Christmas in the Holy Land – Not what you imagine

 

[Santa at the beach*]

The Middle East has this sometimes-nasty tendency of rendering clear terms complex . Nothing is simple, even holidays. For example, in Europe and North America (Canada, Mexico AND the United States), South America and many countries in Asia, people and business are in the Christmas cycle of purchasing gifts and food for the holiday, finishing projects before the office closes and making final preparations for the seasonal trip or family visit. Outside, in the Canada, the United States and Northern Europe, it is quite cold, even snowing, adding to the seasonal feeling and complicating all driving. Those cheery pictures from Christmas movies have an element of reality.

Alas, in the birthplace of Christianity, the reality is rather different in terms of weather and holiday feeling. First of all, Israel is “enjoying” a rather balmy December, around 22C (in the 70’s in Fahrenheit, with nary a rain cloud, not to even mention snow flake, to be seen. It is true that December can be cold in some years but “cold” is far above zero here. As for Christmas, aside from in the Christian villages of Israel, a traveler in Israel could be forgiven for not realizing that Christmas is in a few days as there the TV channels are not broadcasting any ads urging you to purchase this or that annd Christmas music  is as common as Artie Shaw clarinet solos. Admittedly, the Russian retail chains do have various Christmas decorations on sale, including chocolate Santas, but that touch is far from omnipresent. On the other hand, Jews, Christians and Muslims all enjoy the star of Hannukah, the suvgoniot, fried jelly donuts, and enthusiastically discuss the price of commercial ones and the recipes of home ones. I personally feel that latkes, potato pancakes, are a more justified calorie intake but as they say in French, chacun son gout, to each his own. In short, Christmas in the Holy Land is quite different than elsewhere.

That said, Christmas in Israel is an opportunity for tourists. The warm weather allows comfortable touring throughout the country and even getting a tan on the beach. Try that in Germany or the UK. If you want to purchase anything, stores are open as usual. The tourist can get a few minutes of “Christmas” atmosphere by going to the German Colony in Haifa (recommended) or Abu Gush or Nazareth in the Galilee. This year Hannukah and Christmas are basically at the same time, allowing visitors to enjoy the Jewish candle countdown during the eight days of the festival of light. Children can experience Festivigal, an Israeli long-running children’s music show that runs during the holiday. For those scrooges seeking a non-holiday atmosphere, Israel is perfect, how ironic.

Businesses trying to function during the December dead day may find Israel is a source of relief. Except for Christians on December 24-25 and those going on vacation, all service providers are on a “business as usual” mode, meaning it is possible and even convenient to find any service you want. Sunday is even a standard working day in Israel, rendering the weekend much less catastrophic. You can say that one person’s holiday is another person’s opportunity.

For those with a historical, spiritual or religious bent, a trip to Israel can provide fascinating perspective on the past and present in terms of the complex relationship between ethnicity and faith. In the Middle East your tribe is your religion. While people enjoy cross-cultural friendships and some people are of mixed religions, when matters get tense, as does happen from time to time, you trust “one of our own”. It is possible to see this dynamic in any mixed village or city, including Jaffa (Yafo), Haifa and Rami. Faith in the Middle East is not merely matter of religion but also and possibly more importantly of personal identity. On the bright side, msot of the time Israel shows what happens when people respect each other’s faith and do not impose their own. All religions, including Christianity, are thriving. That message is relevant for the whole world. Thus, Israel provides a unique view of the world some 2000 years ago as even now at least in terms of social interaction.

So, a trip to Israel in December can be shocking, entertaining and/or educational, depending on the person’s expectations. The atmosphere of the holiday season in the Holy Land is certainly completely different that of Europe and North America. On a positive note, it is less kitschy and much warmer, temperature-wise at least. Those seeking professional services at a non-holiday rate during the last week of September should definitely consider a provider from this region. Finally, those seeking understanding of the origins of Christianity and tensions of the modern-day Middle East should definitely see it with their own eyes. Israel is not what you imagine. If you cannot make this year, have a happy holiday however you celebrate it.

* Picture captions help the blind fully benefit from the Internet.

