What is digital giveback and how is it done? In this episode of Incorporating SuperPowers, host Justin Recla is joined by guest Arman Ananian as they talk about this novel and modern way of giving back. Arnan is the CEO of AREV Media, a digital marketing agency based out of Spain with a client base in the U.S. and around the globe. Arman’s agency focuses on creative ways business owners can leverage the power of giving back to charities to increase sales while impacting the world. Arman talks about how you can leverage the power of marketing to do more good in the world by helping charities and organizations that you did not even think were possible. Join Justin and Arman in today’s episode to learn more about digital giveback.
Welcome back to Incorporating SuperPowers. My name is Justin Recla, and I am your host. And today, we are going to be driving down the rabbit hole of digital marketing. More importantly, we will be looking and talking to Armand Ananian, and he’s from Spain. He’s in the digital marketing space. What I like about what his digital agency is doing is helping businesses give back. And that’s what our conversation will be focused on today: digital giveback and how you can leverage the power of marketing to do more good in the world by helping charities, helping nonprofits, helping organizations that you may not even think were possible. Your business may not give back right now, but in my opinion, it’s one of those things that it’s super, super important to do. One of the reasons we got into business was to help empower others that were doing good and keep it going, paying forward. Armand, welcome to the show today.
Thank you so much for having me, Justin.
And so, first and foremost, this is what I love about our world today is that you’re in Spain, we’re in Phoenix, Arizona, and yet here we are having a conversation. And I think the power of the internet has made the world a much smaller place. And I edit a lot of people that, if they’re just getting started in the digital marketing space, don’t realize that you can get clients from pretty much anywhere in the world today. I know this. We’ve got clients in Australia, Canada, Europe. We’ve had clients from all around the world, and it’s such an amazing experience when you can start to expand your business out to other parts of the world. So what are some of the things you’re seeing in the digital marketing space that empower the entrepreneurs to do more?
Yeah, Justin, let me tell you a story, and I’m very passionate. You guys seem very passionate about the charity side. For the first time in a very long time, I was paused. Do you know when you have pre-pre-roll ads on YouTube? For the first time in a very long time, it was stopped to watch a video. It turns out it’s about the charity called Charity Water. And these guys are doing a fantastic job, but that’s the power that many of these new charities and all charities have to adapt to and be able to tell a story and break that mistrust. Sadly, we cannot say that it’s not there, and breaking that mistrust, creating stories, getting yourself out there are some of the biggest things you can do to make the world a better place. Don’t do it for your charity, do it for all the lives it’s going to impact and all that stuff.
Yeah. The concept of doing a business that donates and gives to other organizations is something that I think more and more people are stepping into because many people get into business. They try to make money, and they try to figure out how to make money, and they’re solely focused on building up their business or building up their cash. But to me, it plays in the law of reciprocity right. Of paying it forward. And if you’re doing well and you’ve got abundance, then pay it forward. And I like the fact that we were talking before the break that you said that you’ve got a lot of clients that you’ll start working with, and they don’t necessarily have a charity or an organization that they contribute to, but that you help them get going in that space. So talk to me, what does that look like?
Yeah. So, forget about doing good in the world, which should be your number one priority. Just in terms of marketing, it makes sense. Let’s talk numbers here. Would you instead buy from a t-shirt company that, let’s say, plants a tree every time you buy, or would you buy from the same company, same everything, but they sell a t-shirt, and that’s it? And that’s the difference at the end of the day. So, not only it’s good for the world, it’s good, which is what I care about. But it’s also excellent marketing cause when you get to a point where these people come, we’re helping someone start a clothing brand, and they’re everywhere. Clothing brands are everywhere. It’s super crowded, and how are you going to differentiate yourself? One of the ways is going to be making the world a better place.
