"PUSH IT REAL GOOD": MARKETING STRATEGIES
As many others, I found myself suddenly unemployed during the 2019 pandemic and working for business owners mostly interested in taking advantage of their employees' difficult situation rather than caring for them and valuing their capabilities (they usually do as soon as you present your resignation). As many others I pursued the road of creating logo design clothing through the print on demand formula, that has turned to be not very profitable without a budget to invest in online campaigns to promote the business. I was in between the feeling of drowning in despair and witnessing the rejection of my hundreds of job applications sent to businesses I believed I could, at least, land a first interview with, when I decided to take a deeper look into those ads popping on my Instagram feed mentioning: searching for models, influencers, content creators for our media pages etcetera. The idea I have about what the brands offer is quite primitive; they ask you for a "small" purchase in exchange for discounts and reposting your pictures wearing their products on their page, or becoming an ambassador aka salesperson. I would like to make clear that I don't expect big incomes coming from this type of activity, but why should I spend my money and time for just a repost or miserable commissions coming from a clientele I HAVE TO BUILD and establish with laborious effort? I decided to give a chance to a couple of brands appearing to be the least "exasperating" among others: NKD Underwear and Yves Rocher. The first claimed to be looking for models, the second one for influencers (this is what their posts declared). I start contacting the first company and somebody texts me in a matter of minutes, shooting a private message. The first thing I am asked is if I am familiar with the company and their mission. After a brief introduction answering both of them, the woman I am talking to is confirming that they are looking for models who would like to start a collaboration, and I am invited to check their website and choose the piece of lingerie I like the most. After reviewing their small collection and saying that all designs look very cute, I receive a confirmation of collaboration along with a discount I can utilize to purchase anything from the website. My "reward" will be a repost on their official Instagram account. I politely decline her offer saying that I am not ready to buy anything at this moment, and she insists by creating a personalized discount code I can share with my friends and acquaintances. Sure that she understood the last message I sent, I say bye and leave the chat just to receive more messages asking if I was "still there". I remind her that I am not willing to purchase any of the lingerie and I thank her again, but she proceeds to remind me to use their hashtags when I post my pictures wearing their designs and to text her the order number to guarantee me a faster delivery. Oook! Yves Rocher, the second company, seems to be looking for influencers that translated in their language means sales associate. They require a 35 euro purchase to get started that doesn't have to be necessarily for personal use, meaning that a person could order for some friends and hypothetically start making money from order number one. The team leader writes me a brief introduction on the brand embellished with waterfalls of emojis and hearts. Please, in the name of professionalism and credibility, stop using fucking emojis! I am sent a brochure and asked repeatedly if I already know somebody who would be interested into placing an order. The team leader also offers me assistance with writing very convincing text messages to send out. She tries to compel my ass telling me about her wonderful personal experience, but I simply ask for more time to evaluate both the company and the possibility of creating a clientele to earn some decent revenues. She at first tells me to take my time, think about pros and cons and eventually try with a small purchase for myself, and she contacts me again the following morning and today questioning if I've already messaged people and if I'm ready and willing to start. For fuck's sake, it seems like these individuals are convinced that pushing and urging folks will make them comply by exhaustion! This is definitely a marketing strategy adopted by many that is everything but profitable for the workers belonging to the bottom of the pecking order. I'm now convinced more than ever that the successful stories of women describing themselves as satisfied in these roles are told by students or full time mothers trying to make a little side hustle, but living with a well-off partner. The testimony of people going down this road because unemployed and in need of an income are extremely different: they tend to stay with the company for a short time and quit because of the low commissions and the sword of Damocles aka "team leader ball breaker" being on the first entry salesperson's dick to secure their bag too. This gotta stop! It's time to find new marketing and business strategies. I just needed to vent. Thank you all, Martina.
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