Navigator Marketing

Q: What's your name and position in the company?
A: Dawn Larsen, President of Navigator Marketing

Q: Describe your company in 5 words.
A: intersecting technology and consumer behaviour

Q: What's your business philosophy?
A: ■We believe there is always a solution ■We do what we say we’ll do ■We finish what we start ■We do it on time ■We believe in service excellence ■We give you our personal best ■We deliver on our promises

Q: Describe your office environment.
A: creative, flexible - family is a priority, adaptible, focused and driven

Q: Describe how your team interact and work together.
A: it's very collaborative, each of us is an expert in their own niche, so it's nice to work together and learn skills from each other. Everybody plays a part in our clients' projects...so everything everyone does really counts in the end.... our motto, how we do anything is how we do everything ....so we strive to do everything WELL.

Q: What makes you different from other web design companies?
A: Our web designers and marketing experts are CERTIFIED internet marketers, web programmers from a post secondary college and university and some of us have several degrees in business and marketing. Our team isn't like other companies, they aren't basement programmers. They receive regular self development on a regular basis. Keeping up with cutting edge technology is important. Our team are on webinars and forums and training sessions every week.

Q: How do you get the majority of your business?
A: Word of mouth, our online magazine that people sign up for to learn more about how to market their business. Dawn is asked to speak at numerous conferences and conventions and we get alot of business from people who hear her speak. They know that she knows her internet marketing stuff.

Q: Describe how you manage projects from the initial client contact to completion and handover.
A: Everything is process driven with checklists at the backend of the project. AT the front end, we work in a collaborative manner with our clients. Many times they don't know what they want or what's possible. We show them opportunities and demonstrate what's possible. We seek feedback from their staff teams through every process because they are the front line people who know what the customers want and need.

Q: What do you think is the most crucial element of creating a good client relationship?
A: Communication. Many of our clients are so busy that they don't have alot of time to understand what we are doing. They just want it done and for us to manage it . That's where great communication in comes in. We provide our clients with weekly email updates and brief voicemail messages to identify where the project is at and what we need if anything. Our clients are surprised how little of their time we take up in getting our projects completed.

Q: How do you manage demanding clients?
A: We attract great clients to our office. We enjoy working with clients who believe we have their best interests at heart and trust us as their marketing experts. We are more demanding on ourselves than any client could ever be.

Q: If a client was trying to decide between a shortlist of web design companies, how would you recommend they go about selecting the right one for them?
A: The web company that has great customer tesimonials, a great track record of RESULTS not just finished projects and a great reputation for investing in their staff team so that their team members are qualified and certified to do web programming, mobile websites. There are alot of crazy people out there who say they know what they are doing and don't know a thing about web programming. The client has to ensure that these people can demonstrate happy customers and results in their marketing.

Q: Where do you see your company in 10 years time?
A: We've been around for 10 years now with great success. WE have locations in Timmins, North Bay, Sudbury, London and Thunder Bay. I see that we will have more offices in other cities, we will all be using mobile websites and everything we know now will be obsolete and we'll be marketing in a totally different method than we are now. BUT you can COUNT on our Navigator team to be up on the latest technology and customer behaviour in 10 years and be leading the pack as we do now.

Q: Where do you see the web design industry in the future?
A: mobile marketing is our future for the next 5 years. Our team is ONE of the ONLY teams in NORTHERN ONTARIO that does mobile website design, mobile marketing and mobile text campaigns.

Q: What computers do you have use in your offices, PCs or Macs?
A: Both PC and Mac

Q: How was your company name chosen?
A: We wanted to demonstrate that we can help you grow your company from where it is now to where you want it to be. There is a strategy in marketing that is systematic and calculated in many ways....Navigator seemed like the best choice to lead companies in the direction of their dreams and goals. It really fits everything we do and our mission which is what i mentioned previously helping people get from where they are now to where they want to be.

Q: If you were to give your clients one tip on how to get the most from their website what would it be?
A: Invest the money into a good solid website - people pay $5000 -$10000 for tv and radio advertising with no measureable results to demonstrate if it works. Everything on the internet is measureable and trackable and when you believe that, understand that and invest in that marketing method, you will see your revenue increase significantly.