Malta, March 25th, 2021.

NIU is a full-service web design and development firm from Malta, focused on building, improving and scaling digital products that impact and drive results.

The agency offers a wide array of services, including online marketing, web design, SEO and custom web applications. NIU has worked for local and global clients such as Vivendo, Innova, Hyundai, Playmobil and Sotheby’s.

In an interview with TIA, NIU’s Business Development Executive Julian Muscat described his daily life at the agency, which he joined less than a year ago after working at other organizations in Malta.

He highlighted the team spirit of the agency and the level of effort put on each project, while reflecting on his career path and the changes brought by the pandemic.

To kick things off please can you describe to us a little bit about Malta and why is a great place to live and work?

Malta is a great place to work, whether you’re a foreigner moving here solo or with the family as well as for local employees. Malta is a nice place to live for various reasons, including the cost of living, safety and a booming career potential.

Besides all of this, Malta is also known for its great weather and island life. One can enjoy a walk in the nature side of Malta, seaside or even city life.

There are plenty of must-do experiences in Malta from eating the best fish in the seaside village of Marsaxlokk to wandering the beautiful streets of Valletta, our capital city. Besides Malta there’s also Gozo, our historic sister island and Comino with its crystal-clear Blue Lagoon waters.

How did you first become interested in digital experiences?

I became heavily involved with the digital realm in my previous career role where I spearheaded the online sales department for an internationally recognized organization here in Malta.

This experience sparked a new-found desire in bridging our client’s needs and digital solutions to meet their every need, including those changing with the times requiring ongoing professional support.

Could you explain to us briefly what’s your role as Business Development Executive of NIU?

The main purpose of my role revolves around 1) the sales process from enquiry to onboarding new clients and 2) servicing existing clients when requiring additional solutions.

At NIU we have a very strong work ethic in that we ensure that all solutions/platforms sought are ones which are as efficient and long-lasting as they are effective.

Working with the right agency can be a valuable partnership. What attributes do you want people to associate your NIU with?

The company was co-founded by James Abela and Matthew Sammut some 15 years ago who are still heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the company till this very day. This is a huge benefit for NIU since although each department is managed by an experienced team member, the entire team is kept aligned to an ever-changing and super dynamic industry.

We have the insight, expertise, trend-setting attitude and award-winning portfolio to create online experiences to elevate any brand’s digital presence.

Of all the recent projects your company has produced, which one are you most proud of?

We are proud of all projects because of the level of effort and time we dedicate to each one. Our favourite projects are those where the client reciprocates in terms of effort on the website.

In today’s day and age, websites are no longer a ‘one-time-setup’ but require ongoing maintenance, updates and content creation if the objective is to rank well.

In a nutshell, corporate websites are becoming lead-generation machines and eCommerce websites are becoming a tailored experience incorporating cross-selling and up-selling functionalities.

In fact, due to this, we pride ourselves in building websites in a modular manner, because a website is never finished and it’s always a work in progress. In doing so, however, we do the heavy lifting whilst our clients can keep focusing on their day-to-day tasks.

Every experience has an emotional component, and using products is no different. What is your approach to design positive emotions to keep users happy and engaged?

Indeed every website comes with its own goals and objectives, and this is why we have a custom approach to each and every website design we work on.

Whereas WordPress is well known for design-ready themes, we provide custom website design since such themes are also well known for slowing down a website, effects SEO negatively, has unpredictable vulnerabilities and like that’s not enough, they also require a larger number of plugins since their functionality is usually limited/non-customisable.

This enables us to center our design around all aspects of our client’s needs/desires, and then we put our touch to ensure we provide an engaging and user-friendly design UX.

Three (or as many as you want) highlight moments in your career-path

1) Working with a company/team that is aligned with my professional ideologies. 2) Getting to support an array of clients from all company sizes and backgrounds. 3) We operate in an ever-changing tech industry keeping us engaged and on our toes day in day out as we always strive for better.

We are living the most important pandemic in recent world history. How digital has changed marketing product launches?

The pandemic didn’t change much in this regard – it mainly sped up the change. The digital world is constantly changing due to new technologies and ideologies, and clients require a certain amount of time to digest it all and adapt which is completely understandable, especially if they have no/limited resources from tech backgrounds.

But throughout the pandemic, we saw a drastic change in decision-making processes which was much faster, even though investing in such times is not a straight-forward process.

We also like to make sure that clients did not just launch their website online and that was it, but they understood all that goes on behind closed doors, all the strategic processes that need to happen before the website is launched. In fact, we spoke about this in an interesting webinar with industry experts from Malta and Dublin too.

What advice would you give to a new nonprofit startup that is looking to build a smart digital strategy?

Think long-term! Your website and digital strategy need to be based on the long-term. A decision taken today can affect your brand/organization in the years to come – and whether negatively or positively is up to you AND your key stakeholders.

Having said that, stakeholders don’t only come in the form of investors, but also in the form of your advisors and service providers which need to be aligned with your plans. Therefore, before making decisions based on price, make well-informed decisions based on the right stakeholders too.

How would a good friend describe you?

Someone who talks the talk and can walk the walk and a responsible advisor.

Thanks Julian!

Learn more about NIU

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