With the phenomenal growth in digitization and online shopping, every business is focusing on digital presence and increasing the visibility of their website on search engines. Moreover, online shopping has increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the trend will continue to increase.

A Statista report suggests global retail e-commerce sales were approximately 5.2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021, which is expected to grow to about 8.1 trillion dollars by 2026.

Businesses need to optimize their website to reach more visitors and convert them to customers. Which are the google ranking factors for 2023? Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial to increase your online footprint, but it is not easy. This article will focus on the most important google ranking factor for better ranking. Let us get started.

Top SEO Ranking Factors 2023 for Your Website

Below are top SEO ranking factors in 2023, which are relevant in today’s world.

1. Relevant and high-quality content

The quality of your content significantly affects a website’s SEO ranking. Publishing top-quality content regularly increases user engagement, and Google gives better ranking to the websites that have higher user engagement. What are the ingredients of high-quality content? If you provide information about anything, you must ensure it is authentic.

You should quote the original source when discussing data in your content. It makes your content reliable and trustworthy. Besides that, your content must

match users’ search intent and be readable. The readability of your content depends on several factors.

Use short, easy words, and keep your sentences and paragraphs short. Do not use jargon because no one searching the internet may understand them. Apart from this, reduce using adjectives and adverbs because they modify the noun or verb, which takes extra time for the readers to comprehend.

2. Your website should be mobile-friendly.

Easy access to smartphones and affordable high-speed internet has significantly increased the number of internet users in the last decade. Most searches on Google come from smartphones, and the percentage is growing.

A CNBC report suggests that 72.6 percent of internet users will use their smartphones to search on the internet by 2025. It is a very important google ranking factor. So, if you want your website to rank at the top, you must ensure it is mobile-friendly. Google’s mobile-first index has been effective since 2021, meaning mobile-optimized sites have a higher chance of reaching the top in the search results.

3. Keyword placement

Experts say it is one of the top 3 ranking factors Google uses to rank websites on search results. To get a better ranking on search results, you should use the keywords in the right place in your content.

Start the Meta title with the primary keyword and use it in the H1 title on the page. Besides that, add the keyword in the Meta description and the content naturally.

You should also use it within the first 100 words of the content. However, you should not stuff the keywords and fit naturally in the content. Remember you

are writing for users and not for the search engine. Add at least two H2 headings to your content, including the keywords.

4. Website speed and Navigation

Website speed is one of the most crucial SEO ranking factors in 2023. In today’s hectic life, people do not have much time to wait for the website to load. Every user wants a hassle-free and fast browsing experience.

If your website takes a long time to load, visitors will move to the next option, and the bounce of your website rate will increase. It will impact your website ranking. Ensure your website loads faster for a smooth user experience. Additionally, create a user-friendly website so that visitors can navigate it easily.

5. Website security

If you look for some information online or want to shop on a website, would you visit an unsecured website? You will not; in fact, no one likes to put his or her privacy and financial information at risk. That is why website security is one of the crucial SEO ranking factors in 2023, and you must consider it when building your website.

One of the easiest ways to secure your website is using an SSL certificate. SSL stands for secure socket layer, a protocol to keep internet connection safe, and it safeguards sensitive data sent from a browser to a web server.

SSL is also known as TLS (Transport Layer Security), an improved version of SSL. If the site is dealing with exchange environment or multiple domains, UCC SSL certificate would an ideal choice. For other purpose, a site owner can choose different types of SSL certificates. Such TLS certificate cost is less and easily available in the market.

6. Backlinks

It is one of the most important google ranking factors helps to increase traffic to the website. Backlinks are the links to your web pages coming from other websites.

Google ranks the websites with a considerable number of backlinks from renowned websites with many visitors. Multiple backlinks indicate that the website provides authentic information. However, make sure that the links are coming from high-quality domains.

Conclusion:

Online presence is crucial for every business, and search engine optimization helps you increase your visibility. It helps you build brand awareness, attract customers, and increase revenue. High-quality content, keyword placement, and mobile-friendliness are critical for SEO.

Besides that, SSL or TLS certificate is another essential google ranking factor. TLS Certificate cost is nominal, but it encrypts users’ information and is an excellent way to build visitors’ trust. You need to implement the best SEO strategies and review your website’s performance from time to time.

Millennium Agency’s own CEO and Strategist, Linda Fanaras, sat down with Howard Wolpoff as a featured guest on Daily Ad Brief’s “Marketing Champions” segment. The segment features marketing experts from around the country each week. During this episode, Linda discussed her marketing background, and where she got inspiration to launch her own B2B branding, messaging, and digital strategy firm. Howard and Linda dove deep into getting to know your client and how to differentiate your brand. She then took a moment to discuss the importance of a multi-platform strategy and shared some of her best kept tips for focusing on driving sales opportunities within the B2B industry in the coming year.

Featuring on the Daily Ad Brief’s “Marketing Champions” was a great opportunity for Linda and Millennium Agency. As a result, it helped broaden our market impressions and discuss some important topics in the marketing world. Daily Ad Brief is a reputable marketing, branding, and digital strategy newsletter. They host a variety of shows and feature industry experts and educators from around the world. “Marketing Champions” is hosted by Howard Wolpoff and focuses specifically on marketing experts in the US.

Millennium Agency: “Marketing Champions”

Millennium Agency has proudly been serving the B2B manufacturing, technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries for nearly 25 years. We offer a variety of branding, messaging, and digital strategy services aimed to increase brand awareness and boost lead generation. We use a multi-phase, comprehensive process to bring you deliverables and results that guide you towards your goals successfully. Millennium Agency offers social media, email marketing, website design, data analytics and more. We help businesses build strategies that are cohesive and compatible across all aspects of their brands.

Millennium Agency is always looking to take on new clients, and we would love to get to know your business. No matter what stage your brand is in, we can help you take it to the next level. Check out Linda’s full appearance on “Marketing Champions,” and then book time with her here!

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.

Writing a powerful B2B marketing plan is no easy task. When you are establishing your B2B marketing plan, it is important that you take the time to really get to know your brand, as well as your current and potential audience. You need to know what you are selling, and who you are selling to. However, it is not that simple, and there are many additional factors and steps that need to be taken to have a truly powerful marketing plan. At Millennium Agency, we are experts in marketing planning, as well as an assortment of other B2B branding and marketing strategy services which is why we have created this B2B marketing plan template that walks you through the stages of building a powerful marketing plan.  

Phase One: Research and Foundation  

Before you can begin writing a marketing plan that is powerful enough to drive success, you must know exactly what makes your business unique. During phase one of our B2B marketing strategy template, we encourage you to conduct in-depth research about your brand, both from an internal and external perspective. Knowing what your employees, customers, investors, and even potential customers think about your business can give you productive insight into what your business does well, and what you can improve on. It is in your best interest to invest in taking careful time to dive deep into your brand and what people think, because this research will be used to build your overall marketing planning strategy.  

During the research phase, you also want to consider your competition and do a bit of research on them. Knowing who your competitors are, and how they position and market themselves not only helps you avoid being repetitive, but also shows you how you need to do better. Research is the key to marketing plan templates for every industry, and it allows you to build a stable, cohesive foundation for a powerful marketing plan. 

