Ever since I watched that Pepsi commercial where P!nk, Beyonce, and Britney Spears go on gladiator mode while singing We Will Rock You by Queen in high school, I dreamed of being in the marketing and advertising world. I was not aspiring to be a model for the record, even though those artists’ performance was exceptional. I was more in awe of how impactful that campaign had been, to the extent that the only thing I saw kids drinking at the cafeteria in the following weeks was a Pepsi cola.
When I got into college, therefore, I tried my best to learn how to market such household products. I had high hopes of joining a massive company after graduation and being able to campaign around the country, so I wanted to absorb as much information as I could while at school.
The massive break came a few years later when my company gave me a managerial position. My first task? Market LED lights throughout the 50 states. The scheme would take up an entire year, so my team had to develop a series of marketing strategies to ensure that our brand would be a household name in the end.
The Uncontrollable Problem
In truth, the brainstorming part of my job was easy. I was fortunate to have team members who did not like slacking off. We had commercials, print ads, and events prepared in less than a month.
Among the many constants in the world, though, power failure is one of them. This happens when the weather gets too extreme at any season, and the electric posts and cables suffer from inevitable damages that cause a lack of electricity for a short period. Although it is an issue that a situation that no human or technology can control, it gets in the way of our marketing task. After all, we are selling LED lights. How can people realize how good our products are if there’s no way to turn them on?
Nevertheless, since none of us wanted to lose hope, we looked for ways to handle possible power outages.
Invest On High-Quality Generators
The first thing on our must-have list is a high-quality generator—or three. The reason is that we wanted to travel to different locations by land for most of the year. We also planned on bringing props and stages to highlight our latest products. As mentioned above, it is impossible to do all that for a LED lighting company when there is no electricity.
In truth, you need not buy generators that are almost as big as a hut. You only need to get a few portable ones, considering you will be lugging them from one region to another. But try not to buy the cheapest one you can find on the market because it might break down in the middle of an event and cost you more than necessary.
Having multiple generators is also essential since the last thing you want is to plug everything in one machine. There’s this thing called overloading, which entails that there are too many devices trying to get electricity from a generator. The more machines you have, the less you can avoid power failure.
Make Sure Everyone Knows What To Do During A Power Outage
Before my team and I embarked on our marketing journey, I insisted on doing a dry run. Many did not want to, saying that power outages were rare in the country. However, there was no harm in doing that because we had to prepare for everything.
As the mini drill was happening, we realized something at once: no one knew how to turn on the generator. Everyone was merely fumbling with the equipment but not doing anything to light up our setup. We had to call our electrical engineer to teach us the basics before resuming the drill.
Imagine, if we went on to do the events without anyone having any idea about what to do during a power outage, our company would have already lost a fortune. All we would be able to do was apologize to the guests and say, “Sorry, we can’t operate our generators.” No, that’s not acceptable.
Final Thoughts
There are not many things that we can do when the electricity goes out. That is especially true when you are doing a special event in a foreign location. You don’t know who to ask for help; you may not even know where to buy candles or whatever.
But when you bring generators wherever you go and learn how to use it, you are taking control of the situation. You will no longer need to wait for the electric company to resolve the problem for you since you have the right tools to fix it, albeit temporarily.
Try to think of power outages before marketing family products around the country. Good luck!