Last
week, some of us represented our company at a career fair in a reputed school
in California. Our neighbors were from an organization that is into social
media and very popular among students these days. They were giving away free
t-shirts which people seemed to take quite a liking for. At about noon, when
the crowd started dispersing for lunch, a relatively older looking lady stopped
by their booth. She did not look like she was interested in looking for a job
at the fair. She seemed to be awed by their impressive booth design. She
probably fancied getting one of those free t-shirts too. She approached them
and asked for a t-shirt but the gentleman behind the booth snapped “Ma’am these are only for students!”
She
patiently asked him “Why is that? What is
the purpose of the free giveaways anyway?”
He
said “They are meant for students to
keep. It is a company initiative for marketing our brand name in the student
community.”
She
replied “Well, my friend, you seem to
have decided that I am not good enough to promote your brand name. With today’s
experience, I have not been left with much to say about your company. If one of
my students asks me about you, I wonder what my response would be. Do you think
you have done a good job at brand promotion today? Or do you think you may have
lost a great marketing opportunity?” And just like that, she left.
Isn’t
it amazing that every time we interact with someone, we convey a message. This
message could do a good promotion or a bad promotion of who we represent. At events
like trade shows, we are an image of our company. At global events, we are sometimes
an image of our country. In a much more personal group, we are an image of ourselves. What do you want your image to look like?
