Let's Talk: Voting🇿🇦 +Mental Health Awareness Month 💚

Good morning/afternoon/ evening, you beautiful people!

As I write to you all on this chilly Autumn evening, it feels more like winter each and every day. This next week is so crucial for my country of South Africa as on Wednesday, the 29th of May 2024, it will a day for my country to choose it's next leader. This is also significant for me, as this is the first year that I will be eligible to vote.

 It's exciting yet nerve-wracking because I don't fully believe in anyone's message as I don't feel that any political party truly cares, so it is like being put between a rock and a hard place. Contrary to popular belief, I believe that you as a citizen have the freedom to vote or to abstain. The choices is completely yours and I want you to own it and not feel pressured by society to make a decision in order to "better" the country yet not choosing someone that you believe in. 

For me, the month of May has been incredibly tumultuous and my mental health has not been the best. Each day I have to remind myself that I am still giving my best even when I am not on 100% because considering everything happening in my life on any particular day, that 40% that I gave was my best. I am learning to extend compassion to all versions of myself. I am also learning to stop comparing myself to any other versions of myself and focus on this one. I learning to take each day as it comes and to let that be enough for me. To fully present and give my concerns and bare my heart to Jesus in prayer. 

I want you to prioritise yourself and your mental health this decisive May and to keep on keeping on because life is so much better with you in it❣️💞

All my love ❤️

Ruthy 

A Marketing Student's Analysis on: The Telkom Network Outage in South Africa

Good morning/afternoon/

evening, you beautiful people! 

A little midweek update, writing on one of my favourite topics. A marketing analysis! There was a national outage of network in South Africa for those who were using the connection network, Telkom and the network's response to the outage really struck my interest and this post was born.

 Happy reading❣️

I started using Telkom in 2016 due to it's WhatsApp data bundle and I have been a customer since then. 

There's a term in my field of work that I just learned called, "gilde to leg", and this situation seemed to fit perfectly. They just apologised and gave me data and went on with their regular activities and these actions hold great gravity for me as I value communication and understanding what's going on. 

In order to sell something, a product or a brand, you need the trust of your audience. Most people have no clear idea of why the outage happened and what will be done to prevent it in future. Many people hate being unreachable because of the job that they do or just because of FOMO. As a company that sells the idea of connectivity, this looks horrible. 

The 1GB data that was given only lasted for one day and not the two days that they claimed it would. Either way, I believe that two days is not proper compensation, especially if a customer is not going to use it to binge watch a series. For some of us 1GB can last about two weeks, possibly longer. I believe they should have made the data valid for two weeks. It will make the consumers see Telkom in a better light, as they use the data over an extended period of time, remembering that this data was freely given by the company as a form of goodwill and public relations, it will help recreate the image of the company. It will also help to make up for the disappointment that consumers have felt and experienced because of the company. 

I felt so rushed to finish the data before it expired because I hate wasting anything. 1GB is a lot of data and I do not understand why it claimed to expire the following day, Wednesday, 15 May 2024, which is today and not even the promised 2 days, which would then be tommorrow, Thursday, 16 May 2024. Trust has been fractured as a result of this error or perhaps deceit. 

Who has truly gained here? It feels like only Telkom's competitors are rejoicing as some people have hastily switched to other mobile connection companies. When all they had to do was communicate early on. Address consumers by sms and email and give them data that would only expire after two weeks. Then possibly run a small, extentive campaign on how they have improved, after they actually have improved and work on winning consumers' trust and securing brand loyalty. Reminding customers why they have chosen Telkom and why exactly, " Tomorrow starts today". 

It's not that hard, because now I feel so unvalued as a customer. This is not how a customer should feel.  Before you sell a product or a service, you sell a feeling. You sell the sizzle, not the bacon first. You need to make what you are selling and advertising relate to the needs and wants of your market by making them feel something. That's what I have noticed with good, reputable companies and their products. 

Now this will barely affect their market share but it honestly will still make them lose their competitive edge because all they had to do was explain. After conducting thorough research a.k.a. a five minute Google search, I found out that there is actually a reasonable reason for the Internet Outage. Two subsea internet cables, experienced a fault on the East Coast of the African continent, affecting several countries, South Africa included. 

Why didn't they formally inform their customers? As a customer it is not my job to find out why a service that I pay for is no longer being delivered. It is my job as a marketer to conduct research, so I did. As a consumer, I would have assumed absolute nonsense and just thought that Telkom couldn't be bothered to let me know what's going on and how this issue will avoided in future. 

Having a valid reason is not excuse for lack of communication. In fact, it's all the more reason to keep your consumers informed. 

These are just my thoughts, personally as a customer and professional as a marketer. 

What are yours?

A/N: This week was so busy that I didn't think that I would be able to have an update but this issue came up and I just had to write about it, lack of sleep or not! 

I update every Sunday, 23:00 CAT!

All my love❤️

Ruthy

Choosing college over completing high school

Good morning/afternoon/evening, you beautiful people! 

Choosing the National Certificate Vocational program over going back to high school was not an easy choice to make. I do not think that there is anything that I can say that can make this decision completely pain free and seemless. I believe that for most people, the dream of completing high school conventionally is very important to achieve. 

The blazer, tie, special jacket or jersey given to senior students in their last year of school is something that most look forward to. Yet, here you are, heavily considering smashing these dreams. Or you have had these dreams crushed and now you look at college as a potential alternative.

I am a level 4 marketing student at Tshwane North College and I absolutely love what I do! Truly, it excites me and I cannot wait to work within my field and apply my knowledge and gain so much more!

It was not always this way though and at times, when I am tired, stressed and overwhelmed, I remind myself of 19-year-old Ruthy who deserves to see me graduate. The me who deserves to get through this because at the end of day, this is all she dreamed about. 

I want you to know that your sadness is so valid. It is more than okay to be disappointed and sad. This is normal in fact, please know this. It is a tough decision to make because once made you cannot go back. It is the opening of a door whilst closing another and closing a chapter in life sometimes hurts. 

I want you to think about yourself in 5 years time. How will you feel if you make this decision? Where would you be if you make this decision? For me, I knew that I would thank myself. I knew that I was scared and that I was hurting but when faced with attempting to redo the high school route or trying college, college felt right. I also want to emphasise the fact that I chose a course that I truly liked and had an interest in and that interest grew into passion and love. Please do not just choose a course that you hate in order to please your parents or to get a quick buck. Money matters, let no one lie to you but try to pick what you genuinely have an interest in, not what will satisfy others. 

I knew that financially it was tight and the NSFAS program was very appealing but also scary as I would have to work very hard to maintain it because I knew that I would need it throughout all three years of my NCV program, in addition to university. It almost felt like a risk but then I realized that life comes with no guarantee.

There was and still is so much stigma when it comes to college, especially with the NCV program. Mainly because it is equivalent to a level 4/ grade 12 and honestly I have mixed feelings about this. As we do learn the basics with this program but the knowledge and experience that we gain is far superior than someone who is fresh out of high school. 

I am all for college because it has worked for me and I want you to choose what will work for you too, whatever that maybe but as you look for potential alternatives, don't be quick to discard college education, no matter your age. 

All my love

Ruthy ❤️