Anthony Milia
Name: Anthony Milia
Current Job: Founder and CEO at Milia Marketing
Favorite restaurant in town? Cafe Toscano in Aurora. Parallax in Tremont.
Favorite thing about Cleveland? The food, Cleveland Metroparks, culturally diverse and friendliness.
Q: Anthony, how has the Coronavirus pandemic affected your business, and what are you doing to adjust? The Coronavirus pandemic has had a slight impact on my business. We’ve noticed a slow down in our sales pipeline which is expected. Additionally, a few of our clients have paused ad campaigns temporarily for 1-2 months which is completely understandable. However, we are spending 2-3x the time with all of our clients and trying to provide as much value, expertise, and strategy to their business during the downtime at no cost.
Web design and eCommerce development have been a bright spot for us during this time. It’s a one-time expense that improves the foundation for all future marketing efforts. And while during a crisis, some marketing may be considered “tone-deaf,” it’s an excellent time to rebuild a website. Running a remote team with a focus on local Cleveland brands [with some national and international brands in our portfolio] has put us in a better-than-average position.
We’ve had no cancellations, but a number of “pauses'' and “temporary downgrades” — all for an estimated 1-2 months. Messaging needed an extra heavy dose of empathy and problem-solving. And lastly, a number of our eCommerce clients have seen supply chain disruptions that we’ve been coloring outside the lines to help resolve. Client and team communication have improved drastically as we are implementing “huddles” twice a week.
I have found a lot of opportunities during the Coronavirus to improve our systems and processes. Also, it gave us time to focus on those back-burner projects that we never really had time for.
Never seen the pace of business this fast with as little clarity; the decision-making process has had to be flexible and short-termed; we’ve found it important to recognize what is controllable and what is not; we can’t control the environmental impact but we can control the level of service we are offering our clients.
Q: You graduated from Kent in 2016 and then immediately started your own agency. What was the motivation to start your business and how did you get your first customers? After graduating from Kent State University, I found that it was the best time to take a risk. Being young and hungry, what did I have to lose? I saw it as an opportunity to gain incredible experience, make mistakes, and develop a network.
Digital Marketing was always something I wanted to dive into. After working 2-3 part time jobs while being a full-time student, I was able to graduate with zero debt. Being debt free, this influenced my decision to start my own marketing firm at an early age.
When I first started Milia Marketing, this was my Plan A and purposely did not have a Plan B in mind because that would give me an “out”. Fear is highly motivating. The feeling of having your back against the wall, under pressure, and having to prove yourself against all odds fuels part of my motivation.
When I started Milia Marketing in early September 2016, I had the opportunity to speak at Kent State University to talk to the students about my experience during their Capstone class and about the new Marketing firm. During my presentation, I received an email from a student saying that his Dad needed a new website for his General Contracting business (bathroom remodeling, flooring, etc).
Digital Marketing agencies are nothing new. You’ll run into people who have been running an agency from 0-years of experience to 20+ years ranging from as young as 15 years old to 65. The competition is fierce due to the high number of Agencies, Freelancers, and the fact that you have to compete with people overseas like India, Philippines, United Kingdom, and more.
Each one is always hunting down that next opportunity to get new business. With that said, the first few customers came from the 3 F’s: Friends, Family, and Fools. At the beginning of my journey, every new client became a staple in our portfolio. Our portfolio turned into case studies that we were able to send to future prospects or feature on our website.
Our top 4 ways of getting new business as of now are:
Referrals / Word of Mouth
Strategic Partnerships
Speaking Engagements
Networking / Conferences
Q: One of the big selling points of your agency is your skillset in paid advertising like Google Ads and Facebook Advertising. For those who are looking at paid advertising as a growth channel, what resources and tips would you share with them? During an economic downturn, you’ll find that you will have less competition, which means it is easier and faster to get results, and in some cases, you’ll be able to get deals, such as a potential reduction in pay-per-click advertising.
We’ve seen a decrease in advertising dollars across most industries. However, some businesses and industries are thriving during this time. Paid advertising during the economic downturn can result in a lower cost-per-click and increased online market share due to competitors pulling back their advertising dollars.
