Our Philosophy - Orbitane

Our Foundation

We've spent years working with subscription businesses, and certain convictions have emerged from that experience. These aren't abstract principles we adopted because they sound good. They're conclusions we've reached by observing what actually works and what doesn't when marketing software that customers pay for monthly or annually.

Customer Respect

Treating customers as intelligent people who deserve honest communication and real value.

Sustainable Growth

Building programs that create lasting value rather than temporary spikes in metrics.

Product Understanding

Investing time to deeply understand products before attempting to market them.

Philosophy and Vision

We believe subscription businesses represent a better model for both companies and customers. When done well, subscriptions align incentives properly. Companies succeed by delivering ongoing value, not by maximizing single transactions. Customers benefit from continuous improvement rather than buying replacements every few years.

Marketing for this model should reflect these better incentives. Instead of convincing people to buy something they might not need, subscription marketing should help people discover whether a product actually solves their problems. This requires honesty about what the product does and doesn't do, clarity about who it serves well, and patience with customers as they evaluate fit.

Our Vision for Marketing

We envision marketing that feels helpful rather than manipulative, informative rather than pushy, and honest rather than exaggerated. This isn't naive idealism. It's a practical recognition that subscription businesses only succeed when customers stick around, and customers only stick around when they're genuinely well-served.

The marketing programs we build aim to support this vision by focusing on attracting the right customers, helping them understand what they're getting, and ensuring they succeed with the product once they commit. Quick conversions from poorly-fit customers harm everyone involved.

Core Beliefs

Retention Drives Success More Than Acquisition

While new customer acquisition matters, the economics of subscription businesses depend fundamentally on retention. A company with strong retention can afford higher acquisition costs and invest more in product development. A company with poor retention eventually fails regardless of acquisition prowess. We believe marketing should serve retention from the very beginning by attracting customers likely to succeed.

Product Quality Matters More Than Marketing Cleverness

No amount of marketing sophistication can compensate for a product that doesn't deliver value. We believe our role is to communicate what products actually do, help the right people discover them, and support users in getting value. When products have real problems, we're more useful helping identify and communicate those problems than trying to market around them.

Customers Are Smart

We don't believe in tricking people into buying things or using psychological manipulation to drive conversions. Customers, especially B2B buyers, are intelligent and capable of evaluating products. Our job is to provide the information they need to make good decisions, not to bypass their judgment. This means being honest about limitations, clear about who the product serves best, and transparent about costs.

Context Shapes Everything

What works for one SaaS company might not work for another. Market maturity, product complexity, customer sophistication, and competitive dynamics all influence which marketing approaches make sense. We resist template solutions and instead focus on understanding each company's specific situation before recommending programs.

Data Informs But Doesn't Dictate

We value data and use it extensively to understand what's working. However, we don't believe every decision can be reduced to metrics. Some important aspects of customer relationships and brand building resist easy measurement. Good judgment requires balancing quantitative evidence with qualitative understanding of customer needs and market dynamics.

Simplicity Usually Beats Complexity

Marketing can become unnecessarily complicated. We prefer simple programs that work reliably over complex systems that require constant management. This doesn't mean avoiding sophistication where it adds value, but rather questioning whether complexity is actually necessary before adding it.

Principles in Practice

How Philosophy Translates to Action

These beliefs shape our daily work in practical ways. When developing messaging, we ask whether it accurately represents what the product does. When evaluating channels, we consider whether they reach people who actually need what we're marketing. When measuring success, we look beyond immediate conversions to longer-term customer outcomes.

For example, our belief that customers are smart means we don't use manipulative urgency tactics or hide pricing. Our conviction about retention's importance means we care as much about onboarding experiences as landing page conversion rates. Our emphasis on simplicity means we'd rather improve an existing program than add another tool to the stack.

Real-World Application

When working with a client whose product serves a specific niche well but struggles in adjacent markets, we focus marketing on the niche where success is most likely rather than trying to expand market appeal through positioning tricks.

When data shows strong onboarding completion among users who complete specific setup steps, we improve guidance toward those steps rather than trying to eliminate them to boost superficial activation metrics.

When a product feature isn't working as intended, we advocate for fixing it rather than finding creative ways to market around the problem.

The Human-Centered Approach

At the center of our philosophy is respect for the people we're trying to reach. This means recognizing that they have real problems they're trying to solve, limited time and attention, and reasonable skepticism about marketing claims.

