PixelMEDIA Finds Niche

 
Erik Dodier, CEO and co-founder of PixelMEDIA. Photo by Christine Carignan.

In 2012, digital marketing agency PixelMEDIA was riding high, having hit record sales, employing more than 60 creatives and being named the Best Small Company to Work For in NH by Business NH Magazine and NH Businesses for Social Responsibility. “It was a high point as a firm,” says Erik Dodier, CEO and co-founder of the Portsmouth-based firm. But, he adds, “I didn’t think it was a high point, just a point.”

However, within 18 months, PixelMEDIA’s fortunes started dwindling. “A year later, I start noticing we have smaller firms in niche areas winning deals we would usually win,” Dodier says. “The web used to be a mile wide and an inch deep. We could do it all. Then every piece became more sophisticated. We couldn’t be a jack-of-all-trades.”

The technology for digital marketing and websites was evolving and demanding higher skill levels and training, he says. The spike in specialized boutique firms only added to the pressure Dodier felt. “We were spread too thin,” and trying to do too much, he says.

“Why were those 10-person firms winning? Because they were good at what they did, and that was all they do,” he says. “We had to figure out what we had to say ‘yes’ to and what to say ‘no’ to and play to our strengths.”

While many businesses face similar challenges, some succumb to desperation, grabbing any business they can. But PixelMEDIA’s leadership took a step back and considered what business they should turn away. “The strategy needed to be on narrowing the focus and tripling down on certain areas, Dodier says. So the company realigned its focus to concentrate on digital e-commerce services for lifestyle brands that want to sell directly to the consumer, according to Dodier. The company delivers its services through the Saleforce Commerce Cloud and sought to create satisfying experiences for its customer’s customers.

Before completely changing its business model, PixelMEDIA’s leadership team wanted to ensure the strategy could work so they tested the water in 2015. Even PixelMEDIA employees weren’t apprised of the upcoming change. “At first everyone questioned why we were saying no to certain things,” he says.

Then Dodier and his team began networking with decision makers at online brands and working the contacts they had in that circle. “You build from the center out. We knew folks at Bauer, Echo and Croc, and they knew other brands. You grow the circle of people you know,” Dodier says. “It takes time. We had to rebuild the pipeline of business.”

By December 2016, PixelMEDIA was finding success with the new strategy, and Dodier formally announced its changed focus by sitting down with every team to explain the new direction.

The company pushed people to get training though some employees left when they were no longer doing the work they wanted to do. Some, says Dodier, “were resistant” and “needed to find their own path.” He says, as people left, they replaced them with people who had the needed skills, adding the result brought a new energy to the company.

It also meant a 20 percent decline in revenue during the year of transition. “We literally changed the engine on the plane while it was flying,” he says.

But the strategy is working, Dodier says. PixelMEDIA currently works with retail brands, such as Cole Haan, FYE, Brookstone, Kittery Trading Post, Stonewall Kitchen and Johnny’s Selected Seeds. “We are helping lifestyle brands launch, manage and grow their e-commerce business,” he says. “People are finding us….These are client relationships that are sticking.”

PixelMEDIA is celebrating its 24th year in business in 2018, and Dodier has learned a company can make “powerful progress” when it is focused. “We can do more in the next five years than we did in the first 23,” he says. “For 23 years, people asked what we did, and I said it depends on the client. Now it’s launch, manage and grow, and it feels good.”