August 2018

Relationships surround us. They’re in our homes, our hobbies, and our offices. But how about our customers? Strong relationships are the key ingredient in setting your business apart from the rest. Making a lasting connection as opposed to a one-off interaction with your customers will increase customer satisfaction rates and brand loyalty. Here are some helpful tips on building client relationships that will last.

Communicate Regularly

You’ve heard it before, but we’ll say it again, communication is the key. What’s true in marriage is true in business, at least in this case. Communication is, in fact, key to building long lasting client relationships. By regularly reaching out to your client base with news and useful information, you are keeping your business fresh in their mind. Limit the focus of you communications to promotions and sales and utilize a blend of softer sell pieces such as helpful newsletters, blogs, or tip sheets. Frequent, quality communication will allow your customers to feel more engaged and assist in laying down the groundwork for successful relationship building.

Enhance your Customer Service

As important as it is for you to communicate, it’s just as important for your customer to communicate to you. By enhancing your customer service and making sure everything is running smoothly, you’ll allow your customers to communicate freely with you. Improve your customer’s experience by adding an online chat feature to your website or a dedicated customer service extension to your phone system. By allowing your clients to engage in regular contact with your company to give feedback, they’ll feel closer and more comfortable with your company.

Introduce Customer Rewards

Show that you appreciate and value your customers by giving them special rewards when they do business with your company. By showing you are willing to give back to your customers, you’ll help build stronger client relationships between your company and your target audience. One effective type of rewards program is graduated customer rewards where the more customers spend, the more they can earn. This can increase spending and cut down on customers moving from program to program looking for the entry-level rewards. Your clients will be more likely to come back and your relationship with them will grow over time.

Hold Special Events

If budget allows, a personalized approach to building client relationships would be to host special events that allow staff and customers to connect face-to-face. Your customers will get all their questions answered and learn more about your business, all while having fun.

Building relationships in business is one of the most important factors in standing out amongst your competitors. Take the time to communicate with your customers and let them communicate with you. Remember not to do all the talking, because you could miss out on ideas about what your customers want and feedback that could improve the customer experience altogether. And finally, introduce customer rewards programs and hold special events to create even stronger brand loyalty. To learn more about how to build strong relationships with your customers, contact Jessica Chabot, Vice President, Client Services of Millennium Agency at www.mill.agency.com.

About Millennium Agency

Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman led B2B branding, positioning, and digital marketing firm who knows how to create value that emotionally influences your customer’s buying decision, giving you the competitive advantage. As your trusted partner in B2B software technology and manufacturing, we provide the branding and positioning framework that make an impact – so you can focus on what you do best – run your business successfully. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, and a worldwide presence, the professionals at Millennium Agency would like to learn more about your business.  Visit www.mill.agency or book time here.

We get it. You came here because you want to learn more about brand marketing, but before we get into that, take a second to humor us and answer this question: What comes to mind when you think about Apple, Coke, and Nike?

Most people immediately associate Apple its computers and phones, Coke with its soda, and Nike with its footwear. While there’s no denying the success of these companies’ and their cornerstone products, producing silk screens, crisp cola, and featherweight footwear is only half of marketing the equation.

Branding: The Intangibles

Let’s focus on the brand, or the intangibles, of these companies. The opening analogy would read a bit different. While people are correct in associating Apple with its technology, their brand is much more than that, built on the spirit of innovation and novelty. Coke is associated with joy and happiness, and Nike, the pursuit of health and athletic excellence.

It’s because of these intangibles and the emotional evocation these brands achieve that they’ve been able to maintain decades of industry success and enjoy hordes of repeat, loyal customers. Establishing strong brand positioning allows your company to elevate marketing efforts from simply selling a product and its features, to eliciting an emotional response from your target audience through effective brand marketing.

Brand Marketing

To paint a more vivid picture of our above definition, let’s take a look at several examples of companies that have leveraged their intangibles to create successful brand marketing campaigns.

Oakley: One Obsession

Athletic apparel and sunglasses company Oakley, launched it’s One Obsession campaign in 2015 and has continued to produce engaging examples of brand marketing through 2018. Their latest spot in the campaign features a commercial with the theme “It’s OK.” In this spot, Oakley follows several athletes through their sunrise workouts and late night training, and, as opposed to traditional sports montages, highlights their tribulations. The goal of the campaign is not to obnoxiously pitch a new pair of shades (although their branded apparel is featured) but is instead to highlight the drive and passion shared by its substantial customer base and does so quite effectively.

