Episode #196 – Reekita Gala On The New Marketing Tsunami Crashing Down On Your Business

David Allan: Hey, everybody we’re back with another
edition of the podcast I’m David Allan from makewrodspay.com and we’re here with a very special guest today I’ve been talking with her a lot recently before we did this podcast and she’s got some very interesting things that she’s into which are rapidly exploding onto the scene – Reekita Gala welcome to the
show!

Reekita Gala: Thank you so much hello everybody.

David Allan: Now this is gonna be a very interesting podcast I think because these are some new technologies but they’re sort of they’ve been around for a while but now they’re finally, sort of getting into the hands of “regular people” right it’s getting past the stage of creation and development and stuff and it’s getting to actually start making an impact in the real world for real people’s businesses but let’s go back when you were slightly younger tell us how you got into all this virtual reality extended reality type technology stuff.

Reekita Gala: I think when I was in eighth grade I had told my father that I I belong

from India by the way so when I was in

eighth grade I do not father I do not

want to stay in India

I want to go when settled in America

what do you know what America is like I

want to go and settle in America I

didn’t know anything to be honest okay

we’ll see when you grew up what you want

to do went on so and I was very sure

that I want to settle in America that’s

it and what I wanted to do and all those

things were not such but I always wanted

to do a business and do something

different than what everybody is been

doing

eventually I took my masters I mean I

took my bachelor’s in psychology and I

also took another bachelor’s in

commercial arts and advertising okay so

my father’s like why are you doing two

things like just focus on one thing I

was like I know what I am doing because

I always believed psychology and

tink goes hand-in-hand so I was like I

am going to do this so he’s like fine go

ahead and do it and I was also working

with all the different businesses doing

my internships and also that was like

you know at a stretch eight years of

full to colleges and work and I didn’t

have any time so then one fine day my

father he asked me okay so we are

starting to look for guys for you do you

have anybody in mind like I don’t have

anybody you go ahead and find whomever

you want to find but I’m not settling in

India like how you serious like why like

I were to go and settle in u.s. you

still have that dream well I guess I so

he itv found me somebody in u.s. and I

am settled in Boston now that was a

major change in my life because I came

on dependent visa and at that time in

fact now also we all know on dependent

visa an immigration visa

you cannot work and that was a big

change because when I came here after

three months my grandmother she had

cancer my father she called me like a

hawk grandmother has cancer and I could

not go back at all like there was

something which really frustrated me

like I wanted to go back so badly I say

looking for me is how I can go back and

started reading about you know the laws

and oil and one fine day I just randomly

type how can i telephone and I still

remember that day and microsoft hololens

pigeon came up reading like okay what is

it all about like how could you teleport

[Laughter]

