Branding Archives

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.

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.

About Millennium Agency

Chatbots are everywhere. They’ve worked their way into retail, customer service, airlines, healthcare, banking and finance — there’s even one on the Millennium website. Now it’s time for them to work their way into your business. Chatbots are a helpful tool that will improve business operations and customer satisfaction.

Here are some ways they can help businesses run more smoothly.

Get FAQs Answered

We see it all the time. The same questions asked over and over, jamming the phone lines and interrupting workflow. However, what if there was a more efficient way to deal with the FAQs dilemma that plagues every company? Well, there is! Chatbots provide a channel to answer the burning questions that every customer and client seems to have. Chatbots’ ability to respond to hundreds of inquiries instantly eliminates a lot of the hassle a company’s employees experience daily.

Create an Interactive Experience

Customer engagement is an important piece of the puzzle to running an effective company website and reducing user bounce rates. Chatbots help engage customers by connecting them with someone, or in this case, something, that will instantaneously answer their questions so they can continue roaming about the website. To demonstrate this point, studies have shown that by incorporating chatbots, younger consumers like Generation Z and Millennials will be less likely to leave your site as their attention spans grow increasingly taxed. Adding an interactive feature to your site will only lead to a more engaging user experience for any target audience.

Act as a Personal Assistant

Chatbots can also become a customer’s personal assistant as they journey through your company’s website. They are capable of providing recommendations based on a consumer’s search history or previous communication. Even more, they cater to a customer’s requests during open and close by design. Are you starting to see the potential of chatbots and how they can improve your customers’ experience?

In summary, the future of chatbots is bright and shining. As they continue to lower costs for companies and provide 24/7 aide to customers that regular employees are unable to offer, it’s clear that chatbots are emerging as a major voice in satisfying customer needs. If you are interested in learning more about how chatbots can help with customer engagement, contact Jessica Chabot, Vice President, Client Services at Millennium Agency at www.mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

Last Christmas, I joined the 21% of Americans who have a voice assistant in their home.

After the initial unboxing and setup, I spent hours taking it for a technological test drive. I set alarms for wake-up times and conference meetings, checked my pantry and ordered groceries for whatever I was low on, I even vainly attempted to stump my new wonder gadget with any number of useless trivia questions. There was no doubt: I was in high-tech heaven. So, when a friend who also has a voice assistant warned me that the novelty would soon wear off, I naturally refused to believe it.

Of course, my friend was right.

These days, the only times I interact with my once-beloved voice assistant are when I groggily shout for it to turn off the alarm clock, or right before I leave when I ask it the day’s weather.

Taking the Voice Technology from Novelty to Necessity

While they may fall a bit short of Asimov’s robotic nursemaids or Tony Stark/Iron Man’s J.A.R.V.I.S, the voice assistants produced by the likes of Apple, Google, and Amazon are undoubtedly remarkable advances in home computing technology. But like everything from the lightbulb to the latest gaming system, the high-tech curb appeal of personal assistants has a shelf life. If these devices (and the third-party apps they communicate with) are going to continue to be relevant players in the market, the onus will be on them to adapt to the fluid needs of consumers.

If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation

According to a report from Publicis Media, the main gripe that consumers have with their voice assistant is the lack conversational capabilities that go beyond simple commands like “how long will my commute take?” or “play Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry,” or as Publicis puts it “When you invite someone to have a conversation, it is very clear in a voice-led world where your content strategy left off.”

While it’s up to the tech wizards at the big companies to improve the functionality of the assistants themselves, marketers and app developers can get ahead of the game by creating intuitive content that takes example of existing trends and technology. For example, music streaming services and podcasts offer a great opportunity to serve consumers an interactive ad experience that can be tailor made to fit the profile of the typical listener. Instead of a cookie cutter 30 second spot that talks at a listener, a food chain can harness the power of a voice assistant to create an ad that converses with the listener – asking what their favorite item on the menu is or conducting a voice survey with a listener in exchange for a free meal.

The integration possibilities are endless, and you don’t have to wait until the technological singularity of the far-off future to take advantage of it.

