UK fintech Capitalise seeks to help small businesses discover a healthier way to do business with its new "Get fit for business" campaign. To learn more about the campaign, we caught up with Zubair Mohammad, Head of Marketing at Capitalise.
Founded in 2016 by Paul Surtees and Ollie Maitland, Capitalise is a fintech startup that is on a mission to give small businesses and their advisers transparency and control over business finance, in one place. Harnessing the power of the latest open banking technology, Capitalise lets small businesses compare 100s of lending products and select the right product via receiving professional funding advice straight from their accountants.
Last year, the London-headquartered company raised £10mn in a Series B funding to support the launch of its two new product offerings, "Capitalise for Business" and "Capital Reports". "Capitalise for Business" is a new solution that puts small businesses in the driving seat helping them understand how credit scores impact plans for growth and how to improve them....To find funding that's a better fit. And to see risks to cash flow before they become a threat. "Capital Reports", on the other hand, helps Accountants enhance conversations with their clients, point out cashflow trends, highlight overdue payments, review business performance numbers and invite them to track their credit score for free.
“The last few years have been tough for small businesses, as lockdowns and an ever-changing business environment has left business owners feeling exhausted. That's why now, more than ever, business leaders need help, whether mentally, physically, or via external support such as from their accountant, a coach and a platform like Capitalise". Paul Surtess, CEO and co-founder of Capitalise
In a further effort to fulfill its long-term vision and mission, Capitalise has launched a new marketing campaign - "Get fit for business" - that focuses on measuring how small businesses are performing, by analysing the physical, mental and financial wellbeing of their leaders, and providing them with actionable tips and insights into how they can get their businesses back on track.
At the centre of the campaign is an in-depth research report of 500 small UK businesses that reveals how leaders are feeling about their current state not only financially but also physically and mentally. The report is available via a dedicated landing page that also features a short video starring Capitalise's CEO Paul Surtees and Derrick Evans MBE (AKA Mr. Motivator).
"Get fit for business" was successfully launched digitally on 26th January 2022 and has already gained interest from leading media outlets like Forbes and IFA Magazine. To find out more about the idea behind the campaign, we spoke to Zubair Mohammad, Head of Marketing at Capitalise.
Zubair joined Capitalise in September 2021 bringing over 10 years of marketing experience. Prior to Capitalise, he healed marketing at some of the world's leading fintech brands like Xero, Starling Bank and MarketFinance. As one of Xero's earliest recruits, he helped it reach over 1 million subscribers and expand into South Africa and Ireland. At MarketFinance, he led the rebrands of the business, launching two new products into the market. His bold, creative approach brings teams together to drive business growth, improving engagement and boosting market position.
Read Zubair's complete Q&A below.
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What's "Get fit for business" all about?
The "Get Fit for Business" campaign tracks how small businesses are doing, by analysing the physical, mental, and financial wellbeing of their leaders. The campaign is split into three sections. The first section offers an analysis of how business leaders and their teams are coping mentally and physically; the second section tracks how well the relationships, both personal and professional, are holding up; the third breaks down the state of awareness business leaders have for the financial health of their business.
The campaign offers actionable insights into how businesses can get fitness levels back on track this year. It includes expert input and advice from Derrick Evans MBE (AKA Mr. Motivator) and the UK's Minister for Small Business, Paul Scully, as well as enterprise and business experts including Emma Jones, the founder of Enterprise Nation.
This campaign is designed not to be just a one-off. We'll be checking back in with small businesses throughout 2022 and beyond to get an ongoing view of their wellbeing over the next 12 months, which will allow us to compare notes and observe how circumstances, attitudes, and outlooks change over the course of the next year.
How was the campaign idea born?
We know that running a small business is hard work and we know that in the last few years the pandemic and other macro events have taken their toll on the whole economy.
We found that the focus and measures of how businesses were coping over this time period were always wrapped up around the economic progress with little or none in some cases care of the people and relationships that are vital to small business success.
You joined Capitalise in September last year. How did you manage to pull off the campaign in less than 4 months?
Wow! 4 months! It really doesn't feel like it's been that short!
We moved quickly, and let the data guide us which helped us make decisions and he collaborative in our thinking. But most of all, we were able to achieve this so efficiently because of the great people at Capitalise.
We're only a very small marketing team but we have 5 core values across our business - feature positive, better together, keep it simple, determined, do the right thing. We just ensured we kept these close as we went through the process, knowing our ultimate goal is to help small businesses and their advisors.
Now the campaign is live, what's next on your "to-do list"?
We're only at the beginning of the campaign, up next is to share this with as many small businesses as we can and help them discover a healthier way to do business in 2022. But keeping our finger on the pulse and seeing how things change.
Alongside this, we're launching new functionality within our platform for accountants with Capital Reports and also launching "Capitalise for business" - our latest product that helps small businesses track and improve their credit score.
What do you believe will be the biggest challenges for fintech this year?
Fintech was born because we were tired of not having a choice and being forced into specific places for specific needs. Over the last few years, we've seen a huge emergence of different businesses doing some fantastic things in the industry. But what we've not seen at scale yet, in collaboration to make this much easier for small businesses and their advisors.
Today, small businesses are using between 5 and 7 platforms to run their business. Imagine if we could collaborate to make this one or two, giving small businesses the richness of multiple technologies in one place, enabling them to thrive. For me, that is the biggest challenge for fintech this year.
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