Philosophy

Navigator Marketing's PhilosophyWe know, we know – marketing agencies philosophies are just so darned pretentious, they’re usually not worth bothering with.  So we should thank you for even bothering to click this link. You’ll be rewarded for your efforts with a set of 6 guiding principles which we hope are are clear, concise and comprehensible.

You Can’t Put Yourselves in the Shoes of Your Customers

‘To be good at marketing, you need to put yourself in the shoes of your customers.’ Sage stuff. The only problem is, you can’t. Why not? Because you’re not them.

We all see the world in different ways – through a set of ‘perceptual goggles.’  We can’t take our goggles off and put someone else’s on.  It’s like being the director of a movie, watching the end result of your labours in a cinema and thinking that by doing so you’re experiencing it as your customers would.  You can’t – because you have knowledge and an emotional investment in the product that they don’t.

So what do we do.  We gather data. Data gathered from your customers – in the moments they’re consuming your marketing or your product, not gathered in an out of context and artificial research session.  That’s as close as we can get to ‘putting ourselves in their shoes.’ To think we can get any closer is a dangerous assumption.

Keep It Simple (Stupid)

You’ll spend a large proportion of your day – a large proportion of your year even – thinking about your businesses. You understand it inside out and back to front. You’ll be lucky if your customers think about your business for a more than a few minutes a year.

Our job is to help you find ways to condense all your knowledge into a simple, compelling message for your customers – because they’ve only got a few minutes to digest why they should chose your business over another.  And if they can’t, they’ll use someone who can.

Nudge (Because People Don’t Like Being Pushed)

If you want someone to buy your product or service – then you need to make it as easy as possible for them. At every hurdle you put in the way, some potential customers will fall. The more hurdles there are, the less customers you’ll have. It’s called ‘Nudge Theory’, and we’re great believers in it.

We’ll work with you to identify those barriers, remove them and ensure your customers can move smoothly through the purchase funnel from interest to purchase (and re-purchase).

Think Long (Not Short)

It’s our mantra that every time a customer approaches your business you should be thinking: ‘What can I do to ensure this customer becomes a loyal customer, and tells all their friends and relatives about my business.’ If you’re not, you’re missing a golden opportunity.

Sometimes, this means making decision which don’t make any short term sense – like taking a hit on your margin to provide your customers with something a little bit extra, unique and individual to them – but will yield long term rewards in loyalty and word of mouth.

Be Different (not Me-Too)

Most businesses keep a close eye on their competitors and copy them when they come up with a new idea. Great – you’re now just as good as your competitor – but you’re not any better. Innovative businesses don’t borrow ideas from their own industry, they borrow ideas from other industries. They don’t copy everyone else, they do something different.

Innovation isn’t easy and it requires creative thinking. But there are techniques we can teach you to help you to think creatively, and to come up with innovations that will help you to stand out from the crowd.

Try It Out (Don’t Just Talk About it)

You can theorise about things until the cows come home but there’s no substitute for actually doing something, seeing how your customers react, and then learning from those reactions.

We advocate trying, and sometimes failing, and then learning from those failures and trying again.  It’s the quickest way  to the best results.