We’ve always built our business over how can we build as many long-term customers as possible and continue to build on that.
Theo Kanellopoulos is the CEO of Melbourne-based Out In The Clouds, a holistic digital and technology agency that specializes in designing, building and enhancing digital ecosystems for clients. He’s also a Salesforce Certified Administrator (SCA). The agency is a Salesforce Partner as well as a WP Engine Partner.
In this episode of Velocitize Talks, Theo Kanellopoulos shares his thoughts on the decentralized web, marketing automation, and content platforms.
Websites & Staying Power
The website will evolve into something that fits what the future will need from it.
OITC has built dynamic websites for such recognizable brands as Chobani, Rutherford Entertainment, Compass, and PukaUp. The team focuses on creating fully functional and customer-centric sites using WordPress, WooCommerce and Shopify platforms in order to deliver a more seamless customer experience.
Their creative strategy includes identifying the target audience; brand positioning; establishing overall tone and style; developing clear and consistent messaging; using a compelling CTA; and identifying key performance indicators and metrics.
We look at the digital ecosystem holistically so websites, CRM, marketing content and strategy and how all of that can come together to deliver more seamless customer experiences and efficiencies.
With the right web design and tools, customers will engage further with a website, thereby feeling more loyal to the brand. In fact, according to a study from Stanford University, an estimated 75% of consumers judge the credibility of a company based on the design of its website. Now more than ever, your website acts as your digital headquarters.
“I think the digital shopfront or the digital ‘print’ presence that a website provides is going to continue to need to be there,” says Kanellopoulos. “Being a customer still centers around having that website as a central place.”
The Decentralized Web
We’re still miles away from where the UX needs to be as far as Web3 goes to make people comfortable.
The question of how far we are from the mass adoption of Web3 is a subjective one. Web3 is also referred to as the ‘decentralized web,’ where users choose trusted platforms not controlled by any single party and act within a peer-to-peer network.
“We’ve seen a massive bubble burst, probably start to mid of last year, particularly with NFTs (non-fungible tokens),” says Kanellopoulos. “That has lots of similarities to what happened with the dot-com bubble, and amazing businesses came out of that. We’re going to see the same thing.”
There are concerns, however, that the UX can only improve once regulation of Web3 becomes more reliable.
“Once we get some sort of North Star from a regulation perspective and much more consistency in terms of user friendliness and user experience then we’ll start to see the needle move,” Kanellopoulos predicts.
Marketing Automation
There still needs to be that human interaction because we need to tell the machine what we like.
Marketing automation can free up employee time and resources by leveraging technology to complete repetitive tasks. AI conversational tools and chatbots such as ChatGPT can take that to the next level through data analysis, content creation, and personalization.
Kanellopoulos says that content creators are set to become so-called prompt writers as well.
“We can look at [AI] as a horse and cart changing to a car,” Kanellopoulos says. “We’re still going somewhere with a machine; we’re just doing it differently and more efficiently.”
To learn more about Out In The Clouds, visit their website and follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. To keep up with Theo Kanellopoulos, follow him on LinkedIn.
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