Biz Of The Month: Millennium Strategies, Digital Marketing Company

OF THE MONTH

To Infinity And Beyond! The Sky Is Never The Limit With Millennium Strategies . . . By Dave Hall

After working as a consultant for three of Canada’s four major political parties, Eric Renaud decided to open his own digital marketing agency and launched Millennium Strategies five years ago.

The Windsor company focuses mostly on digital marketing, social media campaigns and website design, for clients in both the political, commercial and retail sectors. Renaud is currently working on a lease agreement for a downtown office, to start at the end of October.

“We work with our clients to help them focus on the demographics and audiences they are trying to reach by targeting those groups to get their message across,” explains Renaud. “Multi-media advertising can be expensive and it doesn’t always reach the audience you are seeking.”

Millennium Strategies bills itself as a team of leaders, creators, builders and problemsolvers who work with ambitious people, organizations and brands hoping to change the world with their products, services and leadership initiatives.

Their services come in two categories.

First is advisory, which provides strategic advice to help clients understand digital transformation, anticipate future trends and develop innovative techniques. The second part is digital with videographers, developers, designers, marketers, analysts and strategists helping clients create a successful digital road map.

And it works for clients of all shapes and sizes, including small family businesses.

Onorio DeRose, owner of Home Furniture Outlet at 870 Ottawa Street in Windsor, started working with Millennium Strategies four months ago, after a casual conversation in the store, when Renaud stopped by to shop for furniture.

“He cleaned up and updated our website as well as bringing our social media presence

to a new level,” explains DeRose. “With the high cost of advertising, you need to be on social media to reach your audience in the most cost-effective way possible.”

As a small business owner, DeRose says he doesn’t have the time to focus on updating his social media activities, so he’s turned it all over to Renaud.

“It’s the cost of doing business, because I believe you have to spend money to make money and I’m very happy with the results,” he adds. “Our site is more legible, contains more product photos and is much easier to navigate than before.”

Hits on DeRose’s website have increased from a few hundred to well over 60,000, all of which represent potential new customers, according to Renaud.

Renaud currently has 35 clients with one-third of those considered local and the rest spread across Ontario in the retail, commercial and political sectors.

“Business slowed down during the pandemic as businesses cut back on their spending, but it’s picking up again as people realize that to bring customers back through their doors, they have to increase their social media spending,” Renaud mentions. “Marketing budgets are often the first items cut from the balance sheet, but

Owner Eric Renaud of Millennium Strategies is an expert at combining creative ideas with digital innovation to deliver high-impact, measurable results, no matter what the industry may be. He is pictured putting the finishing touches to one of his retail client’s web pages. Photo by Rod Denis.

they should also be the first ones to be restored once business begins to return to normal.”

A scatter-shot approach to advertising and marketing is no longer cost-effective in a digital, highly competitive, consumerdriven marketplace where targeting the right demographic can yield instant results, Renaud notes.

“It’s when you have gone through a downturn like everyone has in recent months that you need to redouble your efforts to rebuild your client base,” he states. “For retailers, there’s a potential pent-up demand among consumers to spend again, especially if they have cut back on their travel plans.”

The same can be said for commercial clients and even political parties, because it’s still all about getting their message into the right hands.

Renaud, who was an accountant before launching his own agency, started out working on political campaigns and immediately saw the importance of targeted messaging.

“We currently work with two of Canada’s main political parties and their goal is, and always has been, to be at the forefront of digital messaging and marketing,” he comments. “And that’s where our expertise comes to the forefront.”

See more at: MillenniumStrategies.ca.