We try to communicate the way we'd want to be communicated with if we were evaluating a product. That means being direct about what something costs, honest about limitations, clear about who it helps most, and realistic about what commitment is required.

This approach requires patience. Not every visitor converts immediately, and that's fine. People need time to evaluate whether a product fits their needs. Our marketing should support that evaluation process rather than trying to rush past it.

Personalization Through Understanding

We believe personalization should come from genuine understanding of different customer needs rather than just swapping in first names or company details. This means developing messaging that addresses specific use cases, creating content that answers real questions, and designing experiences that recognize where someone is in their evaluation.

When we segment audiences, it's based on substantive differences in needs or situations, not demographic proxies or arbitrary behavioral triggers.

Innovation Through Intention

We believe in continuous improvement but approach innovation thoughtfully rather than chasing every new tactic or channel that emerges. New approaches should be adopted because they serve customer needs better, not because they're novel.

This means we're sometimes slow to adopt trendy tactics and sometimes quick to try unconventional approaches if they make sense for a specific situation. The question isn't whether something is new or established, but whether it's useful.

Balancing Tradition and Progress

Some marketing fundamentals haven't changed. Understanding your audience, communicating clearly, and delivering value remain as important as ever. Other aspects evolve constantly as channels and technologies change.

We try to distinguish between enduring principles and temporary tactics, holding firmly to the former while staying flexible about the latter. This means being willing to abandon approaches that aren't working while maintaining core commitments to honesty, clarity, and customer respect.

Integrity and Transparency

Commitment to Honesty

We're honest about what we know and what we don't. When recommending approaches, we explain the reasoning and acknowledge uncertainty where it exists. When something isn't working, we say so directly rather than trying to spin the results.

Openness About Process

We believe clients should understand how we work and why we make the recommendations we do. This means explaining our thinking, sharing relevant research or data that informed decisions, and being open about trade-offs when different approaches each have merit.

Accountability in Outcomes

We take responsibility for the programs we develop and implement. When results don't meet expectations, we focus on understanding why and adjusting the approach rather than defending our choices or blaming external factors.

Community and Collaboration

We view our work as collaborative rather than transactional. The best outcomes come from genuine partnership with client teams, where everyone brings their expertise to solving problems together.

This means we integrate with your existing teams rather than operating in isolation. We share knowledge freely rather than hoarding insights. We celebrate wins together and work through challenges as partners.

Support and Guidance

Our role extends beyond executing tactics. We aim to help client teams develop their own understanding of subscription marketing principles, so they become more capable over time rather than dependent on us.

This includes explaining the reasoning behind recommendations, sharing relevant knowledge as situations arise, and being available to discuss questions and challenges as they come up.

Long-Term Thinking

Commitment to Lasting Change

We're more interested in creating sustainable improvements than delivering quick wins that don't last. This means sometimes recommending approaches that take longer to show results but create more durable value.

It also means being willing to advise against tactics that might boost short-term metrics at the expense of long-term customer relationships or brand reputation.

Sustainable Practices

We build programs designed to function reliably over extended periods rather than requiring constant intensive management. This includes creating systems and processes that become more valuable over time as they accumulate knowledge about what works for your specific market.

We also consider the sustainability of relationships with customers. Marketing that burns through audiences or damages trust might work briefly but creates problems down the road.

Legacy and Impact

We hope the programs we help build continue creating value long after our direct involvement ends. This means transferring knowledge, documenting decisions and rationale, and building capabilities within client teams.

Success for us isn't just improved metrics during our engagement, but sustainable practices that continue supporting business growth afterward.

What This Means for You

Honest Assessment

You can expect us to tell you what we actually think, including when we believe something won't work or when we're uncertain about the best approach. This honesty might occasionally be uncomfortable, but it's more valuable than false confidence.

Patient Progress

We won't promise overnight transformations or guarantee specific results. Instead, we'll work steadily toward sustainable improvement, measuring progress honestly and adjusting based on what we learn.

True Partnership

Our relationship will be collaborative. We'll ask questions, challenge assumptions (respectfully), and expect the same from you. The best outcomes come from genuine partnership rather than either side simply following orders.

Alignment of Values

These principles work well when our values align with yours. If you believe in treating customers respectfully, building for long-term success, and marketing with integrity, we'll likely work well together. If those values don't resonate, we might not be the right fit.

Let's Discuss Your Approach

If these values resonate with how you think about marketing your subscription business, we'd enjoy learning more about your situation and exploring whether working together makes sense.

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What Guides Our Work