Author: piksel_marketing

Although it sounds like an existential question after the entire internet has been rocked by artificial intelligence’s ability to provide solutions at a glance, being a marketer these days is far from stressful and unpleasant.

On the contrary, we live in an exciting time where, as some people like to say, the fourth technological revolution is taking place.

Yes, artificial intelligence is gaining momentum. And yes, developing large language models (LLM) is faster than most of us expected. Certain things seem like they can be solved with two clicks, and consequently, what good are marketing companies when one ChatGPT “prompt” can get you an entire marketing strategy along with copywriting for every possible post?

The truth is in the middle.

On the one hand, we have the worried marketers who reckon half their jobs will disappear in a year or two. And they are not far from the truth. As modern applications that use artificial intelligence develop, so will the need for human labor.

If you’re ready, you can set up local GPTs and train them on documents you’ve been developing and preparing for years. Over time, with good training and learning, these “GPTs” can get smarter and wiser, eventually replicating your creative expression to the point where you don’t know the AI is writing for you.

On the other hand, if you, as a marketer, constantly learn new things, upgrade yourself with the skills you need through the prism of artificial intelligence, and have a strong knowledge of marketing theory (with a particular emphasis on digital marketing), as you can acquire at the Academy on Scala and Pixel, then, in the vernacular, “no winter” for you.

Those well-versed in knowledge have a fundamental understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the marketing world. They understand that the most crucial part of digital transformation is automating processes to free people to think strategically and creatively. These are the people that every company needs.

Hence, it is crucial to say that the future of modern marketers is to develop in the shape of the letter “T” – that is, to have a broad knowledge of the basics of digital marketing horizontally and to start specializing in specific skills that will give them vertical help achieve their marketing goals.

And where is AI in this whole story?

Artificial intelligence is a transformative force in digital marketing that enables marketers to work faster, smarter, and more accurately. Here are some concrete examples of how you can use AI tools to improve marketing strategies:

Copilot: As your virtual assistant, Copilot can generate code, write effective emails, and suggest website optimization strategies, all in seconds.

Dall E and Midjourney: If you want to create visual content based on textual descriptions, Dall E and Midjourney can help you create unique graphic materials for marketing campaigns without any design experience. Yes, these may not be final creatives, but at least you can give excellent directions to your fellow designers.

Gemini: Google’s powerful tool can analyze trends and user behavior, allowing marketers to make better predictions and adapt to market changes. This is crucial for any marketer.

Kapwing: Kapwing is a powerful video editing tool that uses artificial intelligence to optimize the process of creating and editing video content. With just a few clicks, you can extract a “madhouse” of clips for social media from a long video with ready-made subtitles.

Synthesia: This platform allows the creation of personalized videos with virtual characters that speak and behave like real people, which is ideal for digital advertisements and promotional videos.

Each AI tool offers different opportunities for marketers to improve their skills, be competitive in the market, and improve the results of their marketing activities. With proper understanding and application, AI can be a powerful ally in the world of digital marketing.

At Skala and Piksel’s most comprehensive digital marketing academy, among other things, you’ll learn how to use these tools to stay competitive and reach your marketing goals. Apply to the Digital Marketing Academy, take advantage of the early enrollment discount, and become part of the new generation of marketers.

See you at the lectures!

Enrollment for the new generation of Digital Marketing Academy students is underway! For more, see this link.

Written by Vladimir Ristevski for Skala Blog

Check out the interview with our management team for the most popular business portal in the country, Faktor.mk 

In 2023, the digital agency Piksel marked 10 years since its foundation. After firmly positioning itself on the market as a reliable partner for strategic, creative, and consulting solutions for the needs of companies from various industries, Piksel has grown into a full-service company that today includes digital and traditional marketing in its wide portfolio of services. Their creative solutions continuously attract the attention of local and regional audiences and the marketing professionals who join their team.

In this interview, we talk to the co-owners of Piksel: Filip Ristevski, Partner and General Manager, Vladimir Ristevski, Partner and Creative Director, and Dimitar Jovevski, Partner and General Business Development Director.

We talked with the three partners about the origins, the company mission and vision, their market strategy, the challenges they face during economic changes, and their creative identity and point of view on new trends and technologies. Along the way, we discovered how a digital marketing company transforms and grows in this market.

Filip, as a partner in charge of managing the company, you play a key role in its positioning in the market. Can you share the story of the initial capsule for the birth of the Piksel?

Filip: Piksel has two birthdays. 🙂 The first is related to the company registration in March 2011, when we had the idea of developing a digital product. In exactly two years of trying to come up with an MVP solution to offer on the market and working on several things simultaneously, we started receiving requests from our acquaintances to perform services in the digital sphere.

Back then, requests were based on content creation, managing profiles on social networks, and creating and maintaining web pages, as services that gained momentum at the time.

In such a situation, we naturally saw the need for a company to appear on the market that, instead of being product-oriented, would focus on offering digital services from the sphere of marketing, design, and development. This ties in with the second birthday of Piksel, April 1, 2013, when we started operating as a service company. That’s the official “birthday” we celebrated last year.

But what is most important in the story of the “birth” of Piksel is the core drive – to make something of our own that will be recognized and work in the way that my partners and I would like it to work. A healthy working environment focused on people and an offer for customers as an added value in digital services.

The decade was marked by serious economic tectonic shifts, including the pandemic, an effect that was strongly felt in your industry. Despite the enormous financial challenges, as a company you managed not only to stabilize and cushion the effects but also to continue business growth and development. How did you manage this?

