Author: piksel_marketing

Digital transformation. A trending phrase for the last two years. Why? Because the world learned from the crisis caused by the pandemic. The way of working for a large number of businesses, if not all, simply must be digitized.

But what does digital transformation mean and have we really succeeded in fully and effectively digitizing ourselves? One theory is that digital transformation is the adoption of digital technologies by a company to improve efficiency, increase value, and innovate.

Others argue that digital transformation is the process of using digital technologies to create new – or modify existing – business processes, culture, and user experiences to meet new market demands.

Where are we locally concerning these major, global, tectonic shifts? Personally, I think that quite a few businesses relatively quickly saw the opportunity to try to adapt at least part of their business to the digital world, some managed to build a fully digital presence and explode online, while others missed the train and remained in traditional business, although they managed to roll out online solutions quite quickly.

Who has adapted the best?

The most successful were definitely the food delivery services. The biggest and most established continued to grow and develop. The newcomers who saw a hole in the market played smart and launched parts of their online products and services one by one. Even the latecomers were successful enough to take a piece of the pie because the market is not yet saturated.

Here, of course, we must also mention the laboratories that responded quickly with successful online platforms integrated with their internal software where end-users could very easily schedule a test appointment and easily and quickly download the results electronically. Undoubtedly, there are also banks, telecommunication operators, and public supply companies, which with their electronic services managed to reduce the queues in front of the counters and reduce their costs.

Other businesses also found their way

E-retailers have successfully existed before, but the pandemic definitely managed to give them a “nitro boost” in demand, while also forcing large retailers who had an aversion to online sales to adapt in a short period.

Supermarkets partially adapted. Some decided to enter the online segment with a large investment. Some made additional investments. Others just watched silently and were not particularly worried.

The biggest challenge was faced by those manufacturers who dominated the HORECA segment for years. Most of their income depended on catering facilities and high margins. Here, the coffee producers and distributors who took full advantage of the pandemic to change our coffee consumption habits proved to be the most agile, The beer and wine industry, which always had the largest percentage of investments in the trade marketing segment, went through the most painful process.

Having all the examples from the domestic scene, the question arises – how to measure the success of digital transformation? What actually makes a brand successful online? Success is really a mix of several things.

Brand awareness

Brand awareness definitely comes first. Those businesses that have managed to build recognition of their brand where it is associated with a specific digital service have undoubtedly managed to achieve great success in a short time.

All businesses have moved online, but most have not grasped the big picture. Some hit hard on so-called “performance marketing” where the emphasis is on getting as much traffic as possible to websites that sell something. Others hit aggressively advertising what they offer without managing to build awareness of their brand.

User experience

What’s a digital business (or business segment) if you don’t have a good user experience? Design is no longer just a field where we follow trends and make something look nice to the eye. User experience (UX) has been a whole science for a long time. It has its roots in business analysis, psychology, and of course marketing strategy, and a part in software architecture.

Seamless integrations

Integrations between digital channels, websites, and inventory/customer relationship software are perhaps the most important parts of the overall customer experience. They provide a great opportunity for businesses to easily, quickly, and without room for human error guide the customer through their online ecosystem and successfully close the process.

The future of digital transformation

But where are the consumers here and what is the future of digital transformation? Can there be a digital transformation without knowing exactly who our ideal consumers are? Without knowing how to address them?

Boomers

The generation born after the Second World War or the so-called “boomers” get by with digital channels, but they do not have much confidence in them. They are the ones who want to physically go to a bank, post office, store, or anywhere. They want to see and touch a product, save a printed receipt, and have a chat before making a decision. Businesses have long known how to reach them across all channels.

Generation X

This generation is more digitally literate. They want both offline and online communication. They shop both in physical locations and online, but they do not feel secure in the future. Brands have long worked to capture their attention and look to tailor communication to their needs.

Millennials

Millennials are a generation that has been talked about a lot for years as the new misunderstood progressive youth. While talking about them we realized that they are no longer children either (the youngest are 25 years old and the oldest 40). They are the most active and numerous on the internet. Their expectations of digital services are at an all-time high. With them, there is no more room for improvisation. Every glitch of a certain brand in the ecosystem of the digital experience is an opportunity for a yellow card, if not a red card from these end users. They understand social media particularly well and punish brands that merely adapt offline content for online needs.

Gen Z

And what is digital transformation if we don’t understand the needs of Generation Z? Do the local, regional, and global brands operating here know that these young people have completely different interests and needs? That they are born with technology in their hands and are not impressed by what brands serve them, but expect brands to adapt to their needs. The world’s biggest marketing giants are changing their branding to appeal to the new girls and boys on the scene. Because they know that brand loyalty costs a lot more today than it ever did.

Do we know what we will do when digital channels will no longer “sell” so much, so we will have to rely on relevant digital personas who, over time, will not be so much “influencers” as they will be genius creators of digital content?

The future is for us to continue growing and developing as global and local trends develop. But, also as the communication channels and those we address evolve. As long as we follow what is happening, both us, as marketing specialists, and the companies through their brands, we will not have a problem with our consumers. For everything else, there is __________ (insert successful brand name here, and all of the above should be clear to you).

Social media is perhaps the most exciting thing that has happened to marketing in the last ten years. They opened new doors of opportunity that traditional media could not even dream of opening. They gave a voice to all participants in the process, and completely changed the narrative and the way of communication from corporate to human.  

Yes, platforms 2.0 have given the possibility of two-way communication. Seen through the prism of marketing communications, companies are the ones who send the message, but the end user does not just receive it but also has the opportunity to send a message back and start a whole narrative that can go in favor of the company. Also, it can completely change the tone and bring a problem to the surface. 

That is the advantage of Platforms 2.0. What would Platforms 3.0 be? Well, this is where things get interesting.

