#028 – DARWIN Edition – Dante St. James
Marketer Rocking the Top End
Published on September 24, 2018
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Originally hailing from the Big Smoke (A.K.A. Sydney), Dante St. James has honed his offering to meet the specific needs of businesses in the Northern Territory. What has eventuated is the quintessential small business agency. Agile, consultative, personal and value-driven.
Australia is a vast continent, where accents change as you travel coast to coast, top to bottom. Business is also conducted differently. Most will put it down to factors such as population density, availability of infrastructure and the sheer distance between population centres. Doing business in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide might require a certain local flair. Darwin, however, is said to be a totally a different kettle of fish.
Gimme the stats
Some simple statistics, as far as digital use goes. The Northern Territory (NT) in a unique position with the vast majority connected to the NBN. This explains why paid digital marketing makes up 42% of digital marketing efforts. The physical distances might be vast but actual communication happens instantly.
The market is again different. Darwin businesses face unique challenges which include stagnant population growth, an economic recession for the last few years, high power and utility pricing. The saving grace of having a younger population profile (about 5 years younger than Aus average) and 17% of the population churns every year (6% average for Victoria), means that there are always opportunities for small business.
It is telling that the big chain retailers (Ikea, Myer, H&M, Zara, etc) are not represented, which again spells opportunity. Retail activity has shifted from city to suburbs, which is mostly due to online sales and home delivery. Also not helped by high markups and lack of competition in luxury goods.
“I’m a big fan of these guys from Melbourne…and it’s on my weekly ‘must listen’ list as they work at helping real-world people out with their digital marketing. Such a great concept.” Dante St. James, Clickstarter
The quintessential small business agency
This landscape is very conducive to the all-in-one, high-efficiency, full-service agency that offers the full suite of disciplines and media channels at highly competitive rates.
Clickstarter is one such agency. Helmed by Dante St. James, who drives a highly agile approach to strategy and execution. Clickstarter is as far removed from a bloated, over-priced big city agency as you could possibly be.
He is also well-known for a laid-back, relationship-based style of account servicing.
Which is smart. Very smart.