Filip: As a company that works with many clients on the domestic market, we face different challenges than those that do their business on the world market. Maybe we were a little lucky that until that moment we were more focused on digital services. During the pandemic these were the types of services that companies had to develop to survive in the market. Accordingly, we had somewhat of an advantage over those who offered mostly traditional services, primarily in marketing and design.

Thanks to the attitude that investments are made in times of crisis, we managed to grow during this period and not only to double but also to triple the number of employees and revenues. We entered with an offer of more traditional activities at the request of satisfied customers. This positioned us as a different company in the Macedonian market, offering a wide portfolio of digital and traditional services.

Over the years, although primarily functioning as a digital marketing agency, Piksel has grown into a full-service company that includes both digital and traditional marketing in its full portfolio of services. Did this merger come about spontaneously or was it the subject of a development strategy?

Dimitar: Spontaneity is a feature of short-termism, and strategy is a feature of planning. As we matured as a company, over the years we developed business units that we felt were necessary for the new era and the technological progress of the company’s operations.

Today, under one roof, we have 3 business units closely related to each other and at the client’s service to help them advance in their digital maturity through software development, design (UI&UX), and marketing (traditional and digital).

In the field of marketing, our key expertise is in the field of digital technologies. But today in the marketing sphere, an integrated/multi-channel approach to end consumers is crucial, and this is precisely the area where we plan to invest and develop in 2024.

Vladimir, as creative director and partner, your vision plays a key role in the company’s business success. Can you share the creative strategies that have helped Piksel develop its creative signature that also receives regional accolades?

My role in shaping Piksel’s creative vision involves a multifaceted strategy, in which our desire for growth and scalability plays a key role. Whenever we encounter “still waters” we know it’s time to make a change. And we, as business managers, usually start the changes with our training and improvement, which has so far proven to be a successful formula.

That is why we also invest in training the team with which we jointly recognize and apply permanent trends. Our work mantra is simple: first, we must believe in our ideas, then we shape them according to the project’s needs in Piksel style, and finally, we present them to our clients.

In this process, our key guides are the lessons learned from previous projects and campaigns. But we don’t stop there, we are open to learning from other people’s lessons. That’s why we are often present at various events, visit successful companies abroad, and cooperate with consultants.

Piksel’s diverse culture also permeates our work with clients, with whom we build strong relationships through a different, consultative approach. Their trust helps us work actively on their positioning towards the external public and on improving internal processes through digitization and automation.

What is your message for the future, not only for Piksel but for the entire industry, one helpful piece of advice to share regarding reaching digital maturity?

Filip: I would advise companies that use development, marketing, and design services. That is to be more courageous and relaxed in accepting what comes as a proposal from us who are on the other side of the process. Us, who offer services. Our goal is to see our customers succeed in the market, so they should not be afraid to accept innovations from experts who are there for them.

Vladimir: The sooner you start learning a digital skill, the sooner you will realize the beauty and necessity of it. You don’t need to be an expert in everything, it’s enough to know where to start. It’s easier when you understand things and have a vision. Then all you have to do is reach out to us. 🙂

Dimitar: From an individual point of view – never stop learning and working on your personal development. And from a business point of view, I am convinced that synergy is always greater than individualism!

Digital marketing enthusiasts now have a new opportunity for quality theoretical and practical education thanks to the partnership project of the leading School of Design and Technology, Skala, and the leading company in the field of digital marketing in Macedonia, Piksel. The new digital marketing academy will enable students to learn how to create and implement effective strategies for the digital promotion of brands, products, and services.

The curriculum will cover all aspects of digital marketing, such as SEO, SEM, SMM, email marketing, content marketing, analytics and measurement, and many other vital skills to master the profession’s challenges comprehensively. Students will have the opportunity to work on real projects with Piksel customers and receive mentoring and advice from experienced lecturers from the company.

The academy will last six months, of which three months are planned for theoretical teaching and three months for practical work. Upon successful completion of the academy, trainees will receive a digital marketer certificate and employment opportunities at Piksel or other digital marketing agencies.

Dimitar Jovevski, partner and director of business development at Piksel, said, “We are very excited about this project because we believe that digital marketing is one of the key skills for modern business. With this academy, we want to share our knowledge and experience with the new generation of digital marketers, who will be able to contribute to the realization of the vision of many companies striving for growth and greater competitiveness in global markets.”

“This morning, I passed through Maksim Gorki Street in Skopje, past the popular avenue of Japanese cherry trees that will soon color the street with their distinctive pink flowers. But we will never have the opportunity to taste the fruit of that flower. It is only a grafted aesthetic correction of the remains of wooden columns.

If I continue with a botanical metaphor, the grafting of Skala and Piksel is not just an aesthetic correction but an essential connection for juicy and tasty fruit. We reached key conclusions that we will apply in this academic program. We go scale by scale with knowledge, experience, and synergy. Cheers,” says Dejan Jolev, founder and executive director of Skala Academy.”

Skala (formerly “Jolev and the Arts”) has been operating as a School of Design and Technology for 12 years, focused on developing and implementing progressive educational programs and practices in the creative industries. With a commitment to innovation, they integrate new digital technologies and methods into the educational process, creating experiences that prepare students for the challenges of modern society.

In 2023, Piksel marked ten years since its founding as a digital marketing agency whose creative solutions continuously attract the attention of local and regional audiences and the marketing professionals who join its team. After firmly positioning itself as a reliable partner for strategic, creative, and consulting solutions for the needs of companies from various industries, Piksel today is a full-service company that includes both digital and traditional marketing in its broad portfolio of services.

For more information and to register for the Digital Marketing Academy, visit the website skala.edu.mk/akademija-za-digitalen-marketing/ or contact the Skala team at phone number 076 266 740 or by email at info@skala.school

Big thanks to CrnoBelo for the media support.