teleport into Google and oh my god is it

possible like there are patents so

reading reading reading out of curiosity

and I got so much deeper into it so

there I took my masters in project

management but I still kept reading all

about mixed reality because microsoft

hololens is about mixed reality where

you can virtually teleport

and you know you can have your life

holograms in some other place wherever

you are P at three different places at

one time

Wow so that was really amazing and that

curiosity helped me get the point to

this field and I started reading all

about mixed reality virtual reality here

again today and that time there were no

articles or you know some courses around

I kept reading patents patents patents

and when I came to patents then slowly I

started understanding the concept of all

these technologies and at that time it

was bored at early stage it’s like six

years back so it was more on the

earliest stage and eventually the market

started developing like you know people

started you know

launching their products and hardware’s

and so that was 2016 when oculus they

had launched their own device we are

device right and that was around the

same time when I was doing my master and

I had a kid and again that same process

so I kept reading reading reading for

two three years till the time like that

product was launched so when the

hardware was launched I decided that I

don’t want to take up a job and I want

to develop a software or a platform

where users will be able to use you know

or that not cat form to integrate it for

their business or marketing so that’s

how I got into this entire technology

and I am still working on my platform

and as of now I am working also as a

consulting and trainer and helping

businesses to integrate marketing and I

mean integrate augmented reality into

their marketing and businesses because

this is something which you can start

implementing now and you you just need a

mobile phone to use a our experience you

don’t need any and if we are device

anything so I mean that’s very yeah

that’s a great I mean that’s a great

story that’s a pretty pretty unique

thing to have happen to tell type in you

know to be frustrated with the

immigration process to type in how can i

teleport to the USA

give a hug to my grandmother yeah

literally type like how can I just

teleport and that patron oh my god

totally it changed your whole life right

just that and that’s a power of ideas

you know you’re looking for something

maybe a little fantastical but then you

know it leads you down a path you never

and that urge of you know going to us I

don’t know like it was destiny of what

because like the way things suck I

started following you like flowing from

eighth grade I wanted to go to us and I

came to you I said I could not go back

and then it was like I want to teleport

and I had something new so I started

focusing on creating all together

something you wish nobody has done no

yeah and that’s what the rest of this

podcast is going to be about so you’re

currently consulting and helping people

build out some AR and VR stuff for their

for their businesses and this is you

know this is what’s coming I mean if

people are listening to this I know John

and I have talked about this off the air

too you know about how this is gonna

impact the world he’s into this as well

and what’s strange about this is like

this has been brewing for a while a guy

I mentioned to you last week or

something that you know I attended a

conference people who listen to the show

know of course that I’m in addition to

being a freelance marketing consultant

also a professional magician and I

attended a magic conference here a

couple of years ago where they had this

company demonstrate the development of

one of their virtual reality it was like

almost like a box that you got into they

were creating like a whole world inside

like a telephone booth essentially and

they were just changing the walls around

and stuff inside so that it would you

know as the person went and it was

something that they hoped as and I mean

they were developing developing it for

entertainment they were hoping to put it

like on street corners or something you

know like out in the public as you could

access it and it was so cool because I

remember that the power of the

demonstration that

the guy telling us that they had an

elevator a virtual elevator in this

simulator and they were wondering if

this was gonna work and the guy that

they had wearing the goggles and

everything going through the the virtual

reality he got into the elevator and

pressed down and he you know supposedly

went down but he was just standing you

know a couple feet from the creators and

then when they said to him you know over

the intercom or whatever you know what

do you think he like look they still and

it was such a funny moment I remember

because it was like I mean and he put

his hands like he was gonna yell you

know like he’s yelling up a shot you

know

so yeah you had tricked your brain into

believing it was real yeah I mean in

reality you actually feel you actually

somewhere else and that’s the power of

virtual reality and in augmented reality

you you can actually overlay digital

information into your real environment

and mixed reality is all about totally

immersive and have Holograms so you

cannot see around like you know things

around you but you can see the hologram

of I mean you can obviously see things

around you it depends how he wanted but

you can see like Holograms overlaid so

that’s totally different experience and

I had read once people buy three things

they don’t buy your goods or services

but they buy your magic your stories and

your relationships and these

technologies are all about that it’s

magic it’s about building the

relationship and creating story no

that’s something that’s really amazing

yeah one of my favorite quotes

personally is I believe it’s attributed

to Maya Angelou where she said you know

people never remember what you said or

what you did only how you made them feel

and this and this applies to doing magic

and it applies to you know virtual

reality extended reality because it is a

form of magic I mean you watch some of

the videos and we’ll conclude these in

the show notes you watch some of the

videos and like I

you can go now and shop like you were

showing me on Amazon where you’re just

like taking a lamp and you’re actually

putting it in your house to see what it

looks like you need to leave the house

and the companies like Amazon I care

Wayfarer lorry and Mabley yeah I mean

there are so many brands who started

like you know they’ve already integrated

augmented reality into their websites

and apps and if you don’t even need to

leave the house anymore you just do

whatever you have to shop online and

there it is in front of you you can try

the product before buying so yeah I

imagine I imagine eventually we’ll get

to a point very quickly since this is

already being done where not only you

take that let’s say it’s a lamp you take

a lamp you put it on your table

virtually – let’s see what it looks like

with the rest of your furniture or

whatever people do and then you know you

if you create something in 3d and you

like that thing you go ahead and do 3d

printing in fact now there are 40 prints

it’s very fast

I saw a 3d printer the other day where

they were printing houses for land for

your way on top of this stuff then

you’re you’re you’re all you’re all in

so let’s let’s let’s cover some of the

ways in which you think you know small

businesses medium-sized businesses

businesses that perhaps our audience

either owns or the freelancers that

listen to this show interact with some

of the you know the direct applications

the uses of this that people can plug

into their business immediately and

start seeing results right so for small

businesses like let’s start with

augmented reality because I think

everybody has a phone right now in their

hands like oh they may be having two

phones – I mean you don’t need any other

additional device like you know we are

plus when I said before so AR is

something which you can easily integrate

like immediately and that

