Understanding Your Customers & The Importance of the Business Pivot with Craig Jackett
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Craig and I have been collaborating together for almost 10 years. And after every conversation we have, I come away more inspired than the last time I spoke with him.
This 10 Years, 10 Stories interview is no different.
The owner of Jackett Agency, a boutique brand and design agency, Craig and I have worked on more than 50 projects together. We’ve created Brand Story Strategies, marketing materials, websites, learning platforms, advertising and so much more.
We chat about how great it is to work with great people, how marketing has changed in the last decade, the critical task of understanding your customers, why it’s important to make sure your business, brand, marketing and sales strategy work in tandem, and how pivoting is a key business skill.
Meet Craig Jackett from Jackett Agency
Relationship to me:
Colleague, Collaborator, Supplier, Client & Friend
Years we’ve known each other:
9+ years
Specialty:
Brand, Graphic & Web Design
What we’ve worked on:
Brand Story Strategy Projects, Brand Tone of Voice, Graphic Design, Branding, Marketing Collateral, Books, Websites, Specialist Marketing Projects, Learning & Program Development, Marketing & Brand Strategy.
Interview Highlights
Meet Craig
Craig is the owner and head of Jackett Agency – brand and visual communication agency who believes amazing brand communication can take your customers on a journey that allows them to engage with, trust and buy from you.
It’s their job to help create meaning for brands and connect them to the people they’re trying to reach. Craig’s calling is to make sure your message speaks clearly to the people you want to speak to, in a way they understand, to help them look better, feel better and live better.
So, you can see why we’ve had such a successful working relationship over the past decade – Craig and I are on the same page when it comes to our brand and marketing philosophy.
Our favourite project we’ve worked on together…
Craig and I have worked on more than 55 projects together over the past decade.
That makes it hard to choose just a single project that we’ve loved delivering.
To make it easier, we chose a client instead. And over the years we’ve delivered a large number of projects for our client Atherton, who are a world leader in sterilization equipment and infection control products for the hospital, medical and scientific industries.
One of the main reasons we’ve loved working with them, was the chance to evolve a 130 year family business.
We helped them reclaim their brand, find and leverage their points of difference, connect more effectively with their customer, and get their entire business to embrace the brand promise.
And because we’ve been able to work with them for a number of years, we’ve been able to have an impact.
Our work has encompassed developing their brand story strategy and a marketing plan, creating a whole suite of marketing collateral including product catalogues, videography, website content, and promotional materials, and we’re currently working on a history of the business book, due for release sometime in 2025.
What we love most about working together…
Not only have we collaborated together on client projects, Craig and I have also been each other’s client.
I worked with his team to design all the workbooks for my Brand Story Strategy Workshop, and they’ve also helped me to create lead magnets and social media templates for my business.
And I’m responsible for their website copy and the Brand Story Strategy that drives it.
On working with me Craig said…
“You asked me to [describe you] in three words, I believe and I came up with feisty go getter!
I'd say definitely creative, you know, very creative and you have to be doing what you do. Knowledgeable. You don't know what you don't know. And until you employ somebody like you, you don’t realize how little you do know. And performance orientated as well. Like, I know that's two words, but let's stick a hyphen in and call it one.
You’re you really, value driven and you understand that it's all about the end result. So, you can make shiny things, but if they don't do what they're supposed to do, then they're not worth the shine.”
What Craig thinks will change for business in the next 10 years…
The last couple of years have been tough for business. And Craig and I talked about the fact that when times get tough, clever businesses double down on their marketing in clever ways, rather than turning everything off.
He says –
“I'm seeing really intelligent people that savvy and understand marketing, recognising the potential of this particular marketplace.
It's a good time to gain market share.
It's the old Coca Cola model of when times are tough, you know, double down, spend double your effort on marketing because you'll gain market share that would otherwise cost you, you know, you probably never get, but it'll cost you more than double that in fun times.”
It’s also unavoidable to talk about marketing trends and not touch on AI. But while Craig thinks this new technology is awesome, he wisely says that we need to use it in the right way in order to get the right outcomes.
He says:
“I don't want a machine to sell to me. I need a person selling to me and it's all very well suddenly having this powerful knowledge at your fingertips with ChatGPT. But if you don't know how to implement it. Then you’re kind of wasting time in a way.
It's really dangerous because it's a big Dunning Kruger, right?
You've got a small amount of information and you think that you know everything. So, we've got to be really careful of that. Everybody has to be careful of that. And find good people that know, really know how to leverage off of AI and how to, how to get the best bang for your buck.”
Key Interview Insight
AI is a tool. That's what it is. It's like a shovel. If you use it in the right way, it's going to get you good results. But yeah - don't dig under foundations.
- Craig
About the 10 Years, 10 Stories Interview Series
This interview is one of a series of ten interviews I did in 2024, with ten people who have impacted my business journey throughout my ten years in business.
Each and every conversation full of insight, advice, memories and celebration.