Phase Two: Analysis and Goal Setting 

Once you reach phase two of the B2B marketing plan template, you begin to use the research conducted in phase one. During this stage, you should analyze the information that you yielded and note any popular trends or consistencies present, both positive and negative. A common marketing planning strategy used by industry professionals is called the SWOT analysis, which combines internal and external analyses to guide you towards a marketing plan that is successful. A SWOT analysis examines your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your opportunities and threats, and requires you to look openly and honestly at how your business performs as is. Once you properly break down these key points of your business, you can establish your goals with ease.  

Establishing goals not only includes pinpointing the successes you want achieve in the future, but also lays out the objectives you must meet to succeed. Goal setting is the core of marketing plan templates, and the more specific and direct you can be when setting your goals, the more cohesive and successful your results will be. Your goals serve as your guiding beacon for your marketing plan, and your objectives are what help get you there. Establishing your marketing plan objectives can be challenging if you do not have a background in marketing, because they are the logistical, technical details of your entire strategy. If you are unable to determine successful marketing objectives on your own, employing the help of a professional firm is the best way to get assistance and see a marketing plan example for yourself. Either way, you cannot move on to the next step in the template until you have clearly identified your goals and objectives. 

Phase Three: Audience Identification and Targeting    

By phase three of the Millennium Agency marketing plan template, you should have a wealth of knowledge on who you are and what people are saying about your brand, as well as a clear understanding of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. From there, you should have built out a clear set of goals and objectives that support your business reaching those goals. Once you have the basics down, it is time to fine tune your marketing planning to your specific audience.  

You should have gained a thorough understanding of your target audience and your customers’ identities during the research phase of the marketing plan template, and now is the time to use what you learned to better serve your products or services to the right people. How you position yourself within your market and industry is important, and most customers take only a mere minute during first impressions with your brand to decide whether or not they wish to continue on with your business’ website, advertisement, blog, email, or however you are reaching them. Because of this, you need to make sure that you are making the right decisions when it comes to communicating with and engaging your audience; if you miss the mark, you may not get a second chance. During this phase of the marketing strategy template, you should be establishing a clear tone and message that you will be using to reach and engage your target audience and generate leads.  

Phase Four: Coordinating Logistics  

Before you can begin executing your marketing plan, you must also coordinate all of the different logistics that must be taken into consideration such as your business’ budget, timeline, and capabilities. If you have not already enlisted the help of a professional marketing strategy firm, now is the time to do so! Although you can tackle coordinating all of the technical logistics of your marketing plan on your own, having an experienced firm is a great way to guarantee that you are getting the most out of your marketing planning experience. The right marketing firm will help you ensure that you are getting the most optimal results from your planning efforts. 

During this phase, you should lay out exactly when you hope to reach each goal, customizing each objective deadline to your specific business and industry needs. From there you need to determine what your budget is, how much you want to spend daily, and on what marketing efforts. You cannot move on to solidifying your tactics until you know how much time and money you are working with. Once you have your goals and objectives lined out, and have your budget and timeline sorted, you can begin to schedule and execute your strategy as outlined through this digital marketing plan example. 

Phase Five: Execution  

By the time you reach phase five, the execution phase, you should have already laid the foundation and pinpointed the exact goals and objectives you want to reach, as well as determined how you are going to achieve success using the budget and timeline you are working within. Now it is time to execute your marketing plan, which involves a lot of different components depending on your specific goals as a business. Making sure that your B2B marketing plan goes off with success can be tricky to manage, and marketing firms are well versed in juggling many different marketing components, ensuring the correct materials and efforts are launched correctly and without issue. During the execution phase, you should be preparing and launching all of the different objectives you pinpointed during earlier phases. From there you should be gathering data on your B2B marketing plan’s success and determining how successful your efforts are at generating leads. The execution process can take place over the span of weeks, months, quarters, or even years, and requires close management to ensure your plan stays on track. 

Phase Six: Monitoring and Refinement 

The final stage of any marketing planning template example is the monitoring and refinement process that takes place from initial launch up until a new campaign is launched or the current plan dies out, whichever comes first. However, we suggest reevaluating your B2B marketing plan strategies frequently to avoid falling behind in your industry. Throughout the monitoring and refinement process, you should be gathering data on how successful each component of your campaign is at meeting your goals, and using that data paired with qualitative data such as customer and employee comments allows you to modify and optimize your B2B marketing plan and strategies.  

Don’t Navigate this Alone  

Marketing planning can be difficult, especially if you do not have previous marketing plan examples for your brand or if you do not have a marketing planning template to follow. We have reviewed the most basic form of a market planning template, and through the six phases we highlighted, you should be able to build a B2B marketing strategy that works for your business. Although no one knows your brand better than you, an experienced marketing firm knows the ins and outs of marketing the best – after all its what their brand is all about. Hiring a B2B marketing firm will optimize your marketing planning experience and will yield more successful results every time.  You do not need to navigate the marketing planning process alone, you have already done half of the hardest part by going through this marketing strategy template, the next step is to schedule time with a member of our staff to begin planning your next strategy. 

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. For more information, visit our website or call 877-873-7445. 

Who says email marketing is dead and marketers do not pay heed to it any longer? If this myth persists in any way, it is time that people get rid of it. Email marketing still remains one of the most charming, influential, and highest-yielding forms of digital marketing. In fact, as per HubSpot, effective email marketing can generate a 4200 percent return on investment. Woah, that does seem unbelievable at first, doesn’t it? Needless to say, you cannot rely on the email marketing trends of 2018 to succeed in 2022.

Let’s talk about the real significance of email marketing in contemporary times. As long as you are doing everything right about your email marketing campaigns, you stand every chance to drive that kind of ROI. The question is, what does it take to do everything right when it comes to email marketing?

Well, of course, there is a wide spectrum of factors that make email marketing campaigns successful. Among these, one of the standalone factors is your effectiveness in following the latest trends that are changing the face of email marketing.

This is the reason why you need to keep pace with the ever-evolving trends of email marketing and digital marketing. If you have not tracked the latest trends lately, we are more than happy to help you out through this blog. This blog highlights the top five trends that hold the key to the future of email marketing. So, what are we waiting for? Let us get going.

Email marketing trends you cannot afford to overlook

1. Email Automation

Automation and scalability have become quite synonymous in contemporary times. If you can automate operations effectively, you can scale operational efficiency in an exceptional way. The same holds true for email marketing or all forms of digital marketing if we look at the larger picture.

In fact, you will be amused to know that with automation, marketers can drive a 450 percent increase in terms of qualified leads. Moosend further explains that around 40 percent of marketers are already reaping the benefits of email automation. In the modern era, automation tools are at the forefront of email marketing.

Besides, another reason why automation is an important trend is that email marketing does involve a lot of repetitive tasks. If these recurring tasks can be effectively automated, you can bring greater scalability into your email marketing. Moreover, with email automation tools, you can also optimize your sales pipeline.

Given the multifarious benefits of email marketing automation, it is fair to say that this trend will only get larger in the future. Even otherwise, we do agree with the fact that automation in itself is one of the most thriving trends in the corporate world.

It is time to make the most of it in your marketing efforts by investing in the right email marketing automation tools. Needless to say, for that, you need to facilitate effective change management in the organization.

2. Optimized Personalization

We are dwelling in times when hyper-personalization is the cornerstone of success in customer service. Whether it is about marketing campaigns or shopping experiences, you can enhance results in an incredible way by embracing hyper-personalization.

How would you feel when your most beloved brand sends you a personalized wish on your anniversary? Of course, you will feel amused and in fact, all of us feel utterly happy to receive such heartwarming experiences. Similarly, our perception of a brand by default improves a great deal when it sends us personalized recommendations based on our preferences.