Whether it’s voice recognition or augmented reality capability, consumers are getting ever hungrier for new and exciting features to be integrated into the services they already know and love. If your business or organization is ready to take advantage of the latest trends in customer outreach, contact Jessica Chabot, Vice President, Client Services of Millennium Agency at www.mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

Your company’s branding message is what sets you apart from others in your industry. It’s important to maintain a positive connection through technological avenues to establish a strong message that resonates with your target audience.

Here’s how a technologically driven branding message can help to strengthen your brand:

Customer Engagement

It sounds odd, but if used effectively, technology can be used to enhance a human connection to your customers and bring you closer to them as a result. Along with a successful brand strategy, it’s important for your customers to feel like you care about their satisfaction and are proud of your products or services. Through social media platforms and engagement, customers can directly communicate with you about their questions or concerns and receive real-time responses that make them feel as though they are being heard. This is a way to maintain an authentic feel to your brand while still allowing you to maintain an air of professionalism.

Authenticity vs. Artificial Intelligence

Authenticity and artificial intelligence are both hot button topics right now regarding your branding message. These two topics often contradict each other and offer different experiences to the consumer. To some, artificial intelligence feels as though it is disconnected from the human experience. Authenticity is popular amongst Millennials who, as consumers, are especially receptive to branding strategies that feel real and transparent. This also plays in part with the honesty and trustworthiness of a company while dealing with negative or less-than-favorable accusations. Through technology, namely social media, word spreads fast about a company’s actions and practices, and this can have either a positive or negative impact on your brand. Through postings on social media outlets, you brand can be protected, and you can be in control of the messages sent out to the public in a way that is very quick and efficient.

Leveraging a Technological Connection

Technology has many great benefits that can improve your branding message. If your brand is able to utilize social media platforms, engagement with the target audience can become instantaneous and give a personality to your brand that is unique and adaptable. Even the name of your brand can be strengthened through social networks. One way that this can be accomplished is by having a strong business page that has constant updates that allows for target audiences to become familiar with your services or products and subsequently build brand awareness and credibility.

Having a strong technological presence is important to develop a strong branding message that promotes transparency and authenticity. If you are interested in learning about new and exciting ways that modern technology can help your business grow, contact Linda Fanaras, President/Strategist of Millennium Agency at www.mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

Building brand awareness is paramount when it comes to creating sales opportunities. Just like the old saying goes “out of sight, out of mind,” consumers can’t buy your products if they don’t know who you are and what you can do for them. This is where marketing strategies that are designed to build brand awareness come into the picture.

Here are three main strategies that can be used to promote your business and ensure that consumers will not only hear about you but become loyal customers as well.

Content Production

A content strategy is a key factor in spreading brand awareness. Content can come in the form of blogs, articles, emails, and any other form of writing or advertising with informational substance. This blog that you are reading now for instance, is an example of content.

Here are three ways in which content builds brand awareness:

Brand Image: A consistent creation of content will increase the flow of traffic to your website and build your brand image as an industry thought leader, thus demonstrating your prowess in your field.

Search Engine Optimization: Creation of content on a regular basis with commonly searched keywords will enhance your SEO. This heightens the chances that consumers will discover your business through their online searches and thus increases lead generation.

Sharing: If your business creates informational or entertaining content, there is a good chance that readers/viewers will share your content with their peers. In this way, your brand will become more well-known and there will be a higher probability that consumers will return for more content.

Social Media Strategy

In the past, a social media presence used to be optional for businesses. This has changed over time and social media is not only necessary for building brand awareness, but it is also an effective platform for generating leads. A social media strategy can include a variety of different tactics for promoting your brand. The following include just a few proven methods for increasing brand awareness and sales opportunities:

Native advertising: These ads can be used to link to content on your website. By posting short, engaging advertisements, visuals, or links to content, that flow well with social media feeds, brands can spread awareness and increase their web traffic.

Industry News: Just as users share exciting news about their personal lives, brands can share important updates about the on-goings of the company or their field. This is important for spreading awareness and showing that you are committed to being a thought leader in your industry.

