A millennial’s guide to millennial marketing
Whilst statistics vary from 40% to 75%+, millennials represent a substantial part of today’s workforce, and therefore also a huge proportion of today's consumer – indeed they are bigger than the baby boomers. I say they, but I should say we, as someone who was born in the late 80’s I am a bona fide millennial!
There are many misconceptions on how to attract millennials to your brand; “They're only on social media,” “They just want perks”, “They are fickle, you can’t make them loyal”, “They are obsessed with technology, so we need to do a clever tech campaign” are just some sentences you regularly hear when strategists talk about how to market to millennials. But with such a broad range of ages in the millennial world, this can’t be the case, millennial are currently aged between 40 and 17!
So, how do you target a millennial?
Diversify from traditional segmentation
Firstly, don’t group your audience all together as a millennials, don’t purely segment them on the basis of their age. This is a wide and diverse group, with a huge range of beliefs, values and hobbies. Branch out from only using traditional demographic, or socio-graphic segmentation, and add into your armoury behavioural or attitudinal segmentation.
What do they think about X?
Do they like to spend their time doing X?
Do they like/ dislike X?
Is the purchase/ behaviour occasion based?
How often is a X used?
What benefit is sort from X?
Asking these sorts of questions, and many more, will help you create specific millennial groups who your product is best suited for, and in turn reduce wastage on any campaign you create.
Support a cause
There are brilliant examples of brands, such as TOMS, who have hit the nail on the head when creating a cause that millennials (and many other groups) can get behind. TOMS simple business model of donating one pair of shoes for every one bought, hits the nail on the head for many a millennial consumer; who want to buy from, and believe in brands who go further at challenging the responsibility that businesses have today. During the current COVID-19 outbreak, many businesses have started offering discounts for key workers, but where was this generosity for such an important group of people during a more ‘normal’ trading world? Supporting a cause is about ingraining cause at the heart of your business. Jumping on a band wagon, will not resonate with millennials. Supporting a cause needs to be at the heart of your business.
Create great content that’s relevant to your audience
You’ve segmented your audience, you understand their needs, and their reasons for engaging with your product. Now its time to look at how you can speak to them. It’s true that as a digitally native generation millennials are more likely to be attracted through online marketing than other traditional means. However, this is not online marketing as media-houses would have you believe. It is not google network display banners, or re-targeting. Indeed, SocialChorous data, shows that only 6% of millennial’s consider online advertising to be credible. That means that Facebook ads, and ad words aren’t going to cut it. You need to create great content, content that is tailored to your audience, that’s engaging, that makes them think, or laugh, or potentially get mad (if that’s right for your brand). Great content speaks to millennial’s, it is, for many, a version of the daily news! Now, I would love to say that great content alone will be enough, but sadly, unless you are a brand with upwards of 1 million ‘followers’ you’re going to need some help boosting its reach. Perhaps that’s through a paid boost, or perhaps its through a carefully and well-chosen brand ambassador.
Choose your influencers wisely
Ricky Gervais recently did a video explaining why he didn’t believe in endorsing products for people for money – that it was inauthentic. And Ricky is right, it can be; but then when you get it right, it can transform your brand! To those who say working with influencers don’t work – I give you Mrs Hinch! Who has helped brands see an increase of 350% year on year!
But selecting the wrong influencer is an easy mistake to make. Perhaps it’s a budget restriction and you end up working with people who don’t have enough reach or engagement, or perhaps you choose someone with a huge following but whose values don’t reflect your audience. Either way, go back to your segmentation; are you choosing influencers to work with who share the same behavioural segmentation as your target market? In the current climate, the wider situation of the world, are your customers likely to want to engage with this ‘influencer’?
It may be that you choose to use their ‘friends’ as influencers, either through something as simple as including reviews into your digital experience, or through a referral scheme. What we do know, is that for millennials, this idea of real people using a product is something which resonates with them and drives action.
Be at the top of your digital game
“Millennials are digital natives” – it’s a cliché phrase, but it is true! To attract millennials to your product or service you need to be at the top of your digital game; Fast, highly optimised websites, and apps. Speedy, responsive (online) customer service, and witty and great content on social media. To those who say that millennials are data cautious and shying away from social media, its worth noting that Small Business Trends 2020 consumer Culture report, showed that 77% of millennials check Facebook daily, and 70% of millennials also use Instagram daily (the second most popular social media channel). So make sure that you are creating shareable, useful content, that enriches their lives.
Millennials are a large and complex group to target, but with huge earning potential, and spending power, this is not a group to underestimate. So try these as a bit of a ‘starter for ten’ and get in touch to find out how we can help you tailor your marketing to attract millennials!