Making More By Helping More

As I watched the truncated Macy’s parade on Thanksgiving morning, an ad for San Diego’s Honda Dealers flashed across my screen.

It touted free car washes, food donations, and random acts of helpfulness, asking “What if car dealers stopped shouting at us and started being helpful?”

“The words helpful and car dealer don’t usually go together, but helpful and Honda do. You’ll see,” the narrator promised.

Then I read about numerous Georgia entrepreneurs buying $40,000 of groceries for astounded Kroger shoppers.

2020’s been a weird year, and folks of every stripe have taken stock of their lives. Most are unhappy with their conclusions.

You can blame it on politicians, COVID, or anything else that helps you sleep at night.

But these seemingly isolated incidents suggest to me they’re not a cynical attempt to hijack an angst-ridden holiday season, but rather a budding trend.

Anecdotal evidence suggests people are learning to appreciate what they have rather than just wanting to acquire more.

Priorities are shifting, with the seeds of helping the other guy being planted.

If, in fact, this is a larger movement taking hold, I’m guessing we’ll see more companies including more humanity in their marketing efforts.

It’s no longer just going to just be about making more sales.

All businesses should take this cue. Rather than just trying to lure customer dollars with your offerings, there’s an opportunity to demonstrate good corporate citizenship by giving back to the community.

Because as Mr. Macy said in Miracle on 34th Street, “We’ll be known as the store that places public service ahead of profits. Consequently, we’ll make more profits than ever before.”

Many people are hurting today. Government support has vanished, bringing a tsunami of small businesses ready to close. Non-profits are in trouble, turnaround efforts aren’t working, and job losses and foreclosures will conceivably expand exponentially.

We can all help, giving to the food bank, buying gift cards for students in need, arranging meals for healthcare workers, or dropping off toys at local fire stations.  

Holiday shopping with small local retailers will go a long way. But those retailers, to increase sales, must remind customers they’re about more than just low prices or good service. They need to stake a position showing they’re thinking of others besides themselves.

With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.

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