Local/Charitable Events: Using social media to discuss events that your business will be attending or sponsoring is a great way to capture the interest of social media users. Posting about your brand’s charitable donations is also an effective way to show that you care about the community.

Public Relations

Public relations is a valuable skill for both managing public opinion and promoting your brand through a variety of different mediums. These are just a few areas in which PR builds brand awareness:

Media Lists: Creating media lists that frequently publish articles and content that align with the values of your target audience is helpful for reaching new customers. Your media lists can be as widespread as you like and based entirely off the budget that you want to contribute.

Featured Articles: Audiences crave new information. Publishing articles on your field and releasing them to the press is an excellent way to be seen as a thought leader and reach new audiences. These are especially effective because readers who enjoy the content will see the author/contributor section and associate your brand with industry expertise.

Messaging and Positioning: While your logo and mission statement are important, press releases provide a strong platform for telling your audience exactly what your brand is all about. Publishing through established news sources allows you to take on a more authoritative role in informing your target market about your brand and business values.

Being a successful brand is all about being well-known by consumers. If your business is the best at what you do and would like to let consumers know through awareness-oriented marketing strategies, contact Linda Fanaras, President/Strategist of Millennium Agency at www.mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

Native advertising strategies have become a crucial part of promoting any business, regardless of the industry. For those who are not familiar with native ads, they are a form of advertising that are seamlessly embedded into other websites.

For a more detailed description of native ads, check out our previous blog on native advertising strategies.

While many businesses promote through other web-based content and ad space, it is important to know that social media sites are effective platforms for native ads.

Here are three tips on how to successfully create native advertisements for social media platforms.

1.) Retarget

Providing content that is tailored to your target market based on their interests is an effective way to advertise your business. If a consumer has filled out a form on your site or perhaps purchased a product from you in the past, placing ads on their social platforms featuring new and related products based on their previous actions will grab their attention.

Many consumers may search for a product and then become distracted. A retargeted native ad that pops up on their social media feed will serve as a helpful reminder and enhance conversion rates for your business.

2.) Tell a Story

Storytelling is an important part of both native advertising strategies and social media. People often go to social sites for entertainment which is why traditional promotional content may not be as successful as one that tells a story and provides the entertainment the user is looking for.

The story itself is entirely up to you. For example, if your business donates to a charity, tell a story about how that money has helped that particular group. Shifting the focus away from your particular brand, product, or service and focusing on the values of your target audience is an important part of your native advertising strategies. This doesn’t mean that you have to hide the fact that you are advertising, just that you should be relevant to the social site you are placing your ad on.

3.) Play to the Strengths of the Social Platform

Every app is different. Knowing exactly what social sites your target audience is going to spend most of their time on, as well as which areas, is important. Graphics and video content are also a strong factor for this section.

As mentioned before, consumers seek to be entertained on social sites which is why including enticing visual imagery and engaging video content often see success for native advertising strategies. Many social sites, especially Facebook and Instagram, provide a perfect setting for this type of content. Even LinkedIn, while not a strong video platform, is an ideal platform for engaging graphics. Knowing popular social platforms and how to properly present your business through them is an important part of native advertising.

Native advertising is the future of online brand promotion. Consumers are more willing to view native ads than standard ones, which in turn enhances conversion rates and sales opportunities. If your business is ready to experience the advantages of a new social media advertising strategy, contact Jessica Chabot, Vice President, Client Services of Millennium Agency at www.mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

Part science and part artform, executing exceptional advertising strategies hinges on a practitioner’s willingness to keep up to date with the marketing trends that are shaping the future of the industry. There’s no doubt that it can be tough to distinguish the fleeting fads from game changers with staying power, so we wanted to lend a hand and present three hot marketing trends that are poised to change the way our industry does business.

Facebook’s Algorithm Change

While Facebook has been tweaking the mechanisms behind its newsfeed algorithm since their beginning, the most recent changes have presented marketers with a new set of challenges and opportunities.

Spurred in large part by Russia’s social media hijinks during the 2016 election, last year’s algorithm changes were aimed at amplifying interactions with friends, while scaling back the number of posts from businesses. While this update certainly isn’t ideal for brands, this marketing trend is not without its own set of unique benefits. For example, the emphasis on personal interactions is a golden opportunity for marketers to use engaging content to cultivate an army of taste making brand ambassadors. By making the production of shareable content the number one goal, brands can do an end run around the algorithm and deputize their consumers as invaluable marketing assets.

