A Lonely Marketer and Ghost of the Christmas past : A Story!

“Brew me a cup for the winter’s night…The wind howls loud for the 2015 fight”

A lonely marketer utters poetically to a room servant while being melancholic and quietly standing near the window of 13th floor-room of TrulyYours Hotel, DigitalPur. He is in his mid-forties. His eyes express strange angst he possess towards the traditional old school marketing he himself belongs to.

It’s quite chilly as we approach the 31st of December 2014.

He eventually gets his cup of brewed coffee which he firmly holds in his left-hand and peeks outside the window wondering at the market blitzkrieg at the busy street of DigitalPur hill station. He looks dazed and appears in state of strange despair. The world he knew is near complete collapse as a new wave has overtaken the state of affairs with a massive stride.

The world he knew was primarily based around the sizes in 30” x 20” inches of outdoor, 6”x11” inches of quarter-page print or 26” to 40” of TV screen size to send the brands message across to different customers segment. With less than a decade the story has turned upside down with a relatively smaller device of 3” inches wide screen becoming the new window to world full of opportunities.

There is a newspaper lying on his study table lit by the table lamp. The cover story reads “Customers now spend more time on Mobile than the TV for the first time last quarter” a US report front-page headline says. Standing on a window, one can see a sarcastic grin on his face appeared on the prospect of opening the tiny 3” inch window to the future of what 2015 beholds.

He found himself talking with his own mirror image, “How fast everything has changed! Where am I now? Holidaying alone when everybody is spending time with their loved ones! How could I stay in a haunted 13th Floor of a deserted hill station DigitalPur? Just because I fetched the haunted room deal well within my pocket, Can I risk myself so dearly?”

There was a ghost story quite prevalent in the dark corners of the DigitalPur about the 13th Floor of TrulyYours Hotel. They say some crazy ghost of a marketer haunts the hotel since the past Christmas tragedy in the hotel.

{At the 13th Floor}

The lonely marketer closed shut the window as the winter wind turns slightly cruel.

He came to his study table and gaze at the front-page headline again bowing his head down when suddenly somebody knocked at his door. He quickly raised his head. As he stood up to reach for the door, the light of the room start fluctuating on and off making his room look like dark nightclub of the ghosts. His face turned pale with fright. After a brief pause, there came a loud door-bangin' sound yet again

“Knock!! Knock!!!”

He gathered courage and opened the door in a flash. And a glowing transparent figure immediately fly entered in his room. He fell back on his bed and the ghost roared,

“YOU HAVE EMBARRASED OUR SOCIETY OF NOBLE MARKETERS!!”

Even though lonely marketer was aghast and frightened by the sight of the ghost, but his loud words made him weep rather than shake him with fear. He was grief-stricken. He fell on his knees and raised his hands up in gesture more like seeking the guidance from the ghost.

And the ghost started his sermon.

“Poor Poor Old Marketer…A marketer should always be young from his heart. It’s an ever-evolving field your professors must have told you long ago. You are worried of the 3” inch screen window to world of 2015. Why so? It’s not as scary the world as you have already suffered. I will speak the truth as transparent as I am..ha ha (giggles)”

He continued, “And frankly speaking, that 3” inch window is not the reason for downfall of your ways of marketing. It’s your plain consumer indifference which has caused you all this. Today digital consumer is smart enough to know when they’re being jobbed, you should’ve known that!”

Lonely marketer eyes were wide open, he kept listening intently. Ghost continued,

“The absolute basic duty of marketer is to offer advertising which is honest, relevant, entertaining and unobtrusive. You failed in your duty…Hence the sufferings!!”

Tears were dropping down from the edges of lonely marketer face in slow motion. He cried, “What should I do ghost? Tell me please?

Ghost smiled and replied,

“Since you inhabit the 13th Floor of TrulyYours, it’s my duty to haunt you with my marketing new-school rumours. As our fictitious Nazi Hans Landa says, facts can be so misleading, where rumours, true or false, are often revealing."

Ghost jumped on the chest of old marketer and pulled his ears close to his transparent lips. He barked,

“Think ahead of traditional 4Ps – product, price, place promotion & quickly comes to term with the new school Six Cs- Contact, connect, conversation, consideration, consumption and community. It’s not enough for the consumer to know your product and service. Establish a meaningful contact with them, then subsequent dialog and engagement. New-school marketers are rumoured to build communities around converted customer to continue the dialog and fuel loyalty and evangelism.”

“You need to part ways with the prevalent cons like ‘Push-mentality’ where customers are being interrupted considering them as scattered cattle running around for their share of fodder. Stop playin’ the rabbit-carrot or hit-miss game with customer 24x7 and try the methodologies which draw customers in- Pull game my dear. Kindly find them when they’re searching for the products and services they need, and at the time they need them. Acquaint them as a rescuer, and not as their tormentor! ”

Lonely marketer clutched his hands together and pleaded, “Oh infectious ghost, can you give me your brain-feed a bit more precise?”

Ghost stands tall and spread his transparent hands in air,

“O Lonely Marketer! In order to find your way through this 3”inch window to the world of opportunities, you should try and choose the most anticipative marketing form as you can. Capture your interaction with customers in NOW moment! Choose your visuals and creative more wisely and give them the customized relevant content tailored as per their needs and preferences. And you can sail through the 3” inch window to the world of 2015!!”

Ghost fly towards the window and it opened itself. He turned,

“Best of luck for your transportation to world of 2015. I hope your every single customer letter will carry the intent & valediction same as the name of this Hotel ‘Truly Yours!’...”

The Ghost vanishes into the thin air.

Sources: https://marketingland.com/report-time-on-mobile-devices-surpassed-tv-108366