Apple: Get a Mac

Tech giant Apple is notorious for creating successful brand marketing campaigns. One classic example of this is best illustrated by what Adweek considered to be the best ad campaign of the first decade of the 2000’s. Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign, more commonly referred to as “Mac vs PC,” provided customers with a personified version of the brand itself. By choosing a hip, up and coming actor in Justin Long to portray a Mac and a bland, rigid actor to play PC in contrast, Apple was able to physically personify their fresh, modern, and innovative position, allowing customers to relate with the “cool” actor. With over 66 ads aired, this campaign was highly successful.

Coca-Cola: Share A Coke

Beverage powerhouse Coca-Cola is no stranger to executing effective marketing campaigns, but one stands out amongst others. Launched more than 7 years ago, their “Share A Coke” campaign continues to serve as one of the most effective examples of brand marketing. By replacing their signature cursive branding with the names of their customers, the soda supplier has been able to provide a personal touch and inspire kindness that few other brands have ever come close to achieving. By leveraging partnerships and clever ad spots like the one produced by Delta, Coca-Cola continues to evoke emotional responses that resonate with its kind hearted and supportive brand massaging. The company has even announced that the campaign will continue this summer.

Employing an effective brand marketing strategy enables your company to design campaigns that go far beyond showcasing product features to allow you to display your brand values or intangibles. Done right, these campaigns elicit an emotional response from your customers that will build loyalty and result in repeat business. If you feel that your business could benefit from brand marketing, contact Jessica Chabot, Vice President, Client Services of Millennium Agency at www.mill.agency.

Your brand is as much a part of you as anything else. It’s a visual representation of who you are and that’s why creating your brand is one of the most important parts of developing your business. When creating a brand, it’s important to showcase the side you want your audience to see. This brand is your stage and it’s time to show the world what you’ve got.

Here are some helpful tips that will help you in creating your brand.

Research Target Audience

As important as it is to establish yourself within your brand, it’s also just as important to establish a target audience for your brand to focus on. Knowing who your target audience is can prove to be successful in creating a brand. The key is to be as specific as possible. Knowing the demographics of who you’re trying to reach will create a picture in your mind of potential customers and clients. Researching the target audience will also help to create your company’s brand strategy in how and to whom you plan on communicating and delivering your brand’s message to.

Define Your Brand

The next step in creating a brand is to define that brand. This can be done by establishing a mission statement that will emphasize your company’s message. This is the time to look at the benefits and features of your company’s products and services in order to create an accurate message behind your brand. You will want to focus on what you want associated with your company. Remember it should reflect who you are.

Know Your Competitors

Creating and maintaining your brand takes focus. Focus not only on yourself and your own brand but on other brands within the same industry. It’s beneficial to know how your competitors have succeeded and failed to better compete with them. By studying the competing brand you’re able to find ways to reach your target audience in a new, more effective way.

Get the Word Out

Now that you’ve created a brand that’s uniquely you, it’s time to spread the word! Creating a logo and a tagline is a great way to represent your brand’s personality. Be creative and have fun with this part of the process. This is where you create a voice for your company. Once you’ve come up with an image for your brand integrate it in all aspects of your business and all media channels whether it be social media or print just spread the word!

Creating a brand is a way for your company to stand out. Through proper research and reflection of your own business, you can make your brand a reflection of who you are. For more about creating a brand that fits you, contact Jessica Chabot, Vice President, Client Services of Millennium Agency at www.mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

Building a brand doesn’t just happen overnight. There is a lot of strategic planning that goes into tactically positioning your business to make a lasting impression on your target audience. This is essential to the growth and development of your business, and utilizing branding companies is a good way to stay on top of this task. Here are some of the many ways that branding companies can help elevate your marketing strategies.

Keeping up with the Competition

Branding companies specialize in keeping up with current trends and ways in which businesses can differentiate themselves from their competitors. In order to make your brand stand out, there needs to be a calculated identity created. This can be a very time-consuming process which is why it’s important to outsource when necessary to branding companies and should be a top priority for your business.

Getting the Word Out, Naturally

Not only do you want to get people talking about your brand, but you also want them to be recommending you to potential customers by word of mouth. When a strong brand identity is established, customers take notice. One of the best ways to market your business is to have genuine referrals by your current customers. If people love your brand, they will be more likely to let people know about you, grabbing the attention of prospective customers. Marketing firms are experts in developing well-thought-out strategies to strengthen your reputation.

Emotionally Impactful Branding Makes a Difference

It’s no secret that customers have a very emotional outlook when taking in marketing messages and identifying with a company. You want the interactions between you and your customers to be a positive emotional experience which can be achieved by creating messaging that aligns with your company’s values. Designing impactful positioning is something that branding companies specialize in and will generate loyal customers.

Branding companies are a great resource to utilize to build a strong identity within your industry contributing to the success and growth of your business. If you would like to learn more about how branding companies can help cultivate your business, contact Linda Fanaras, President/Strategist of Millennium Agency www.mill.agency.