Data Hygiene

The prevalence of the internet and smartphone technology has given marketers more access than ever to valuable data about their consumers. But with all the websites, apps, and other sources of consumer data, brands must work diligently to cull the raw data, extract the valuable information, and keep it organized for easy use. Failure to observe this simple yet pivotal marketing trend can leave you wasting good money on campaigns that are based upon faulty data. Thankfully, there are a wealth of programs available to help you proactively cleanse your data, thereby ensuring its ability to help you assemble effective persona-based consumer profiles.

Success in this industry depends on always staying one step ahead of the latest and greatest marketing trends. If you’d like to learn more about how your brand can harness these trends, contact Linda Fanaras, President/Strategist of Millennium Agency www.mill.agency.

About Millennium Agency

In a market dominated by web-presence and enticing visuals, creating video content for your business is both a necessary and effective marketing strategy for building brand awareness, reaching your target audience, and enhancing your sales.

Creating video content is only growing in popularity. to whom it is more memorable, more persuasive, and overall more engaging than purely text-based content. So what are the largest trends in video content production for 2018?

Here are four separate methods of creating video content that brands should produce to increase their conversion rates:

Brand Videos

The purpose of a brand video is to spread brand awareness and resonate with your target audience. These videos offer a clear and concise brand view, mission statement, and voice. What makes your brand unique in comparison to your competitors is also a strong theme for these videos. Brand videos can be posted on social media, or strategically placed on the landing page of your website to give visitors a better understanding of who you are and what you offer. By demonstrating your value as a brand, you will be opening the door to engagement with your viewers and nurturing them as leads.

Demo Videos

A demo video is exactly what it sounds like: a demonstration of how your product works and what problem it solves. These videos work best if your business offers physical products such as software for example.

By demonstrating how your offerings work, you can do more than explain your product to consumers, you can show them. Seeing product in action increases consumer understanding of the product and chances of closing the sale with them.

How-to Videos

How-to videos educate your audience about relevant industry information. There are several reasons why these videos are effective, the first being that your business is seen as a thought leader in your field. If consumers associate your brand with expertise for their queries, there is a much greater chance they will come to you for your products/services over your competitors. Creating video content that displays your product in action can be extremely effective.

These videos are additionally effective from a search engine standpoint seeing as “how to” was one of the most frequently searched phrases in 2017. This is a trend that is only continuing to grow.

Company Announcements and Event Videos

These videos are excellent for keeping consumers up to date with your business and any upcoming events you may be hosting or attending. The goal for these videos is to build presence and relevancy with consumers. Regular updates on company information grow your following and increase engagement opportunities.

Remember, consumers are much more interested in enticing video content than text. This is why it is important to consistently produce videos that demonstrate your value, show your thought leadership, and increase your business’s searchability. If you feel that video content production is something that could benefit your business, contact Linda Fanaras, President/Strategist of Millennium Agency www.mill.agency.

Communicate Regularly

Enhance your Customer Service

Introduce Customer Rewards

Hold Special Events

About Millennium Agency

Keeping up with the Competition

Getting the Word Out, Naturally

Emotionally Impactful Branding Makes a Difference

About Millennium Agency

Get FAQs Answered

Create an Interactive Experience

Act as a Personal Assistant

About Millennium Agency

Taking the Voice Technology from Novelty to Necessity

If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation

About Millennium Agency

Customer Engagement

Authenticity vs. Artificial Intelligence

Leveraging a Technological Connection

About Millennium Agency

Content Production

Social Media Strategy

Public Relations

About Millennium Agency

1.) Retarget

2.) Tell a Story

3.) Play to the Strengths of the Social Platform

About Millennium Agency

Sponsored Content

Facebook’s Algorithm Change

Data Hygiene

About Millennium Agency

Brand Videos

Demo Videos

How-to Videos

Company Announcements and Event Videos

About Millennium Agency