The Problem

After a decade-and-a-half of success, Navigate’s revenue growth had slowed. They knew it was time to do some deep thinking on how to reignite growth. The partners took a good hard look at every aspect of the business—and knew that part of the solution would be to up their marketing game.

The Solution

We established from the jump that the goal was to be extremely targeted—like most professional services firms, they didn’t need to find their next 100 clients, they needed to find their next 10. We also agreed on the value of deepening their existing client relationships to secure new projects and drive revenue.

“To reach our very busy, very high level buyer, we need high quality, compelling content that both makes our prospects think in a different way and creates a level of faith that we can do the work they need,” said Navigate CMO Heidi White.

We started with Articulation and Alignment—refining the Navigate brand story and messaging and building the go-to-market plan. We walked in without any preconceived notions and listened to what they said and how they said it. We sat in on strategic business discussions. We asked questions. Lots of questions. We dived into reviewing their existing materials and researching the competition and the broader industry context. We poked and prodded, challenged assumptions and bounced around ideas.

The result was a new brand story, a new visual brand and identity, a new thought leadership-oriented website … all in all, a renewed confidence and credibility presented to the marketplace.

Obviously, this was merely the start. There was still much work to be done.

We implemented a modified account-based marketing (ABM) strategy, focusing on creating thought leadership content specifically written and designed for high value targets. We worked side-by-side with Navigate’s subject matter experts to gain insight into the conversations they were having and what the “Nav POV” was on key topics like operating model design, the intersection of customer and employee experience, remote work (thanks, Covid!), and the importance of delivering customer value by embracing rapidly evolving technological advancements.

As noted above, Navigate is selling into a highly focused, complex environment, so traditional paid distribution methods would never be enough. In addition to a significant focus on building engagement on LinkedIn, peer-to-peer content distribution would be vital. 

White came up with an ingenious way to track how Navigate consultants were using the content—by tracking what she termed “thoughtful shares”—smart emails and LinkedIn posts that shared the content in a way that was customized for a specific prospect or recipient.

The Result

In the first 18 months, the Navigate team embraced thought leadership and changed internal business development behavior—paving the way for significant growth. Marketing tracked thoughtful shares, especially by the firm’s partners, and Navigate exceeded the goals they set. They dramatically increased the percentage of new business pursuits and deals won that included the use of content marketing. Thanks to this customized ABM focus, as well as some other business changes, the company reignited significant growth.