Millennials have been a constant challenge for marketers around the world. Some believe it is due to their ever-changing mindset regarding a brand.
Others believe it is their finicky nature that makes it harder for the Gen Y to remain loyal towards one brand.
However, Millennials do comprise the majority of consumers in today’s tech-driven world which makes marketing to millennials even harder for brands. Marketers have been trying to get Gen Y on their side, but it is not so easy.
Millennials
Also known as Generation Y, the Millennials are individuals born between 1981 to 1996. The term “millennials” is a generation cohort name with the other generations being Generation X and Baby Boomers.
All three of these terms segment the population into groups with similar characteristics. However, an important point to keep in mind here is that there are very few people who self-identify as a Millennial or Generation Y.
What separates a Millennial from other generations is they have grown up with technology, which the previous generations do not understand. It is also why marketing to millennials and convincing them to buy a product or service is not that easy.
However, that does not mean Gen Y is not a vital target market for marketers. Come! Let’s find out what it is about Millennials that all brands consider them a target market.
Why millennials are important to marketers
Before we understand why marketers are so interested in the Millennials, there are two things to remember.
First, Millennials are careful when it comes to where they spend money. Millennials are facing a future with less wealth in comparison to previous generations.
Secondly, with Millennials entering the age group of 30s and 40s and bogged down by student and housing loans, they have not attained their peak spending power.
So, let us see why every brand is still trying to include millennials as their target market.
Millennials are a lucrative market
Although Millennials are yet to attain their peak buying power. Still, their buying capacity outruns those of previous generations.
Millennials comprise an impressive 25% of the total population. With that comes an yearly buying power of more than a trillion dollars. Hence, they are a lucrative market for every brand.
It is why every marketer is working on a strategy to understand what drives Millennials to buy a product or service.
Millennials are tech-savvy
“Almost all Millennials (almost 100%) say that they use the internet” – Pew Research Center.
Growing up slightly before the internet, Millennials are not shy about their use of technology. It is what attracts marketers selling technology or using technology to attract Millennials to the product or service on offer.
Millennials keep changing brands
Less than 30% of Millennials are likely to buy from the same brand. This is a much lower percentage of loyalty in comparison to previous generations.
It clearly states that marketers need to work hard to attract and retain Millennial customers. This is what will lead to constant invention on marketers’ and the brand’s service teams.
Millennials use smart devices
Pew Research Center in a survey found that 9 out of 10 Millennials own a smartphone. With these many devices, the likelihood of consuming web content is much more. It gives rise to different modes of marketing.
Now, it is clear that there are different modes of marketing available to brands. However, first we shall understand what type of marketing the Millennials prefer.
Types of marketing millennials prefer
Finding the right marketing to millennials strategy is a bit easier once we have the knowledge of how they want brands to approach them for purchasing a product or service.
Come! Let’s see what marketing types appeal the maximum to Millennials.
User-generated content
More than 80% of Millennials say that the type of user-generated content on a brand’s website influences their decision to buy. Now, combine that with 57% who say they discover the latest fashion trends via social media, and influencer marketing for brands.
Social commerce
Social commerce has given the Millennials a chance to browse through the different products on a social platform before making the purchase. Social media has become a one-stop shop that offers Gen Y the motivation to check-out and buy a product or service.
A great example of social commerce is live shopping on Instagram. This social media network utilized a set of tools and features that offer the online audience a great online shopping experience.
Entertainmerce
A majority of the marketers are not familiar with the concept of “enterainmerce”. Put simply, it is a combination of entertainment and e-commerce. Consumers between the ages of 16 to 64 prefer to buy products and services online if the brand offers an entertaining shopping experience.
This concept has grown even more due to the pandemic as consumers were using social media to socialize and purchase new products or services, and the Millennials are no exception.
The best examples of “entertainmerce” are Instagram Reels and Instagram Live as both offer entertaining content.
Instagram Live offers additions in the form of Live Shopping which can help your brand sell products directly to the consumer by simply tagging them. The same goes for Instagram Reels where it is possible to tag products.
How are millennials transforming marketing today
Modern marketing is influenced by factors businesses can and can’t control. It’s become a system where marketers and customers can exchange emotions, reactions, experiences, and more.
Today, one practical marketing approach is the reciprocity principle, driven by five key elements: reach, relevance, reputation, relation, and referral. Millennials are influencing these elements in profound ways.
Reach
Millennials are heavy technology users, growing up when computers and smartphones started emerging. Today, they’re more fond of using portable devices to access the internet than physically visiting stores.
With this, brands can use the vast array of media to their advantage when reaching as many consumers as possible and building brand awareness, particularly this tech-savvy generation. Partnering with experts like a digital marketing agency could help you get started in the right direction.
