Reimagining brands in the digital age: What Business Owners Should Do Next!

A human experience designer and the brain behind the Now To Next Business Summit recently hosted in Sandton, Miyelani Baloyi stresses the need for young South Africans to take entrepreneurship seriously.

But, Who is Miyelani?

Miyelani is originally from a small village called Kurhuleni in Limpopo. He came to Johannesburg in 2011 to pursue his studies at the University Of Johannesburg two years after matriculating. He spent most of his career life in the TV industry working for a multinational broadcaster as an audience data insights professional responsible for East and West Africa, Zambia, and the Portuguese markets. “Outside my daily job, I have always desired to do something meaningful with my life, something that could impact lives and outlive me,” Miyelani said. That’s how The Now To Next concept was born, an initiative by Omedia Intelligence a brand strategy and experience design consultancy.

The Now To Next Concept, tell us more about it.

Having worked with a variety of brands across the continent, and witnessing how rapidly the world around us is changing and consumer needs evolving, I felt that there is no better time than now for business owners and key decision-makers to start thinking ahead, planning their next move, reimagining their brands and businesses in the current age; the digital age.

You recently hosted a business summit in Sandton called Now To Next 2022, tell us about it.

There’s nothing more fulfilling than seeing something that was once a thought finding expression in real-time. This was my first ever event to host, featuring Talifhani Banks, the CEO, and Founder of Analytics Advertising as the guest speaker; and Sthembiso Sithole, a journalist and seasoned social media specialist as the facilitator. The event brought together seasoned entrepreneurs, brand architects, and marketers to exchange views, and share ideas and thoughts on how to effectively leverage business opportunities that exist in the digital space. Based on the feedback we received so far, I can tell we are aligned. For the majority, this event helped bring clarity and a sense of direction in terms of what they need to do next to grow in their personal, career, and business life. Thanks to Talifhani Banks for sharing himself with our guests.

Why do businesses fail?

In my opinion, among many other causes of business failure such as poor leadership, financial hurdles, marketing mishaps, and resistance to change; most businesses, big and small struggle in two critical areas. The first one is a lack of clarity in terms of what they want to achieve. Poor goal setting wastes peoples’ time, and stimulates confusion within organisations, especially among those responsible for execution. The second major cause is the absence of a clearly defined approach to strategy. By this, I mean a well-guided thinking process that enables business leaders and key decision-makers to effectively make choices that help them achieve their goals.

What do you think is the solution?

Every business needs a game plan, regardless of whether you are starting or an established brand seeking to break through the noise. By game plan, I mean a clearly defined strategy that details where you want to play as a business, how you want to win, in which market, and with what product. We’ve seen many young and well-meaning South Africans going into business or something that looks like business hoping it will work out. But hope is not a strategy.

I am not against the Support My Business Movement that we see all over social media platforms. At the same time, people should not work with you or buy from you because they pity you. You must create a need and an environment that compels people to want to work with you. It is getting noisier by the day, but with access to the right information, building the right systems and adopting the right thinking; any business can break through the noise.

What’s next for you?

The Now To Next 2023 Business Summit is coming, it will be bigger and better, Miyelani said. We also have a few other interesting projects currently underway in the digital education space aimed at supporting the Higher Education Institution sector with sound and practical digital education.

In closing, any advice for our readers?

While we remain grateful for the opportunities we’ve been given to have jobs and feed our families, we should not allow comfort and security to prevent us from pursuing greatness and excellence, unleashing the full potential placed in us by God. There’s a need for us to arise in our areas of influence and create the future we desire, for our generation and those to come – entrepreneurship is at the core of this.

How do people get hold of you?

Find Miyelani_Baloyi on Instagram, and Omedia_intelligence for practical tips on how you can REIMAGINE and GROW YOUR BRAND in the new age.