The first digital-native generation, millennials are individuals born between 1981 and 1996. While the oldest millennial could be in the early 40s, the youngest would be in the mid-20s. Catering to such a broad range of cohorts can be challenging but very fruitful.
Challenging because their digital-savvy minds think in ways unlike those of the previous generations, leaving them cold to conventional advertising. As a result, effective marketing for millennials requires brands to deploy strategies wired to attract these offbeat communities. Well, the good news is that millennials are willing to reveal precisely what they think if asked about their preferences.
Therefore, marketers must keep certain guidelines in mind when catering to the predilections of this group.
Ensuring credibility
Being a tech-savvy generation, millennials remain highly sensitive to fake or manipulative messages. Accordingly, brands should ascertain that their communiqués are sincere rather than rife with sales lingo. Similarly, brand pitches should sound genuine and not gimmicky, because millennials tend to ignore contrived content. Conversely, brands that seem authentic, down-to-earth and transparent while fostering an emotional equation will achieve greater conversions, organic referrals and brand loyalty.
Becoming millennial-centric
Rather than focusing only on the product, brands should turn the spotlight on millennials. Ask these cohorts what they feel and the answers will come. As per the Social Media Today, 60% of consumers believe that user-generated content is most authentic – thrice that of brand-generated content. Also, always ask relevant questions and then listen patiently to their answers. When millennials reveal what they think, prompt responses should follow. Once these ideas are incorporated into the product or service, make sure this is communicated to the respondents. If millennials are involved in the process, they enjoy greater satisfaction and a sense of ownership, generating long-term brand loyalty.
Personalising the messaging
Millennial shoppers don’t like being told a product tops the heap. Instead, they prefer knowing about another shopper’s true experience. Where traditional advertising won’t make the cut, personal stories will work. Consequently, companies must customise marketing strategies and incorporate the personal experiences of real consumers to make millennials more receptive to their brand.
Driving word-of-mouth referrals
For millennials, word-of-mouth referrals can be digitally expressed. Thanks to their modus operandi, one referral can end up influencing hundreds or even thousands of people. Forums such as Facebook Groups or Reddit are great places for facilitating word-of-mouth messages. Recommendations from friends or peers are more likely to be acted upon and converted into action than just seeing this in a print ad.
**Leveraging context-based advertising
** While overlooking legacy advertising, millennials respond better to nonconventional ads. Influencer marketing works well in reaching out to millennials as does content marketing, which is premised on the pull rather than the push strategy. Then there is context-based advertising that permits brand content to blend with organically shared ones on social media feeds.
Establishing the brand’s social media footprint
Most millennials are on one or the other form of social media. Social media marketing should have its presence across multiple platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Familiarity with their efficient ad targeting tools provides effective control in targeting millennials and others too.
Using influencers
The youth respond well to warm, credible personalities, making video content an efficient form of reaching out to millennials. Such organic content creators exercise huge influence over their followers. To stay ahead of the curve, companies should build contacts with influencers with sizeable followers having relevance for their brands. For millennials, recommendations from influencers are akin to that from a close friend or a family member.
Making mobiles the focus
Almost all millennials have smartphones, which are used regularly in browsing the web. Given their affinity for mobiles and the tremendous time spent there, ads on these devices are ideal for catching the attention of millennials compared to desktops or other gadgets.
Moreover, one-third of millennials are said to use ad-blockers. Unlike desktops, mobile ad-blocking calls for more involvement, which makes it uncommon. Due to the circumstances, mobile advertising works better in reaching the target audience, making it imperative to focus on mobiles.
Deploying CRM tools to reach the audience
Marketing campaigns need solid data to succeed, making CRM (customer relationship management) so effective. With CRM
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