This explains why hyper-personalization is one of the most vital marketing and customer service trends in 2022. In fact, this trend is here to stay and will dictate the future. To substantiate, customer experience statistics reveal that more than 52 percent of customers will switch to another brand if the brand communication is not personalized enough.

This clearly explains the need for you to pay great heed to the trend of hyper-personalization before it is too late. As per SmartHQ, more than 70 percent of people reported that they love to interact with brands that offer personalized marketing messages.

Besides, SalesForce reveals that more than 95 percent of marketers have benefited from the trend of hyper-personalization in their marketing emails. The most interesting of all insights is about the ROI of personalization in email marketing. This explains why personalization is so important for brand strategies.

KO Marketing claims that more than 70 percent of brands have been able to drive an email marketing ROI of 200 percent with personalization. That is indeed fascinating, to say the least, isn’t it?

Do you still have any doubts if you should lay emphasis on hyper-personalization or not? Hyper personalization is the future of email marketing. When you personalize your customers’ experiences, you make them feel understood and valued. This is how you foster a deeper connection with them and win their loyalty.

However, personalizing experiences when you have thousands of customers is not a cakewalk for sure. Thanks to technologies like AI and machine learning, you can now have a simple and effective data-driven approach to collect massive customer data.

Further, with these technologies, you can analyze big data to personalize experiences based on customers’ previous interactions with your brand.  Why would you not want to make the most of these technologies that simplify personalization in such an incredible way?

3. AMP Email campaigns

Have you heard about AMP email marketing campaigns yet? If you can visualize what the future of email marketing looks like, the visualization will be incomplete with AMP emails. To put it in a more uncomplicated way, the trend of AMP email campaigns will be one of the pillars of the future of email marketing in the times to come.

However, before we move ahead, let us shed some light on what AMP campaigns actually are.  AMP is an acronym for Accelerated Mobile Pages. In simple terms, you can look at AMP as an efficient technology that can assist you in making your email messages more interactive than ever before.

To explain, with the AMP technology, you can add carousels, call-to-action features, accordions, confirmation buttons, and a host of other interactive elements to the email messages. Sounds amazingly interesting and engaging right?

One of the greatest benefits of AMP is that it is yet to gain the kind of traction and popularity it deserves. Having said that, by investing in AMP today, you can take a giant leap ahead of your competitors who are yet to discover this marvelous technology.

Besides, interestingly, Stripo reveals that brands can amplify user engagement by a whopping 800 percent with AMP. This should definitely convince you to deploy AMP into your email marketing campaigns. With AMP email campaigns, you can take the success of marketing campaigns to unimaginable heights. However, the key is to ensure that you bring this trend to life much before others do.

4. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

2D seems a little too outdated in contemporary times, isn’t it? Look around, you will see AR and VR making massive and unthinkable inroads into the ways of the world. The human capabilities to visualize reality are far more superior than ever before, thanks to AR and VR. The question is, can AR and VR be blended into email marketing?

Well, the answer is yes and this is a trend you should definitely look to embrace to build a competitive advantage. In fact, you will be amazed to know that as per AR Insider, with augmented reality in email marketing, you can boost the engagement rate by 75 percent. More importantly, what we need to figure out is how AR and VR can work in email marketing.

To shed light on that, when you send graphics in your marketing emails, the recipients should have the option to tap on them and view them as 3D AR objects for an incredible experience. You could well imagine how that can add so much to their experience and make your marketing emails far more interactive.

The bottom line is that there is a great amplification in the accessibility of AR and VR across devices, operating systems, and platforms. It no longer seems a surreal idea to embed the same into emails. That is where it is proving to be the making of an important future trend in email marketing.

5. Mobile Friendliness

Interestingly, more than 85 percent of email recipients access email messages through smartphones. Insights on email marketing further highlight that this percentage is more than 90 percent in millennials and Gen Z folks. Having said that, in 2022, if your email marketing campaigns are not optimized for mobile-friendliness, there is little chance for them to succeed.

Besides, as per Campaign Monitor, in recent times, the open rate of mobile-friendly emails has witnessed a hike of more than 30 percent. In contemporary times, around 70 percent of email marketing campaigns are opened on mobile devices. Therefore, the idea is to optimize each element of your email marketing messages for a seamless experience on mobile devices.

For that, you need to ensure that all the graphics, content, CTA buttons, and carousels are optimized for a great mobile experience. The better the experience you create through your email marketing campaigns the greater the response and open rate. In fact, mobile-friendliness is imperative to all the key performance indicators of digital marketing.

To encapsulate, email marketing still remains one of the most sought-after digital marketing approaches. There is no reason why brands would want to give up on email marketing even in the next 20 to 25 years. However, it is essential that brands keep the latest marketing trends in mind when they design their email marketing campaigns. When you follow the latest trends, you are able to deliver exactly what your target audience anticipates. In marketing, there is no bigger a masterstroke than aligning your strategies with the trends that dominate the current sphere. With the above trends, you are good to go.

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.   

Your brand is who you are, and what you have to offer to customers. When choosing a professional branding firm, make sure that they have the knowledge to understand your brand’s vision. Branding trends are constantly changing and evolving along with technology, the economy, and social behaviors, and having a reliable B2B branding firm that is well-versed in cohesive, sustainable brand strategies is essential to success in the 2022 market.

 1. How Does This Firm Approach their Clients?

You can learn a lot about a branding firm through how they carry themselves. How they approach their clients will tell you a lot about the quality of experience you will have. Having a B2B branding firm that is transparent about their methods and prioritizes your unique needs and goals as a business can boost your brand’s success tenfold. If a branding firm is providing generic answers and recycled strategies, do your brand a favor: run away. No matter what industry you exist in, originality is essential to success. 

A branding firm should welcome your input and oversight, and then use their specific marketing expertise and trusted methods to elevate your brand and its goals. Ask yourself, does this firm take the time to consider your company’s goals? Do they take time in the production process to explain design and content options to you? Or do they take the reins and leave it up to their interpretation? Similarly, do they take the time to set your company apart from their other clients? Using the same brand strategy as their other clients will make you appear to lack originality. This is harmful to your brand awareness in many ways, so avoid branding firms that try to do this. 

 2. What Does this Firm Bring to My Industry?

Not all B2B branding firms are the same, and many specialize in specific industries – such as tech and manufacturing, retail, and the like. Ask yourself: “Does this firm have an approach to branding that will reach my ideal audience?” Taking time to think about the specific branding needs of your industry can save your business a lot of time (and money)! The easiest way to know whether a branding firm has the right niche experience for your brand is by asking them explicitly what they bring to your industry. Identifying their own strengths will give you a clear idea about their expertise and abilities.

 3. How Does this Firm Do Social Media?

Social media plays a massive role in branding – a role that is only going to grow more prominent throughout 2022. According to Oberlo, there are 3.78 billion users across the various social media platforms, which means that your B2B brand has the potential to be marketed to those billions of individuals at any given time. When choosing a branding firm, investigate what social media platforms they work with. Then ensure that they align with your brand’s identity, goals, and audience.

If your brand is targeted towards young adults and college students, go with a branding firm that is familiar with popular social media platforms. On the other hand, if your brand is geared towards an older audience, social media may be less important for you.  It all depends on your brand, your goals, and what branding strategies will resonate with your target audience most effectively.