Yeah. Then the concept of that gives back. And I think we’ve gotten to a place in our society, our worldwide society, that people recognize that they’ve got a choice and will choose to engage with a company that has some form of giving back rather than just hoarding profits. In the corporate sector, we see that people are just too big to take down, right? Companies that don’t necessarily have a giveback program, or perhaps they do, but they’re just not putting it out there. They’re not vocal about it. And to me, that’s really what business is about, right? It’s about empowering ourselves to do the work that we love to do in the world and help empower others so they can go out and be the change and do it and do what they need to and what to do in the world. And, by empowering other companies, by taking a percentage of your profit and paying it forward to a charity, your business gets the benefit of helping other people. And that in of itself is something that I think drives a lot of consumers today because we’re over-saturated with the buy my crap marketplace that’s out there, and it exists.
Yeah. And the beautiful thing about this is you can choose something close to your heart. Some people had unfortunate scenarios where the cancer was in some of their family members, or they saw things happen due to climate change, whatever it is. So there is no excuse for you not to do it because you will contribute to what you love and what you care about. And that is already way, way, way better than just not doing anything.
This is good stuff. So we’ve set the foundation for what you’re about. And folks, if you haven’t been to Armand’s site, you need to take a look at it. We’ll give him a second to here to share where you can find more information about his company. But what I was impressed with coming from the due diligence world is the fact that you’ve got some questions on there for people to be asking like, “Cool, if you don’t want to use us, at least go ask these questions of other companies. And if they can’t answer the question in a way that’s beyond just a yes or no, or urging you to buy it from them, then avoid them” right. Yeah. I love the fact that you have that transparency process correctly right there on your website. So talk to me a little bit more about that real quick. Where did that come from?
Yeah so, we have this “challenge” to write one post every day and give value. And when people, we’ll talk about it later, when people subscribe to get a free book that we’re going to give them, they’ll see the free value emails. So we had a challenge to write like 30 days, every day, one value piece for people. If it wasn’t for us, how can we help people make a decision? And we came up with these three questions, “How are you guys different?” And in the “How are you guys different,” they should tell you something special that they’re doing. Maybe they can tell you some past successes in your industry or something like that. But what is making you different? Is it like you have a special team in place that’s world-class. And if they can answer that, yeah, that’s good.
Number two is, do you have any case studies in my industry or something that, “Hey, you’ve had past success,” and that’s going to weed out a lot of people, cause sadly… and fortunately also you can learn from YouTube, and that’s perfect. Still, you cannot spend, let’s say, 3000 or 5,000 or someone’s money without being at a certain level. So, you want to be able to trust someone that has done this before, or even if it’s not, okay, great, then know that it’s not and know that there are going to be some failures, but that gives you an understanding of, “Okay, where are these people at?” Or, “Have they done this before?”
And then lastly, “How would you consistently offer new ways to improve my campaigns?” and they could tell you different things. They could say to you the special tools they’re using. They could tell you the special tracking they’re using. They could tell you special methodologies. Maybe they have a proprietary method that they follow to make sure they guarantee a certain thing. So whatever it is, someone who’s doing it is going to be able even to pop up their dashboard for our client and say, “Hey, here’s what’s special that nobody else is doing.” And then others probably can’t, right? So those are three good questions that someone working in counterintelligence can use, not only for this but for other product research or service research.
I love that because the sheer fact that you put that on your website says that, “Hey, look, even if you don’t work with us, here’s some information that if you go to work with somebody else, ask these basic questions, because it’s going to save you a lot of time and grief.” And folks, that’s the level of transparency that we need more of today. And that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to have Armand on the show today was because of that. I saw that you’re doing something different. I think you’re doing some great things in the world. When we get back from our break, I want to dive down this rabbit hole a little bit further because many changes are going on in the digital marketing space right now. I have the sneaking suspicion that you have some excellent insights into how the marketplace, how service providers such as yourself have to pivot. And there are some people out there, and I feel that isn’t pivoting are just continuing to work with their clients because they don’t know what to do. But before we go on break, where can people find more information about you, Armand?
Yeah. They can go to arevmedia.com. And they’ll see what you just talked about, the questions, and blog tips for them to learn.
Fantastic. Folks, take a look at Armand’s site, take a look at those questions, dive in, get the free ebook that he’s offering on the side to help better your own digital marketing practices. And if you’re so engaged, reach out and connect, especially if you want to be able to give back more and establish yourself in the giveback space. Stay tuned, and we’ll be right back.
To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.
Podcast: Play in new window
