Helping people feel seen

So I happened upon marketing by accident.

I began my career as a psychological researcher.

I was in charge of putting out flyers to attract people with major depressive disorder to a study where they could receive free treatment.

One day, I was instructed to put fliers in doctor's office waiting rooms, cars in parking lots, and the cork board in a coffee shop.

There was one coffee shop in particular that I was putting this flyer up in and I thought to myself, "Wow, the courage it would take someone inside of a major depressive episode to even get yourself dressed and out of bed, let alone into a coffee shop".

Then add the shame and stigma that society has on even claiming the title of depressed to the mix. Now we're taking a person in a vulnerable situation where they're finally out in public, and you're asking them to confront the thing they are trying to avoid.

I mean something about it felt inherently disrespectful and condescending.

That was the first time I thought there has to be more to this. Something's wrong with the way that we are attracting people. There has to be a better way to say this.

The headline we used said,"Are you feeling sad, down, or low?". I cannot think of a more patronising way to talk to a human being suffering from depression.

Had I known then what I know now about how to influence action, inspire behaviour, and help people feel seen, I would have been able to help a lot more people, and more respectfully.

That is what catapulted me into the field of marketing.

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Margo Aaron explaining how she got into marketing on Jay Acunzo's unthinkable podcast https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9FUW9BMjd6bg/episode/Y2Q5ZDdjZDItOTQxYi00MTNkLWEwNTMtOWFiNGIzZjcxN2Yz