 4. How do their Clients Rank?

Just as your customers use testimonials when deciding whether to do business with your brand, you can learn a lot about a B2B branding firm through their clients. Luckily, many firms publish their most notable projects, so you can see their previous clients. When looking at a potential branding firm’s past work, pay close attention to how they have chosen the brand.

Do they have a cohesive theme? Is it clear what is being marketed? Is the information displayed easily accessible and easy to navigate from page to page?

According to Forbes, 38% of users lose engagement if a website is unappealing, and 39% will lose engagement if the images on a website do not load. Likewise, having a cohesive theme and presentation across varying platforms – such as email and social media pages – has been shown to increase revenue by 23%. When looking into a branding firm, make sure you are comfortable associating your brand and products with their work.

 5. Does This Firm Use Long-Term Strategies?

Although it can be easy to focus on the immediate results of a B2B branding firm, before making your choice, look at the longevity of the firm. Do they specialize in start-ups? Or do they have a steadfast long-term approach? You want to make sure that the branding firm you select can maintain their promises and projects. Once the initial branding is done, ensure that the efforts stay consistent both in frequency and quality.

With current technology particularly, it can be easy to pre-schedule emails, posts, videos, and many other marketing modes, months in advance. This also makes it easy to pre-schedule them and then forget about them. Select a branding firm that continually checks their marketing productivity and success, no matter how long you’ve worked together. Your brand is not “one and done,” so your marketing strategies should not be either.

6. How Has This Firm Navigated COVID?

As we continue past the pandemic, look at how a B2B branding firm navigated challenges over the last two years. This will provide insight into how strong their capacity for innovation is. Having a strong understanding of post-COVID marketing world challenges and changes is essential to establishing a successful brand.

How does this branding firm handle customer communications in times of uncertainty? Do they have the infrastructure to navigate challenges that arise in a consistent manner? How do they ensure that their clients do not experience unsuccessful campaigns because of the changing COVID climate?

We may be at the end of the pandemic, but every industry will feel the effects for some time. Make sure that you partner with a professional, experienced firm that can navigate challenging circumstances.

7. What Do They Expect from their Clients?

One of the often-overlooked questions while looking for a B2B branding firm is what they expect from their clients. Ideally, a successful branding firm will value your team’s input and collaboration and will prioritize this throughout every step.

Before working with a firm, ask what they expect from their clients? What are their turnaround times? At what points in the process do they ask for your review? These are all incredibly important to determining whether they are the right firm for your company. Communication is crucial in the marketing world, make sure that you choose a branding firm that excels in it. Proper communication results in cohesive branding that is clear and concise.  

 8. Who is Going to be Working on Your B2B Brand? 

Your branding firm should discuss which specific team members will be responsible for each role. They should also inform you whether all their work is conducted in-house or contracted out to freelancers. Brand transparency starts with the firm showing care in how they handle your B2B brand strategy. Being clear about who will be working on your brand is important to its overall success. In addition, it helps establish a good working relationship built on mutual trust and respect.

Having a branding firm that handles all their work in-house, from strategy and design to copywriting and more, is beneficial when it comes to establishing your brand’s look and feel. There are benefits and disadvantages to working with both types of firms. It all depends on the needs and goals of your company. 

The Ideal Branding Firm Exists 

Regardless of what type of industry you are in, the perfect B2B branding firm for your company is out there! It can be hard to sift through the hundreds of B2B branding and marketing professionals worldwide. That’s why looking closely at each firm is important. Whether you are a new brand or looking to conduct a re-brand, ask yourself these 8 key questions before you choose a B2B branding firm to bring your goals to reality.

Your brand is unique, make sure that everyone knows that – especially the team growing and managing it. There is no better way to start the process than to reach out to an experienced branding firm who knows exactly how to bring your brand vision to life.

 About Millennium Agency 

Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman-led boutique creative branding, storytelling/messaging and digital marketing strategy firm with a passion for accelerating your B2B business growth. By uniting creative branding and data analytics, our expert teams combine your vision with our marketing expertise and methodology to deliver exceptional results. 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. 

 

Since it first began shaking things up in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic inspired us as a society to change the ways we interact, but it also sparked changes in the way we consume. As a result, technology companies and their marketing teams are tasked with keeping up with customers and their ever-evolving identities and preferences on how they receive, engage with, and hopefully buy products or services. Luckily, there are three major technology marketing trends that are sure to boost your technology sales in the post-pandemic market that you can follow to stay ahead. 

 1. Incorporate AI

Your technology marketing strategy most likely already employs some form of artificial intelligence, and in 2022 your company should aim to expand your use of the technology to boost consumer engagement and streamline your customer service. Many consumers are looking for the most pain-free, user-friendly technology and e-commerce experience possible, and utilizing AI to meet this need is sure to boost your technology sales and make your online technology marketing plan successful. One of the most revolutionary ways this can be done is through the introduction of a cross-device compatible virtual assistant that is exclusive to your products, such as Amazon’s Alexa ® or Apple’s Siri ®. The introduction of this multitasker-friendly technology excites customers, and immediately plays into addressing a common, everyday need. Your marketing team can harness the introduction of your virtual assistant by immediately highlighting the convenience and seamlessness that it brings to users’ lives.  

On top of the initial introduction of your AI virtual assistant, there are many different avenues you can take as a marketing team when it comes to cohesively incorporating the technology into your overall brand and customer experience. One of the best ways to boost your technology sales, customer service ratings, and your brand’s customer service experience all in one is by integrating your virtual assistant into your website and app platforms, but also by building it into the technology itself. For example, if your technology firm specializes in security system technology, integrating your brand’s virtual assistant allows for more streamlined troubleshooting of the products themselves. Likewise, being able to control the technology with ease using your technology firm’s virtual assistant to conduct basic functions such as powering on and off or engaging certain settings makes your technology instantly more desirable than competitors who have yet to develop and market similar technologies.   

In addition to marketing control features using your virtual assistant in your technology, you may want to begin highlighting its other conveniences, such as customer service and troubleshooting. Being able to market your products as being self-reliant enough to troubleshoot and access customer service via virtual assistance without a secondary device will set you apart from your competitors. As a marketing team, you can really emphasize the convenience it brings to your customers, focusing on how much time and energy your technology users can save on product installation, setup, operation, and everything in between. 

2. Focus on Customer Customization

Along with increased automation and the use of self-sufficient virtual assistants, the post-pandemic consumer is increasingly more concerned about their safety and privacy while incorporating new technology into their spaces. Positioning your technology firm as being the best of the best when it comes to user privacy and safety can be tricky, and to do so correctly, you must be able to properly identify your customers’ most common and frequent concerns when it comes to your technology 

Although technology has been society’s most valuable tool for staying connected and maintaining some form of in-person operation throughout the pandemic, consumers are more concerned about their privacy online than ever. It has been found that 55% of Americans have stopped using a website or technology product due to privacy concerns. To counteract these general privacy concerns with your technology marketing strategy, it is crucial to highlight all of your core privacy and safety features. Depending on the type of technology your firm produces, your users’ security and privacy concerns will vary. If your technology involves any type of monetary transactions, you are going to need to focus on the measures your technology firm takes to protect your users’ financial credentials. Similarly, if your technology is used to transmit sensitive information such as medical or law enforcement records, chances are your customers are going to prioritize their privacy and the security measures against external breaches or hackers that you have in place. 

