their close family members in the
hands of a stranger every day in the
name of Uber.
Even adverts should reflect the work
of art. They should be beautiful,
entertaining
and
informative.
Safaricom’s advert with a beautiful
choir is a good example. If for nothing
else, the music is good. With the
clutter in the market, there is no space
for basic advertisements enumerating
product attributes and benefits.
It’s now a global world. Location as
we knew is irrelevant. Selling online
is the new normal. Feedback is now
escalated. Backlash for poor services
or bad products are broadcast online
vide. From wherever you are located,
you can address the world so instead of
spending a fortune opening branches
everywhere, craft a brand and invest in
online marketing. It’s the new vehicle
to serve the world.
Hold your breath, technology is not
about to replace marketers. It’s however
a present danger to the routine order
takers. To survive, marketers must
elevate their role to that of a craftsmen
and turn marketing into an art.
Art is defined as the expression or
application of human creative skill
and imagination, typically in a visual
form such as painting or sculpture,
producing works to be appreciated
primarily for their beauty or emotional
power. Craft on the other hand is an
activity involving skill in making
things by hand.
While Apps can be developed to
make clothes, a hand stitched suit
or hand-made shoes is still superior.
While Apps can mix all the recipes in
the world to produce great cuisines,
food made by experienced chefs
is ever the better option. Whereas
Apps can showcase houses online,
an experienced realtor is needed to
take one through the property buying
process.
One can mix all the beats to produce
great music through the computer
but it will never surpass real music
played by strumming guitars, drums
and saxophones, flutes and all other
instruments. Simply, no app can
replace the skill of a craftsman. applications.And ladies too take
notice, Samantha is on the prowl.
In a word, marketers have to be
craftsmen. Roles such as building
relationships, negotiation, empathy
and problem solving is now the
next marketing front. Also, sales
people must build adequate product
knowledge beyond that which can
be dispensed through computer Evans Majeni is a businessman selling
Apple Products in Nairobi and a
director at Tahidi Homes Limited. He
enjoys stepping on big toes and paying
the price. You can reach him via mail
on this or related issues at:
[email protected].
Woe unto you unless you turn yours
into a craft; I’m informed Samantha
is very good, you may end up in the
same dustbin with marketers.