What to expect in the future of social media? 

I came across the concept of Internet 3.0 through a tweet a few days ago, where this concept is explained in great detail, which I will now try to explain to you in layman’s terms.  

If the goal of Internet 2.0 was to enable two-way communication, Internet 3.0 aims to have the same possibility but to decentralize the power of communication platforms.

What does decentralization mean? It means that we will not have the power centralized in one company that will regulate the communication channel but each of us will be a “server” in some way. So, there will never be an opportunity for a hacker to break into the system, or for the company to manipulate the network.

I’ll repeat it in layman’s terms – this sounds like a blockchain for social networks, a concept of torrents for FB and Insta.  

Why did I turn the conversation to Internet 3.0? Because the world is already ready for it, considering all the controversies related to Facebook and its Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and other daughter satellites, and especially considering the almost all-day downfall of the same.  

The conversation involves several things as the security of user privacy, the dependence of businesses on specific networks, and the question of what we do if tomorrow these networks are gone or become irrelevant (RIP MYSPACE).  

To answer that, we must first revisit some basic digital marketing literacy concepts that people often forget and some even (quite justifiably) don’t know.  

Social media in digital marketing

One of the key divisions of digital marketing is branching into three parts:

• owned media (channels and content that are owned by you and over which you have control),
• earned media (content that someone shares – users, media, etc., and based on whose narrative you have no control over), and
• paid media (or custom paid advertising).  

Why is this important in situations like the downfall of social media like FB and its satellite networks? Because if they disappeared for a long time or disappeared completely (you never know), automatically, brands and influencers would not have ownership of their profiles/pages on those networks.

There would be no way to have an earned media moment (there would be no one to share the posts) and would not have access to the paid advertising system.  

What’s yours and what’s not yours online? 

In this situation, the only thing that would be in the control of brands and influencers would be the real-owned media channels. Channels that they own instead of ones owned by popular social networks. What are those channels? Well, it’s not plural, but rather singular – it’s the company/personal website.  

The content you create will always be yours – blog posts, authored videos, photos, designs, or any digital content. Anyone who wants to follow you will always have a way through social media but a website is still yours, not to mention the option to have people subscribe to your new content via email.  

Finally, the best takeaway from the whole Facebook debacle is that the mantra of any digital marketing company or individual creating quality content must be that what is being given/shared is something that is truly valuable. Quality content reaches the end user, and it is best to host the content on your site that is under your control. 

Filip Ristevski creates a success story with Piksel and builds a digital transformation trend among companies. Together with his team, he helps companies achieve the highest successes and change the world, offering expertise that gives them the tools to start thinking differently from their competition and digitally transform their companies and grow their business using the latest web development strategies, marketing, and technologies.  

Filip Ristevski, you have an enviable portfolio and experience. How did you come up with the idea for Piksel? How did you encourage yourself to start the trend of digital companies in Macedonia?  

The desire to try something on our own exists in all of us. It just takes a small initial capsule, an idea, faith, and a little luck to make it come true. Piksel, which has three partners in the background, sprouted from a process of creating an idea for a product. Fortunately or not, that start was not successful, so we decided to start with providing digital services until our next product story. It turned out that such a turn was not so unfortunate, so in April, Piksel will celebrate eight years of existence on the market with an already recognizable image of a digital company that unites the service of digital transformation of companies, the two carriers of digital values, development, and marketing.  

As a software/website development and digital marketing agency, Piksel aims to help companies grow their business and create lasting partnerships and value on their way to success through digital channels. What does it mean to have a company handed over to you? How do you gain trust?  

Starting cooperation is also the beginning of a completely transparent and honest relationship with the client. That alone is the first step towards building trust and partnership, which as a company, we make sure to upgrade in every segment of cooperation. We build trust through positive and negative experiences that we face jointly with the clients giving them full support and appropriate solutions.  

Finally, the most important thing for us is the human segment of cooperation and the creation of sincere partnerships that will last for years.  

Your experience spans projects from digital monetization, the cinema industry, the banking and finance sector, FMCG, healthcare, and education. Which segment or industry would you distinguish for your team as a favorite and why?  

This one is similar to the question – which of your children is your favorite? 😊 Although we work with clients from various fields of activity, we do not have a segment that stands out as a favorite. It is natural that some industries, such as film, FMCG, and all others related to modern trends and technologies, are more interesting for the teams. At the same time, we see all other industries as a challenge and an opportunity to learn something new while helping the client achieve his business goals.  

The Piksel team is made of creatives and is expanding quickly. What is crucial for you to be part of the team, what skills do you prefer, and do you organize training for your employees?  

It builds on the human aspect I mentioned earlier. The first character trait of our team members is honesty and transparency, as well as indispensable team spirit and energy.  

It is a foundation that each of our employees must have to build their expertise and professionalism on. 

Regarding the training part, each internal level in the company has to master some training for the employees to be more ready to meet the next level in their development.  

In 2018, we saw big headlines announcing that Filip Ristevski received recognition for “Entrepreneur of the Year.” How much did this award motivate you? Did it open new perspectives for you? What are your future challenges?  

Ugh, how far 2018 seems from this perspective, ha ha ha. Of course, any award received pleases and motivates, especially when it is unexpected and based on statistical indicators of the company’s growth for that year. The award strengthened Pixel’s recognition in the local market, opening an opportunity to cooperate with even more clients.  

But, like all other companies, we “struggled” for most of the last and this year with the challenges brought by the pandemic and the new way of functioning. With this fact in mind, the direction is in the further regulation of internal procedures and further automation of all processes inside the company that should help in smoother functioning daily and thereby provide added value in providing services to customers. At the same time, it needs to facilitate the employees’ work.