The best place to begin your research into your customer’s main security and privacy concerns is by listening to feedback and comments from your current and previous customers, as well as the inquiries and interests of potential customers. As a technology firm, your marketing team once again has the advantage of being able to integrate their technological marketing research into your products themselves. This can be done by prompting users to take surveys or give feedback within the technology itself which allows your marketing team to gather feedback and inquiries from users in the event of troubleshooting, non-operation, and many other critical moments during its use. The constructive feedback provided by your customers can then be used to better tailor your technology’s privacy and security measures to satisfy your customers’ needs and concerns. 

3. Stand Up for a Cause

Aside from the most modern technology and the safest privacy and security measures, most technology customers are looking to contribute to a company that stands up for a cause. Studies have shown that 77% of consumers are more inclined to do business with companies who have pledged commitment to bettering the world in at least one capacity, whether that be on the environmental or social justice front, or one of the many issues local to the communities in which they do business. Similarly, 55% of American consumers believe that it’s important for companies to voice their stance on social, environmental, and political issues – something there is no lack of in the post-pandemic world. As a result, your technology marketing team can make a lasting impact when it comes to incorporating your views and standpoints on key causes. 

However, establishing your stance as a technology firm on controversial or highly debated topics can backfire if done so incorrectly. As a company, you must be aware of the line between supporting and bringing awareness to social and environmental issues and their causes, without exploiting the subject for your corporate gain. To stay on the right track when it comes to your technology marketing strategy, it is important to take social issues as seriously as your potential customers do and think beyond the goal of trying to boost your technology sales; do your research and consult topic experts before vocalizing or establishing where you stand on a controversial issue.

In addition to simply establishing your technology firm’s standing and opinions on social and environmental issues and causes, you can also explore partnerships and collaborations with various social and environmental change organizations to aid or support their efforts. This can be done by providing technology to aid their campaigns, financially sponsoring groups or events, and the nature of your partnerships will vary depending on the type of technology your firm deals with.

Moving Forward from the Pandemic 

As we move further and further forward from the start of the global pandemic, every industry is looking to innovate and improve their marketing strategies to stay ahead of the competition. As a technology firm, incorporating these three key marketing tools into your technology marketing strategy is a surefire way to boost your technology sales and set your tech company apart from the rest. By harnessing and advertising your AI features and highlighting how beneficial they can be to your customers, you are setting a standard of luxury and modernization that clients can only find with your firm. Likewise, another excellent way to engage and retain customer engagement with your technology marketing efforts is by fortifying your privacy and security features and updating them to meet your clients’ evolving concerns and needs. Finally, showing your customers that your firm does good, and plays a part in bettering the community and world around you is a great way to humanize your firm’s values while also giving back in a positive manner. The 2022 consumer is multi-dimensional, and your technology marketing strategy will need to be leveled up to stay current. If you are unsure about the next best step for your technology firm, reach out to an experienced, professional technology marketing agency such as the experts at Millennium Agency. 

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.   

In 2022, consumers seek an experience that is customizable, appealing, and most of all easily accessible. Voice search not only makes technology more accessible to those with disabilities, but also makes the lives of everyday tech users easier. Between laptops, smartphones, tablets, and virtual assistants, voice search is used regularly by over 135 million people in the United States alone. The rise in popularity of voice search can be somewhat credited to the introduction of virtual assistants by tech companies such as Apple’s Siri®, Google’s Google Assistant®, and Amazon’s Alexa®, and their integration into smartphones and smart speakers. Consumers are using voice search to aid their search and browsing habits, and adapting your tech firm’s marketing strategy to integrate voice search marketing tactics is a surefire way to stay ahead of the competition.  

Voice Search Marketing 

Voice search has taken the marketing world by storm, with 71% of consumers preferring voice search as opposed to typing their query out, which means tech companies are not only tasked with engineering the technology behind the tool, but they must also integrate voice search into their marketing strategies. Voice search can be integrated into your tech firm’s marketing strategy in multiple ways, including launching advertisements and marketing campaigns that are voice search compatible, providing quick customer service via voice interactions, and even altering your SEO strategy to cater to voice searches. 

 Advertising to Voice Search Users 

When consumers are conducting voice searches, their queries are often longer winded, and more detailed than if they were to type. The benefit of this is that you can learn more about your consumer’s needs than you were able to with traditional typed searches. With nearly one-third of U.S. consumers owning at least one smart speaker and over half of those owners using the devices daily – not accounting for smart phones or other devices – your tech company can advertise and market to your audience quickly and in a way that engages them and leaves them curious enough to inquire more.  

Conducting advertisements that are voice search compatible is a great way for your tech company to show off your products’ accessibility and compatibility with smart devices. According to Adobe, 38% of consumers who use voice search feel that the voice ads they hear are less intrusive and more engaging than alternative advertisements such as print, TV, or social media. By incorporating voice ads into your tech firm’s voice search marketing strategy, you are going to reach consumers in a more productive way that is more likely to grab their attention and make them curious enough to inquire more. Additionally, you can include interactive features into your voice ad, such as prompts to request specifics about certain technology you offer, product features, and more information about your services. This leaves a call to action for the listener to embrace their curiosity and quickly learn more at their request, without having to do more than utter a few words – even more efficient than at the click of a button. 

Refresh Your SEO Practices 

Search engine optimization (SEO) aims to improve the frequency and quality of the traffic your website, or certain web pages, receives from search engines. With the rising popularity of voice search, you must rethink your SEO practices to accommodate the style and preferences of the inquiries that are made using technology. For your tech firm, this means providing more detailed key words and incorporating local SEO to accommodate longer searches that are more likely to be location specific and therefore vary amongst voice search consumers.  

Although traditional SEO focuses on securing a place on the first page of search engine results for your relevant content, voice search users only receive the top result – or top 3 results at most. This means that your keywords and SEO strategy need to be competitive enough to show up as the top result to all wordings of the question or request it addresses. When constructing your voice search marketing strategy, it is crucial for your tech company to be able to identify and execute a consistent, clear SEO strategy that is refined by analyzing the behavior of voice search using consumers as their needs – and search habits – evolve. Because users tend to ask more detailed or complete questions in their voice searches, you can gain more information and insight into their specific needs and who they are – with sophisticated voice assistant technology being able to gather whether users are male/female, approximate age, and more. All of the information or data you gain from both initial consumer voice searches and their interactions with voice ads or content can then be used to modify and strengthen your tech company’s voice search marketing efforts. 

Streamline Customer Service 

Voice search is an excellent tool for tech companies to optimize their website analytics and traffic, and it can also revolutionize your customer service abilities. Voice search allows users to ask essentially anything, and provides them with the most accurate answer that can be retrieved from the web. Incorporating voice search into your technology products can help with set-up and maintenance, and incorporating voice search into your customer service strategy can improve brand perception and customer loyalty. Likewise, integrating voice search technology into your company’s website and digital platforms allows for a cohesive customer service method that is consistent throughout your brand. 

Focusing on customer service and engagement in your voice search marketing strategy shows your customers that you are accessible and helpful, and able to assist them with customer service requests seamlessly. Tech companies have the advantage of building voice search into their products, which means that customers can access help and other tools at their command, without having to use a secondary device to get the information they need. With the majority of the current consumer market preferring to conduct their searches via voice search, marketing your technology as having audio search and voice assistant features built-in makes your company more innovative and desirable than tech firms who lack voice search marketing and strategies.   

