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I always had a hatred towards sales & marketing. As an engineering student I always visualised myself as the geeky developer sitting in a corner cubicle , releasing new softwares on daily basis. It never happened. Instead I fell in love with the then dark side of software engineering, which is also called as administration. After seven years I got enlightened. Life is all about "sales and marketing". Whether consciously or unconsciously everyone does Marketing and Sales.
Look back at your life. The day when you told your dad, "Papa, see what I've made today". The day when you lifted your hand in the school when the teacher asked if anyone knows the answer. The day when you sat infront of the interview board. The day when you smiled at that person of opposite sex. The day when you completed the project before deadline . What were you thinking? Try playing all these down, but the fact is you-were-marketing. And whenever you were successful, treat that as a deal closed.
Now-a-days when I see a guy standing infront of super market at late hours , trying to sell a dictionary to the passerby, I empathize with him . Afterall, we all are in the same boat. We differ only in the end product that we market.
Till a few days back the enlightenment was only in a nebulous state. It got crystallized on that faithful day when I returned from home.
FLASH BACK
Dad had been behind me for getting my profile up on a matrimonial site. Yes , ever since my only elder bro got married noose was tightening around me. I successfully dodged the onslaught by relatives and parents for few weeks , but I always knew that the inevitable can only be delayed.
And then I met this German friend who inspired me with his story of how he met his girlfriend through a dating site. I came straight to office and put up my profile in a matrimonial site. It only took 15 minutes for me to write the profile . Result was 30 minutes of firing from dad for being so clownish, thoughtless and unmindful. I tried to defend my work by saying , "Dad , this is me . You asked me to write about myself and thats exactly what I did. I would be all those words you just said and may be more. If you want to write about a son of your dreams, go ahead and make the corrections you want. That will not make me different, will it?". I got up, turned and walked back to my room in a filmy-slow-motion.
On reaching the office the next day, I narrated the whole episode to my friends . If that was not a mistake in itself, I showed my profile to my so called "friends". One of them commented that, if he was looking for a groom for his sister then he would throw my profile to "Ignore list". ( Guess, being oneself is a deterrent these days ). My second friend , who has a doctorate in MPM ( Matrimonial Profile Making) and MPR ( Matrimonial Profile Reading), was gracious enough to correct me.
"Sojish, first of all, you need to understand your target market. If you thought that all the could-be-brides are going to read through your profile, you are wrong. Profiles are read/filtered/grouped by could-be-in-laws. Gals don't even get to see it until the last day. So, target the right market when you advertise yourself." ( hmmmmmm...That was news to me ) "Secondly, you don't have to disclose your weakness and drawbacks. Does Nokia say that it's sound quality is bad compared to Sony Ericsson ? They won't !!" (hmmm, makes sense again ) "Thirdly, stress your strengths . As much as possible , get the market's attention on your strength than drawbacks." (Wow. I am ENLIGHTENED.) I am still learning the marketing and advertising in matrimonial domain. So I went ahead and removed all that I wrote about myself . Called up dad and gave him free hand in the advertising. Yeah, there are some tasks you should leave to the experts and experienced.
BACK TO PRESENT
Today, I am on display on a matrimonial site.
Like a Nokia mobile on sale in ebay.com , like a Mac-book in Apple online store, I am on "display". Technical specifications like height , weight, bday are correctly entered. Multiple photos have been uploaded, so that could-be in-laws can view me from different angles before selecting. Also included is a feature list which includes my job, education, family background. And yes, all draw backs are cleverly masqueraded.
By the end of the day, I felt totally miserable. So, I sent a mail to the matrimonial site owners to see if they could add a feature to my profile. Once the new features is added, there would be disclaimer at the end of my profile "Bride Groom investments are subject to market risks. Please read the offer document carefully before investing. There is no assurance or guarantee that all the objectives of the groom will be achieved. Past performance of the Groom/ Family/ Career/ Education is not necessarily indicative of future results. The name of the groom/family does not, in any manner, indicate either the quality of the groom, its future prospects or returns".Whatever said and done , I guess, the truth will always prevail. "Life is all about marketing !!!! ". "Not to advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but no one else does."
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