What’s a fish without water? A body without heart and brain? Exactly – nothing. That’s how we felt when we discovered last Monday morning that our online marketing department was lacking fish, water, heart and brain: There was no access to the Internet and the telephone was out of order, too. The reason: A fire at our local Internet provider in Siegen. Here’s how we, the online marketing team, survived a day as offline marketers.
From online to offline marketing
It was quite a surprise when we showed up for work and realised that we were shut down from the outside world with no telephone or access to the Internet.
And how does the usual online nerd react to such news? Of course with utter dismay. How were we to survive one day without the Internet? Our faces went as blank as our monitors. Later, we would read in the press that it had been the first time such a situation occurred in Germany.
After some time, the old-fashioned office grapevine told us that there was a fire at our local Internet provider in Siegen. At least we had someone to blame for our misery. The entire Siegerland region was cut off from the outside world – digitally speaking.
Back to the Middle Ages
After a few minutes we were ready to overcome our state of shock and were looking for ways out of this nightmare. Therefore we sent one of our apprentices to the outside world we so much wanted to enter from inside. He was the chosen one to provide us with temporary access to the Internet.
The rest of us had to shift our work from online to offline. Instead of Google, WordPress and our website, we had to deal with Word, Excel and so-called books we’ve remembered from way back when we were kids.
Everyday tasks like sending e-mails or making phone calls suddenly became impossible. Therefore, our theme of the day was: Welcome back to the Middle Ages.
Don’t look back in anger
Despite our misfortune, we were determined to continue working as well as we could. It turned out that flexibility isn’t only a feature of our devices – it also applies to our team. Nevertheless, we were anxious to have our beloved Internet back since an online marketing team needs the Internet like they need air to breathe.
And then we were back online
After several hours of endless hope, we finally received good news: We were back online – the Internet had returned to us. Finally, our day in the offline marketing department was over. And there’s definitely one thing we’ve learned: Joni Mitchell was right when she sung: You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.
Editor, translator and blogger at Guntermann & Drunck.
You can find me on LinkedIn.
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