 Voice search is the future of consumer queries and content engagement when it comes to the technology industry. Tech firms not only focus on engineering the technology that makes voice search possible but must also consider how to successfully incorporate voice search marketing into their current strategies. The integration of voice search automatically makes your business more accessible to those with disabilities or impairments, also revolutionizes the way in which all consumers interact with your company all that it has to offer – content, advertising, customer service, etc. Tech companies can benefit immensely when it comes to a successful voice search marketing strategy, which can be done by taking the time to refresh your advertising and SEO campaigns, while also rethinking how your firm does customer service.  

About Millennium Agency 

Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman-led boutique creative branding, storytelling/messaging and digital marketing strategy firm with a passion for accelerating your business growth. By uniting creative branding and data analytics, our expert teams combine your vision with our marketing expertise and methodology to deliver exceptional results. 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. 

The root of any successful brand is understanding your customers. To successfully understand your customers, you must be able to accurately identify and target your desired audience. You can target your audience in many ways, and one of the best ways to organize your efforts is by using collected data to inform your target audience segments. These “segments” are essentially the grouping of your overall audience pool into smaller “sub-segments” of customers with similar characteristics which are more specific and often include demographics or behaviors.  

In the 2022 markets, the common consumer is multi-dimensional and does not fit “cleanly” into one general audience segment. Because of this, many companies are turning towards data collection to aid their efforts to accurately target their audiences. 

Identifying Your Software Tech Target Audience 

Your target audience is essentially the customer pool that you want to buy your products, or more precisely, the audience that you center your products and brand around. To narrow down your target audience, you want to ask yourself: 

• What software need does my tech firm fulfill for customers? 
• Who is likely to be interested in my products? 
• What makes my technology better for consumers than the competition? 

When answering these questions, the more specific you can answer the more accurate your determined target audience will be. When looking closely at your ideal consumers that make up your target audience, it is important to consider segments such as: 

• Age 
• Gender  
• Sexuality  
• Education status 
• Physical location 
• Religious affiliation  
• Relationship status

These are the most basic audience segments that many brands begin with, and nowadays marketing teams must keep in mind that many of these general audience segments have endless variations that overlap and create “offshoot” segments within themselves, which ultimately makes modern target audiences multilayered and more complex. These complex target audience segments require diligent care to correctly identify, and when done so correctly the results can contribute to brand awareness and generate sales – ultimately driving company success. 

The Basics of Audience Segmentation  

Audience segments begin as general – with age or physical location, etc. – and then within those broader segments there are even more refined “sub-segments” that are more complex and involve multiple customer characteristics. For example, your brand could target 18–30-year-old women, and then within that segment of age and gender there are many sub-segments such as: 

• 18-30-year-old women who go to the gym  
• 18-30-year-old women who most frequently use social media 
• 18-30-year-old women that own a dog  
• 18-30-year-old women that travel regularly  

While all of these different 18–30-year-old women all share the same general segment of their age and gender, they all have differing sub-segments which make them easier and more distinct for brands to effectively target. Likewise, it is important to note that some of these sub-segments could overlap – i.e., 18–30-year-old women who own a dog AND travel frequently. With an audience segment this specific, your products would have to appeal to a need that dog owners experience while traveling – other products that do not fall into this demographic from your brand would then need to be marketed and segmented uniquely, such as with a product for women who own dogs but work from home. While the general segment of your target audience for this product remains the same – women who own dogs – this time the subject has differing needs as someone who works from home, and therefore is in a different sub-segment of your overall company’s target audience. 

How Data Collection Can Inform Audience Segmentation 

When it comes to identifying the unique audience segments for your target audience, the key is to use solid research and collected data to inform your decision. Today, collecting data on audiences has never been easier. With social media becoming increasingly more popular with every new trend that arises, it is easier to connect with and engage customers than ever before. As of 2022, there are an estimated 3.96 billion social media users – and the online behavior of each of these users is constantly being recorded and analyzed to be translated into usable data.  

With social media, companies are able to launch paid or organic marketing and branding campaigns and then immediately begin seeing how consumer interactions with the content translate into data that can be used to inform branding/product alterations or changes. With social media being readily available at the consumer’s whim, data is constantly being collected. From what type of content you follow and interact with and even what other websites you visit on your browser, there is seemingly infinite data to be collected about consumers, their habits, and their needs. 

Data collection can be used to segment your audience with ease, as it essentially already narrows down your segments for you, to an extent. You can take all data you have available about your consumers or those who interact with your content and products and closely examine what different characteristics have combined to make them a member of your target audience. Through social media, you can see your customers’: 

• Behaviors – including emotions  
• Interests 
• Hobbies 
• Employment  
• Spending Habits  
• Preferences  

From here, you can organize your general segments into more specific sub-segments. Being able to identify and understand your customers on a more personal, detailed level via social media allows you to structure your marketing efforts to be more successful when run, as they are polished to appeal to your specific identified audience segments. You must also take into consideration the customers’ overall digital behavior – online shopping habits, communication preferences, news material interests, and so forth – as well as the consumers’ offline behavior, both of which influence your audience segments substantially. 

Although social media may be the easiest way to gather data that will allow you to successfully segment your target audience, when it comes to the 2022 consumer, it is important to use multiple methods of data collection to gain the most accurate understanding of your customers. Data can be collected via internal methods or can be purchased or obtained via a third party, which is where the selling and transmitting of customer data comes into the picture. The use and transfer of this data is done with the consumers’ permission, as it is stated in the policies and permissions provided by companies who collect, analyze, and transfer data. Having consumer data from a variety of sources allows you to understand your consumer and their behaviors, interests, and needs in a more universal way. You can gain a more complete understanding of your customers’ identities, and from there you can effectively pinpoint your target audience segments in a way that encourages traffic and generates sales. 

Data Collection in Software Technology  

Data collection and transmitting is especially easy for software technology firms, because they are the brains and power behind the platforms and systems to facilitate data collection, analysis, and transfer. Whether your tech company specializes in web browsers, antivirus, databases, word processors, or one of the many different software applications, there is data to be gathered and interpreted. You can collect data about your users that can be used to inform software updates and future products and can also gather data that can be sold and traded with other software technology companies and related industries. The beauty of data collection for software technology brands is the ease of integration into their products and services. As with social media, software tech brands can build automatic data collecting functions into their products, streamlining the process and removing the need for a “middle man” when it comes to data collection and audience segmentation. 

How Audience Segmentation Can Yield Data  

Audience segmentation can yield data itself as well. For starters, with each marketing and branding effort, data on its success – and what made the campaign successful – can be collected and analyzed to inform future updates to your strategies. For example, say you run a paid advertising campaign on the websites of 3 different companies from 3 different industries. From that campaign, you have collected who interacted with your ad, from which site, and how many times your ad was viewed but NOT interacted with. This data is produced by a more general segmentation of your target audience, and it can be used to inform future efforts so that your company can narrow down your target audience segments to be as direct as possible – generating the most success. 

Every time consumers interact with your material – webpages, social media content, and more – you are generating new data to analyze when it comes to your audience and their identity. Not only can this data be used to gain insight into your target audience, but it can also be used to innovate your products and services to offer nothing but the best to your consumers.  