Paid advertising is a great way to get in front of your customer. Here are a few tips if you are thinking about using paid advertising as a growth channel:
Make sure your landing pages are relevant with CLEAR messaging.
Analyze and understand your audience.
Track your user experience and their behavior on your website
Make sure tracking is properly set up so you know how many leads you are receiving for the marketing dollars you are setting aside for paid advertising. The last thing you want is for someone to ask you: “How are your ad campaigns performing” and you answer with: “I don’t know”.
Test, Test, Test!
Paid Advertising is not a “Set it and forget it” service. You need to constantly optimize, split A/B test campaigns, test landing pages, test copy, and more.
Have a clear offer and identify why your audience should choose you vs. your competitor.
Q: What are some of the biggest mistakes small and medium businesses are making on their approach with web design and paid acquisition?
Web Design Mistakes:
Micromanagement of the website design process.
Losing sight of the main strategy and objective because of “shiny object” syndrome. Look squirrel! “Let’s go do that!”
Lacks understanding of their target audience or skips building the process to build their customer avatars.
Paid Advertising Mistakes:
The big problem I often find in PPC accounts is irrelevant keywords. Every time someone has searched something irrelevant but still clicks your ad, it is costing you money. Spend time doing keyword research!
Customize your landing page(s)! Once you have your keywords and ads perfected, it all comes down to your landing page. Each part is crucial. You could have the best keywords and best ads in the whole world, but if your website sucks, it’s all a waste of time and money. Test, test, test!
PPC Campaigns are always a work in progress. Do NOT just set it and forget it. Successful advertisers know that they can’t forget about their ads while they run. They continuously monitor their ads and improve them. When you regularly monitor your campaign’s performance, it’s easy to know which ad groups are losing money. It’s easy to know which ad groups to delete and which to improve.
Lack of understanding. Not all PPC ads are created equal, nor should they be designed or delivered in the same way. Failing to understand the difference between search, display, and social is a huge mistake. Search-based PPC ads are fueled by intent. The user is looking for something and is telling you that they are interested in buying (either from your brand or another brand that offers similar products, services, or value).
No tracking is in place. We have talked to hundreds of Small Business owners who attempt to do Google Ads or Facebook Ads themselves and the answer is always the same. “I set up a few ads on Google and Facebook, but I don’t know how many leads these ads are bringing in.” This is one of the most important pieces of running a successful ad campaign. This is how you determine your return-on-investment (ROI). Having this in place will allow you to compare how your Paid Advertising campaigns are performing compared to your other marketing campaigns such as Magazine, Radio, TV, Billboard, Email Marketing, etc.
Q: Do you think you'd be able to run an agency as successfully in Cleveland and what are the pros and cons of running a digital agency here? Yes, I believe it’s definitely possible to run a Marketing agency successfully in Cleveland. Remote employees and companies are becoming very company, especially with the Coronavirus forcing teams to work from home. Milia Marketing is 100% remote which allows us to find talent anywhere in Ohio and even in the U.S.
Boston, Chicago, New York, Denver, and California are full of successful Marketing firms and top talent which is difficult to compete with. However, their living costs, top talent, and overhead increases their cost which increases their pricing.
This gives Milia Marketing and other Cleveland Marketing firms to offer the same level of service for a fraction of the cost. Additionally, we can work with clients located in Boston, Chicago, New York, Denver and others who are used to paying a higher cost only due to their location.
Working with a local Marketing firm or a long distance one comes down to preference in being able to meet face-to-face or not. Cleveland is gaining traction with attracting talented professionals.
One of the main challenges that Agency Owners in Cleveland, OH may see is that the larger Marketing agencies in popular cities have the resources, portfolio, and capital to conduct comprehensive sales outreach campaigns that target the Cleveland, OH market. Competing with local talent isn’t the only challenge. The challenge lies in competing with Agencies, Freelances, and Internal Departments from other States and even Countries.
Cleveland is rising. Milia Marketing is here to stay.
If you want to connect with Anthony, email him at anthony@miliamarketing.com