as sewers will also be willing to use

that so the benefit of augmented reality

is let’s say they have their e-commerce

Tilghman or you know they are into some

kind of retail or real estate business

yes let’s say they have an online store

their retail business but they also have

online right so what happens is when you

are online you see some product which is

like you know that you see like

different 50 different products when you

are online but in augmented reality what

happens is people have used I mean it’s

something that once you scan or you know

you see a picture you scan that picture

or you want to show something in

augmented reality you will be able to

just see those products what you want to

show like let’s say you have four

different products and you want to show

them just three three products like

let’s say you have a shirt you have

jeans you have some kind of caps or XYZ

product and the customer is looking for

only t-shirts so when you are online you

will see all the four categories let’s

say but you want to just find t-shirt

and show only t-shirt so in augmented

reality you can actually show them a

shirt and let them try that t-shirt with

all the different colors or you know

different types of t-shirt so they are

not going to be seeing all those other

tee I mean pants and all those kind of

things so it helps them to make up their

mind when they try the product also when

they have visually seen something it’s

very it helps them to make up their

decision whether they want to buy or

they don’t want to buy the product like

obviously then you go to a retail store

you will try like 50 different t-shirts

and you will land up not buying the

product right yeah so when you have

tried something and you like you know in

augmented reality or when you try

something and experience something you

will have a larger impact on your brain

and you will remember that for longer

time let’s say let’s say you’ve tried

that product in augmented reality and

you’ve just gone on another website and

you’ve tried you just see in random

product so the one that you’ve tried you

will actually go ahead and buy that

because you you’ve tried you see how it

looks and you like the feel of it so you

will just go ahead and okay fine let it

went by so the it helps for retaining

the

and recalling what you have seen before

and try other than that it also helps

the users to visualize and you know it

helps them to understand how look like

you know what is the final output so if

you are into e-commerce there are many

times that you know we buy something but

then we don’t like it so we want to

return it back right so then again it’s

an additional cost on the e-commerce

store oh it’s a long supply on to again

get back the product and send a new

product but if the users have already

tried the product before they buy so it

helps them to reduce the cost of refunds

and returns because they know exactly

what they’re going to buy and what is

the final outcome yeah so this is like

it just being like way more immersive so

yeah you know one of the things you said

to me before we did this podcast was

that one of the advantages of having

this is like people going directly into

your store directly into your stuff and

it’s it’s more immersive and it’s like

also to the exclusion of other options

yeah it just cuts all the noise around

your audience or your customer like you

know there is nobody in that augmented

reality world except except for you your

brand and your products and your

customer so you build a personal

relationship kind of personal

relationship too because then there is

nobody it’s something that is very

personal

yes and that and that’s all about

building a brand I mean that’s creating

that relationship you could do so much

now with of course with videos and stuff

I mean all that stuff can now be

integrated altogether I’m there with you

like you know in your house that’s the

personal thing like you know wherever I

am right in front of you in the same

environment it’s something really

personal I mean imagine how like if you

go to a website you will see different

things on the website but it’s on your

phone but when you have that product

right in front of you in your house it’s

personal yeah yeah because you’re

literally trying it all

and it’s yeah and there and that’s

enough that’s an interesting thing

you’re saying there because it’s also if

you take that let’s say we go back to

the lamp example and you’re putting that

lamp on your table not only can you see

what it looks like with the rest of your

stuff but also in some way you’ve

already purchased it in a way it’s

already part of your environment yeah

that may sound a little Machiavellian to

a few people out there until you don’t

try what is augmented reality you will

never know what it is my first dinner

yeah my first encounter with it I think

was probably I guess Pokemon yeah it was

the first time I was even aware that

people I never played Pokemon I don’t I

don’t know anything about it but I

happen to be traveling at the time that

that thing went live and people were

walking around you know bumping into

things looking at their phone and you

know looking at this augmented reality

of collecting these poking these

creatures so you know but but just the

just that experience of watching people

do that I mean it was so big like I was

in a very small town at the time and I

and people like all the people downtown

were doing it and I was like million

downloads in just about three days yeah

that’s what I had heard about they

ending in fact were number one app in

the entire US and they created a record

like you know record yeah I believe it

because like everyone and I was in

Wichita Kansas the day that it landed

which is like and part of me for people

that live in Wichita but I mean it’s a

middle of nowhere people everyone

downtown was like I’m not I’m not

talking about children I’m talking about

husbands wives children like everybody

was on people were like you know in the

age group of 50s to 60s we’re also using

it so yeah it had a big impact yeah

that’s sort of one of the first sort of

really big

you know public that made its way into

the public you know it’s like this is

something now people want to get hold of

you

kita what are some of the places that

can best contact you they can actually

connect with me on Facebook or and they

can find Ricki Tarr Galah or they can

actually or try to find my group that is

augmented reality marketing so that’s

that’s the best way to connect with me

and I also train people in fact there is

nobody in the industry whose training on

this program like how you can integrate

AR for your business and marketing so if

that’s something they would be

interested they can always find me and

yeah you can help them learn how to use

it and integrate it into their in fact

you’re gonna come out you have a course

you’ve been putting together that is

going to teach people I use it for their

business many people have been telling

me oh my god there is nobody whose truth

teaching us how can we do that I would

like okay fine let me just create a

course and from it can help you get

started with like you know how to get

started on your yeah absolutely well

it’s really been a pleasure having you

on the show I mean you hear very

knowledgeable about this you’ve been

waiting for this you know this time in

history to arrive you know like I said

it’s a tsunami of different realities

are upon us and I really want to thank

you for for coming on the show and

explaining this to our audience thank

you so much for having me and I really

hope that it helps your audience to

understand the difference and why they

need to adapt now because it’s really

important for them to me adapt now and

be heard of competition yes absolutely

and by the time this goes live we’ll

probably have some sort of way you can

get some immediate assistance through

Rokita and myself and take on the future

immediately I would love to help your

audience so if you have anything for me

you can always ask awesome awesome and

for everybody else hopefully we’ll be

back again next week with another guest

as exciting as Reekita Gala.