How to Benefit the Most from Audience Segmentation   

When it comes to audience segmentation for any brand, it is crucial that you take time during the data collection and analysis processes to identify specifics when it comes to your ideal and current consumers. You should consider what type of consumer currently buys your products, as well as what type of consumer you want to draw in with your products. The secret to saving time in the long run is to take the time to carefully research and collect consumer data to get the most complete and clear understanding of your audience. By doing so, you are going to hit the mark the first time, thus avoiding having to return to refresh your strategy frequently and allowing you to focus on making sales and forming long-term consumer relationships. 

 Audience segments are constantly evolving to grow along with your consumers and their changing needs and interests. As a result, you must periodically revisit your designated audience segments to update them and keep them relevant. Gaining insight into how your target audience has changed over time can be quite simple, as you have already identified the general segments of your target audience, and instead are updating how their habits, emotions, and needs have changed. One of the best methods to gain an understanding of how your audience currently feels about your company and what their current needs are is by conducting customer surveys. With the ability to easily send customers online surveys that immediately forward their results back to management, you can ask questions that apply specifically to your software, and your consumers can give the amount of feedback they feel is necessary. With customer surveys you should consider prompts such as: 

• What brought the customer to your company?  
• What software need was the customer hoping to fulfill – and did you meet that need? 
• What was the deciding factor in choosing your software? 
• Does the customer feel confident in recommending your software to others?  

Because consumer surveys are typically sent to those who have already done business with your company, they are excellent for understanding how to maintain customer partnerships, but also give a lot of insight into how successfully you have identified and utilized your unique audience segments. The secret to gaining the most benefits from audience segmentation is to do your research diligently and establish a stable strategy for refining and maintaining accurate and distinct segments of your target audience over time. 

Audience Segmentation at its Core 

All in all, the secret to a strong software technology brand is a clear and cohesive understanding of your target audience, and all the characteristics, behaviors, habits, and needs that make up their identity. Every consumer is unique, and because of this your target audience will consist of many audience “segments” that categorize your overall audience pool into smaller groups of customers with similar, more specific characteristics, to effectively identify and target your products and services towards them successfully.  

Using data collection to inform your audience segments can help your brand market its products and services accurately, reaching the correct audience in a meaningful and memorable way that generates business. Identifying your distinct audience can be tricky, and hiring the help of an experienced marketing firm can help you navigate the process a lot more seamlessly. The right agency can help you collect and analyze useful data to pinpoint your company’s precise audience segments and see the maximum benefits from your efforts.  

About Millennium Agency 

Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman-led boutique creative branding, storytelling/messaging and digital marketing strategy firm with a passion for accelerating your business growth. By uniting creative branding and data analytics, our expert teams combine your vision with our marketing expertise and methodology to deliver exceptional results. 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. 

 

Behind every successful company is a team that understands one very important skill: how to use available data to grow their business. As more and more entrepreneurs and businesses enter the world with each passing day, it is more important than ever to keep up with the competition by understanding how to analyze data and implement it into an effective marketing strategy for your business. One of the biggest mistakes you can make when trying to get your business off the ground, especially in the tech/manufacturing industry, is trying to guess what your audience is looking for based on what you think they want, instead of knowing what your audience wants based on what the data tells you about their interests. There are endless data points at your disposal in order to effectively target your audience, but at the top of the pile are marketing metrics. Further below, you will find six marketing metrics you can use to start improving your business through effective digital marketing campaigns. 

But first, what are marketing metrics? 

What Are Marketing Metrics

Marketing metrics are the lifeblood of a company. Also known as a Marketing Key Performance Indicator (KPI), a marketing metric refers to the measurable value that shows how effective a particular campaign is performing across all marketing channels.

Think of it this way: you cannot possibly provide an optimal experience for every online consumer at every point of contact. What you can do, however, is gain insight into the overall online consumer experience by using marketing metrics to increase efforts in areas that will benefit your business the most and adjusting or decreasing resources spent in areas that are not producing enough. Marketers can use metrics to show the value they are providing. As a business owner, you can have greater peace of mind allocating a bigger budget to your marketing team when the metrics can demonstrate the value of their efforts. The potential applications of marketing metrics to help a given business grow are exponential, and how far they will take your business is up to you.

With all the available data at your disposal, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out where to start. Identifying the most useful metrics that will have the greatest positive impact on your marketing campaigns can be difficult because not all businesses are the same. Nonetheless, there are a handful of universally beneficial marketing metrics that will be useful for you to become familiar with.

6 Marketing Metrics to Help Grow Your Business 

Utilize these six marketing metrics to help grow your business:

Impression Share: This metric is used to determine how much visibility a brand is receiving on a given channel as a percentage of the total number of impressions it can acquire. Impressions are the number of times your content is displayed to someone, regardless of whether that someone clicked on it or not. Thus, if you run an ad that receives 40 impressions out of 100 total potential impressions, your impression share for that ad would be 40%.

There are a number of ways to improve your impression share:

• Increase your campaign budget: Your budget is a major factor when it comes to impression shares. That is because your budget controls how regularly your ad is displayed. The more often your ad is shown, the greater the percentage of total impressions it can reach.

• Increase your bid: Whenever there is ad space available, Google Ads runs an auction. By placing a bid for your ad, you are placing it in the running for that auction. The platform will allow you to bid for your ads based on what makes the most sense for your business (clicks, impressions, conversions, etc.). This way, you will only pay when someone performs the action your campaign is targeting. Raising your bid can improve the likelihood that your ad will show for that available ad space.

• Improve ad quality: Sometimes the issue with a low impression share has nothing to do with the amount of money you are spending or who your target audience is, but the quality of the ad itself. The key to a high-quality ad is giving users what they’re looking for and delivering on your promises. 

Bounce Rate: When someone visits a single page of your website and leaves immediately without any further action, this is called a “bounce.” Bounce rates are detrimental to your conversion rate and can indicate a poor user experience and decrease sales. When a new lead makes their way to your site, you want them to stick around. The longer they stay, the more likely they are to look around, browse other pages, and ultimately buy or sign up for something. If your consumers do “bounce,” it indicates that they did not find anything interesting or useful, and this may be a sign that you need to change things about your site to become more relevant to your consumers.

To improve your bounce rate, try these helpful tips:

• Define the bounce rate: This may seem obvious, but you want to make sure whatever tool you are using to track the bounce rate on your landing pages is set to a short duration like 10 to 30 seconds. If you accidentally set the duration higher, or it is set higher by default, your high bounce rate may include users who are actually engaged in your content and find it useful.

• Provide relevant content consistently: Creating quality content consistently is key. When you provide users with useful content that informs and engages them, they will stick around for a while and see what else they can find on your site. When you do this consistently, consumers will be more inclined to interact with future content.

• Use calls to action (CTAs): Incorporate CTAs to get users to read more of your content. One way to do this is by providing links to related articles. If you provide high enough quality content, users are more likely to want to click links to related materials, thus boosting your site traffic.

Click-through Rate (CTR): Not to be confused with conversion rate, CTR refers to how many times a particular ad is clicked on as a percentage of the number of impressions. So, if out of 100 impressions, 4 people clicked on your ad, the CTR for that ad would be 4%. CTRs for ads are typically low so 4% or higher is a good sign that it is relevant and engaging.

The important thing to do with CTRs is understand that getting someone to click is just getting their foot in the door; the next step is providing an experience that matches with the ad or link that got them there. If your ad promises a free manufacturing software service and the first thing that pops up on your site when someone clicks through to your site is a subscription form that asks for their credit card info, you are not aligning the ad with the experience and you are likely to see an increase in your bounce rate as a result.

