The Post-it note (so the story goes) came from 2 employees at 3M corporation. One made a rubbish glue; the other had a problem - bookmarks falling out of a hymn book.

Introduced in an organisation which allocated ‘innovation’ time to encourage product development, the rubbish glue joined the bookmarks and the post it note was born – it probably featured in every office around the world for 30 years thereafter!

Perhaps I used some artistic licence with that story, but I have heard similar ones from 3M, such as masking tape being designed to help a young employee wanting a go faster stripe sprayed on to his car.

I got these stories from the book ‘Built to last’ by Jim Collins. I think a timeless classic.

The book gave me the inspiration to trial a product idea in 2014. I wanted to help our clients target passive job seekers across various social media platforms – social ads were not really being used that heavily/effectively in recruitment marketing.

Armed with a collection of entry level, willing and social media savvy employees (and a credit card); we created a product called SNAP - Social Network Advertising Package.

The package brought together:

  • Basic creative design and copywriting (ads optimised for social channels)
  • A pay-per-click (PPC) specialist to build target audiences across multiple social platforms
  • Targeted ads across multiple social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc)
  • Branded landing page and mobile optimised register your interest sign up
  • Transparent activity reporting back to the client at conclusion of campaign

The product was a repeatable proposition, so we made it cost effective for clients; but it quite simply made social media easily accessible for clients who were not social media savvy and a chance to tip their toes in.

The team are now used to deliver a range of bespoke digital marketing campaigns. It helped build the careers of many talented individuals whilst adding tonnes of value to many direct recruiting organisations.

We passed £3million in sales in 2019!

Interested in social media outreach on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or even LinkedIn, please feel free to get in touch.

Inspired to share from a recent conversation with Joe Mongon, Head of Recruitment Delivery on ‘trapped value’ from the linked FT article.