Relevance
Millennials have undergone different life stages. Some have started families, some continue with further studies, while some are just trying to stay afloat in their corporate careers.
Their brand choices are affected by the different experiences and the various people they have encountered. Brands must be aware of all these to make their marketing relevant and appealing to the market.
Reputation
Millennials identify with brands more personally and emotionally if the business strives to maintain a genuine reputation over the course of their daily operations. This generation is specifically drawn to companies whose beliefs, traits, advocacies, and values align with theirs.
Relation
One of the many golden rules when running a business is to listen to your customers.
With the millennials’ “There’s a Better Way” mentality coupled with their constant visibility on the web, progressive marketing strategies have been formulated to become a two-way communication between the brand and target audience.
Learning how to incorporate and respond to their feedback or sentiments makes them feel heard and cared for as customers, which is always an end goal for every enterprise.
Referral
To get millennials to advocate for your brand, you must first build a relationship with them through different means of communication. Whether at an individual or community level, online or in-person, working to tap into their loyalty can earn you great champions for your brand.
After all, millennials are a generation that will go the extra mile when it comes to referrals and recommendations, especially with their friends and family.
Ways to market to illmennials
1. Create authentic content
Millennials spend the majority of their time online or using different apps. They are always searching for engaging content.
The type of content that resonates with them the most is what they feel is authentic, be it from blogs, websites, or social media applications. Millennials are more likely to trust relevant and genuine opinions of real people rather than celebrity endorsement.
This trust automatically converts into sales. Millennials are less likely to trust traditional outbound marketing. So, the brands need to create engaging, informative, and entertaining content that strikes a chord with this target market.
The content should introduce Millennials to the product or service with complete transparency. Brands also have to highlight their efforts towards retaining environmental values and ethics as Millennials are more likely to focus on a business’ ethics.
2. Let go of outbound marketing methods
Outbound marketing methods like magazine ads, direct mail campaigns, and traditional media helped spread the word about a brand in the past.
However, in today’s tech driven age, Millennials are not impressed by these marketing methods as they cannot create a personal connection with the brand through them.
Millennials look forward to feeling a connection to a brand prior to making a purchase from them.
For them, traditional marketing methods are impersonal and do not offer much value. Millennials looking to develop brand loyalty through an authentic connection do not find much value in it.
Brands have to create content like blog posts, whitepapers, videos, and e-books to share information for a specific product or service.
3. Choose fun and experiential
Millennials are more interested in the process of researching and browsing for a product or service rather than the actual purchase. They look for the experience of shopping rather than the purchase.
In simple terms, online exploration is becoming a new phenomenon as many young shoppers tend to treat e-commerce as a form of entertainment.
The phenomenon is known as Fauxsumerism. The perfect example of this is Pinterest. It is a social platform that helps consumers catalog potential purchases by curating collections of items of interest.
Successful brands know that young consumers are looking for an enjoyable online browsing experience. So, it does not matter what platform a brand uses, they have to come up with entertaining ways for marketing to millennials to keep them engaged.
4. Engage in social causes
Millennials stick to community-conscious and compassionate brands. They’re more inclined to do business with companies who donate to charity or make a sale where proceeds go to a particular cause, as it ensures them that their money is being used for more meaningful things.
A Kantar study says that 68% of US consumers expect brands to have and be clear with their values, with the millennials and Generation Z having the highest expectations among all age groups.
5. Be responsive and go mobile
With over 85% of millennials owning smartphones, they’re online nearly twice as much as any other generation. They use their smartphones to read reviews, compare prices, find coupons, and more as millennials have their eyes on their phone about 3.7 hours a day.
As a company, that’s a huge incentive for you to get your brand integrated with mobile screens via social media platforms or have your website be mobile-responsive so you can optimize content across multiple devices.
6. Consider eCommerce
Today, it isn’t easy to level the playing field if you’re still only offering your products in-store. According to UPS, millennials make approximately 54% of purchases online.
You’re risking a lot of potential conversions if you’re not making your products available online, especially since COVID-19 catapulted the eCommerce industry’s share of global retail trade from 14% in 2019 to about 17% in 2020.
7. Make use of user-generated content
As its name suggests, user-generated content is a post created by a customer about your products or services. While not produced by your team, this type of content—that may come in the form of images, videos, or audio—can speak volumes about your brand’s story.
As a show of appreciation, repost them to show your online community. By sharing content from your customers, you’re engaging with clients while building on your reputation as a brand.
Side notes
Indeed, the millennial generation a lucrative market. With their increasing presence in the workforce comes their rising purchasing power.
Now that you know how this generation is taking over how most businesses operate, it’s time to catch up and revamp your strategies to meet the ever-changing demands and more. Marketing to millennials is a long-term play.
