tactical marketing in about half of the usual time.
Nothing is written in stone anymore.
Research you do today had better be presented today because it will be old news tomorrow. Mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships will quickly make your findings obsolete. We had done an in-depth competitive analysis for one of our clients. We could have continued the research forever but had to freeze the analysis in time because the minute you present your findings, a competitor's Web site completely changes or a new competitor shows up on your to-watch list due to a partnership that happened that morning. Find out who is really driving the repositioning, how much influence he or she has, and whether the repositioning is embraced by every person in management, from the CEO to the VP of marketing to the VP of sales.