Picture credit

On advertising, marketing and freelancers

 

[Store marketing flow*]

Most freelancers find advertising and marketing a bit mysterious, confusing and/or disturbing in some way. For this reason, among others, they try to avoid investing in them on a regular basis. In practice, advertising and marketing are two different activities in terms of goal, method and measurement with marketing being a much more practical, effective and affordable for most entrepreneurs.

To explain, advertising is promoting short term sales. It involves exposing a product or service to a specific audience and encouraging immediate action. The customer motivation to buy may be limited time or supply or a notably low price. The promotion, whether in audio or visual form, emphasizes the product and the reason it is advisable to purchase now. Advertising generally involves a short-term, often high, cost. The business owner measures the results by comparing the estimated profit without advertising to the estimated profit attained through promotion, deducting the advertising expense. For example, if a new business advertises a grand opening, a successful advertising campaign would lead to a much larger showup to the event and an increased volume of sales on and around the opening. Likewise, if an established business advertises a product whose inventory it wishes to reduce or eliminate, it is possible to compare volume and profit before and during the campaign. Once the promotion is over, the seller returns to business as usual.

By contrast, marketing emphasizes brand over item. Specifically, it aims to create an identification between a service or product and the provider. As extreme examples, Google, McDonalds and Pampers each invest great effort in creating link between their name and their product, search engine, fast food and diapers, respectively. Marketing campaigns generally lack short term incentives to purchase, including low prices, but instead focus on a positive attribute of the product or company. A name-recognition effort can take on a variety of forms, including media adverts, sponsorship, signing, conferences and talking to your neighbors. The sky is the limit but many forms of marketing only involve investing time, not money. However, successful marketing does involve consistent effort as the fruits of marketing are invisible and slow and require multiple exposure. Simply put, it may take makes months or even years to financially profit from the effort even though the name recognition campaign is actually effective. Large companies can afford to conduct measuring surveys to ascertain the actual effectiveness. Most freelancers must have faith, a necessary attribute in all respects for a freelancer. Successful marketing requires long-term, directed action.

Advertising may be appropriate for some freelancers. For example, an accountant or translator specializing in tax form preparation and translation may try to reach companies and individuals in the first quarter of the year as the tax filing deadline creates a time incentive to purchase their service. Likewise, a recently established site designer or immigration document specialist may be willing to sacrifice short-term profit in order to build a portfolio and reputation. Service providers can reasonably provide large discounts if they are especially efficient in their work. Of course, those entrepreneurs finding themselves with no customers can choose to offer especially low prices choosing to prefer low profit to no income. The issue is trying to raise the prices to normal levels later but that is a long-term problem, a luxury for some people. Thus, for entrepreneurs with short-term goals, an advertising campaign may be worthwhile.

However, for most freelancers, including translators, marketing is the better option in terms of effectiveness and cost. Since most independent business people offer a product or service that is generally only occasionally required, the best method for incoming business is the create a connection between that service or product and the potential provider. To give an example, a customer contacted me this week for a French to English translation after her Masters advisor read a previous post of mine and labeled me as a potential provider of translation should occasion arise. Even more, marketing does not necessarily involve significant financial outlays. For example, business group zoom meetups and telling your hairdresser what your profession are free of charge as are posts in Facebook and other social media. One graphologist posted a simple business sign in her garden and regularly profited from opportunity clients. Marketing does require time to think, create and act. For better or worse, many freelancers had and have far too much free time in the last two years. Marketing is a way of converting that surplus into a future financial profit.

As a trigger to thinking about marketing, I would suggest considering the following questions:

1.       Do people in my local community know what I do?

2.      When I enter my name in Google search, do my profession and contact details appear?

3.      Have other people in my profession in my country and abroad, if relevant, heard of me?

4.      Have my potential customers ever heard of me?

If the answer to any of the questions is negative, it is time to actively think about marketing and then begin an ongoing effort to change the answer to positive. The results probably will not occur immediately. However, in an especially volatile market, all entrepreneurs must consider the question of where they want to be two years from now, keeping in mind that the failure to act is an action in itself. Despite their connotations and the lack of comfort they create for independents, advertising and, even more so, marketing are important options for all freelancers building a long-term future in their business.

* Picture captions open up the Internet to the blind.

Picture credit: Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/megan_rexazin-6742250/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=4156934">Megan Rexazin</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=4156934">Pixabay</a>