My boss just gave me €40,000 to invest in SMEs
A couple of weeks ago I pitched an idea to my boss: What if we took €40,000 and invested it in SMEs in the online retail space instead of giving it to Meta and Google to advertise.
As a company, we very much try to do things as ethically as we can. Our product search for online stores doesn’t collect personal data to work (check out motive.co). But that also stretches into our marketing activities. Meaning we don’t advertise on Google and we don’t advertise with Meta.
If you’re a marketer for a SaaS product, that is a difficult brief. And so, for the best part of a year, our sales team has been our main source of new customers. From marketing, our goal is to increase the amount of customers coming to our website… while not being allowed to advertise.
We also want to help small and medium sized businesses to grow. We want to build a community for them and around them. We want to support them.
So I had an idea. What if we spent what our competitors would usually spend on advertising on the community we want to support. What if instead of giving money to Meta and Google, who let’s face it, don’t need it, we gave it to small and medium sized businesses? (I don’t actually know what our competitors spend, it could be more than 40k)
To Meta and Google, €4,000 is nothing. To a local shop, €4,000 could be exactly what they need to grow. So I pitched the idea on the weekend and by Monday morning, the answer was ‘I love it!’. I got very excited while also realising oh crap, I’ve got to make this happen.
Human-first marketing
I recently came across a podcast episode from the Uncensored CMO that was shared by Rory Sutherland. In it, Jon Evans, the host, interviews Iain McGilchrist.
I had never heard of Jon Evans or Iain McGilchrist, but I’ll always take a Rory Sutherland recommendation! I listened to the episode on a Saturday morning and my mind was blown. Everything that Iain McGilchrist was saying just fit perfectly with how I had been thinking recently. He gave words to my thoughts.
His work on the divided brain is fascinating, and points to a society that has left behind so much of what makes us human. There are many reasons for this, but we’ve essentially lost so many things: A sense of betweenness, humour, metaphor.
I can say that when I look at ads online I feel the same. They’re abstracted. They don’t give people the time to think about them. Much of what marketers do today is, in my opinion, lacking creativity.
I am a big fan of Behavioural Sciences. And I love marketing. And I also believe there’s a way that you can market to someone where they actually enjoy. A marketing that acknowledges that we’re human and have thoughts, feelings and emotions. A marketing that connects with people. A marketing that has a narrative. Basically, an alternative to so much of the stale marketing that we see today.
Back to the €40,000
This way of thinking is what made me pitch the €40,000 idea. It’s an amazing thing to do for our community. It matches our company values. It connects with people. It’s a powerful narrative. It’s my first attempt at human-first marketing, and it’s going to rely hugely on word of mouth.
So if you know someone who could benefit from an investment, let them know! If you think this story is interesting, hit subscribe. I’ll be documenting it as it happens.
Oh, and this is a living, breathing story and marketing campaign. If you have any great ideas, I’d love to hear them from you in the comments.