To boost your click-through rate:

• Analyze your keyword choices: One of the biggest influences on your click-through rate is your keyword choices. Producing quality content and identifying your target audience will not have much effect on boosting your brand if you do not even show up on search engine results pages (SERPs). This really boils down to relevance. The best way to stay relevant is to ensure that the keywords you choose to target with your ads are on par with what the ad is promoting and think about the experience the user clicking through to your site will have.

• Define your audience more specifically: The tighter the parameters you set for the audience your ad is targeting, the more qualified your users will be. This will in turn boost your click-through rate and save you money on ad spending.

• Choose the best times of day: Running ads 24/7 is neither cost-effective nor will it help your CTR. Analyze your CTR per hour to find when your audience is online and dial down your campaign during times of low activity.

Average Time on Page: A sometimes overlooked data point is the average time a person spends on a page. You might think that the more time a visitor spends on a given page, the better, but this is not the case. While a short amount of time spent is not a good indicator, too much time spent on a page can mean that the content is too complex or that the user is idle. There is a sweet spot of about 2-3 minutes that suggests the user is engaged and finds the information on that page to be informative and interesting.

To improve the average time a person spends on your web page:

• Provide high quality content (again!): It may seem repetitive, but it is true. Providing content that is informative, engaging and relevant to your brand on a consistent basis is one of the best ways to keep your customers scrolling.

• Make it scannable and easy to read: Today, most people want their information in a quick and easy to digest format. Opt for copy that is easy to scan like summaries, tables of contents, bullet points and lists in place of lengthy descriptions and flowery language. Including a CTA will also capture your reader’s attention.

Cost Per Lead (CPL): CPL refers to the amount you spend to acquire a new lead through a campaign. It is calculated by dividing how much you spent on a marketing channel by the number of leads you acquired from it. For example, if you spent $1,000 on Facebook Ads in a given period of time and you acquired 10 leads, your CPL would be $100. CPL can be used to determine how to grow your customer base. After all, before people become customers, they often must become leads first.

Ideally, you want to spend as little and acquire as many leads as possible. Knowing your CPL will equip you with the information you need to maximize your budget and target the lowest-cost marketing channels to drive up your customer base and convert more leads and sales. 

To improve your CPL, try:

• Adding or removing keywords: You want to find an ideal keyword set for your ads to target that will bring in the highest number of relevant users as possible. To do so, you will want to monitor your keyword statistics closely, remove the ones that are not performing well, and add keywords that are similar to the ones that are doing well. A good way to make this easier is to use one keyword per ad so you can turn off the poor-performing ones right away and to keep a list of the negative keywords to exclude from future campaigns.

• Use long-tail keywords: Long-tail keywords are more specific keyword phrases that return fewer but more relevant results than their more generic counterparts. For example, if you search “rice” in Google, you will get over a billion results, but if you search “low-calorie brown rice brands” you will get about 60 million results. If you were marketing a low-calorie brown rice brand, targeting the latter in your ads might yield fewer results than people who just searched “rice,” but they will be much more qualified and relevant and therefore more likely to become customers.

Conversion Rate: A high click-through rate does not necessarily mean those clicks result in sales. For that marketing metric, you want to look at the conversion rate, the percentage of clicks that result in actual sales.

Conversion rate can be improved by: 

• Making your processes hassle-free: One of the reasons users do not convert into customers is because a process is too much of a hassle to complete. An example of this is if you have lengthy forms for them to fill out. If someone goes to sign up for your newsletter, they are likely to get part of the way through it and just give up if its super long. That is a potential lead/sale you worked hard to achieve that just slipped away for something as simple as a sign-up form being too long. Eliminate hassle from your users’ experiences and the results will follow. 

• A strong, positive online presence: Your online presence and reputation are major factors when it comes to your conversion rate. In fact, 89% of customers will not take action until they read reviews. It is important to include positive reviews and testimonials on your site to boost your credibility, gain the trust of your users, and keep them from having to go to a third-party site to see what people are saying about their experiences doing business with you. 

Bottom Line 

Marketing metrics are more than just arbitrary stats and figures. They are powerful indicators of where your business stands and where it is heading. Use the six metrics listed in this article to start gaining insight into the critical points in your sales/marketing pipeline that may be holding you back from growing your business to its full potential. 

For more tried-and-true marketing solutions in the technology and manufacturing sector, come check out our blog. Need branding, messaging, or strategy solutions for your business? Schedule a call or send us a message today! 

About Millennium Agency 

Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman-led boutique creative branding, storytelling/messaging and digital marketing strategy firm with a passion for accelerating your business growth. By uniting creative branding and data analytics, our expert teams combine your vision with our marketing expertise and methodology to deliver exceptional results. 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.

When you commit to running your own business, it may feel like you have surrendered all of your free time. Balancing your work and family life and obligations is difficult if you are working over 40 hours each week. One survey shows that entrepreneurs work an average of 52 hours per week, with some putting in up to 60-70 hours! You can save yourself from being burned out every week by putting a few time-saving solutions into play. Ready to free up more time in your daily life? Here are some great ways you can use apps to save time and run your business management operations more smoothly.

1. Organizing Files and Finances

Disorganization is a particularly common cause of wasted time in the workplace. Spending an hour or more per week searching for files or information means it’s time to take action. You can save time searching for files by using file-sharing tools, such as Dropbox, that will keep digital documents organized and accessible for any team members you are collaborating with. Keeping track of finances is even more crucial, so consider using automatic expense trackers to do the job for you.

2. Collaborating and Communicating

Collaborating and communicating can be cumbersome processes in business management. Are you partnering with freelancers or running a team of employees? You risk losing valuable time if you are not on the same page. Team communication apps like Slack provide a centralized space to discuss projects, share files or ideas, and chat seamlessly over text or voice channels. A robust communication software will empower groups who use apps to save time in ways that one-to-one email conversations cannot.

Additionally, you can also save time by avoiding problems before they even happen. A great way to do that is by integrating a bank account number verification API to verify identities, check balances, and securely access transaction histories – which will go a long way in terms of customer satisfaction and retention.

3. Scanning and Sending Documents

Another way to promote organizational habits is to use a mobile scanning app. Running a small business often entails keeping up with critical paperwork for government compliance, employee management, and more. Thus, it pays to have a convenient tool for quickly scanning and digitizing documents. Using a mobile scanner eliminates the need for office hardware and allows for quick scanning no matter where you are. Having immediate access to important documents on your smartphone means you can quickly send important paperwork to the intended recipients.

4. Marketing and Managing Social Posts

Marketing is the most important aspect of business when it comes to reaching new clients. On the other hand, it is also very time-consuming. Meticulous entrepreneurs will spend too much time studying website analytics and planning their social media marketing campaigns. Mobile business marketing apps will provide the information you need at a glance, available conveniently from your smartphone. To help with giving yourself some time away from your phone or computer, you can use social media scheduling apps to save time by uploading your posts at a pre-determined date.

Business owners who neglect to utilize the powerful tools available right from their smartphones are overlooking some truly effective time-saving methods. You can establish a better work-life balance right away by incorporating some of the best business management apps into your daily workflow. Allowing more free time creates the opportunity to start each workday with a truly refreshed mind and body.

About Millennium Agency

Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman-led boutique creative branding, storytelling/messaging and digital marketing strategy firm with a passion for accelerating your business growth. By uniting creative branding and data analytics, our expert teams combine your vision with our marketing expertise and methodology to deliver exceptional results. 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.