Whether you call them “Generation C” or you prefer to use the popular moniker “millennials,” young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 are a consumer force to be reckoned with. They have a buying power of $1.3 trillion dollars in annual spending, according to BCG.
Being the first generation to grow up with the Internet, the millennial generation is more receptive to businesses that engage in two-way communication. This means that the traditional linear form of push marketing is no longer as effective as it once was.
While marketing to Generation C poses a few challenges, it’s not altogether impossible.
Here are some considerations that can help you create marketing campaigns that speak to the next generation customer:
Mobile Matters
According to a poll by Pew Research, 85 percent of people aged 15 to 35 own a smartphone. (Woah.)
With such a large portion of the younger generation using mobile devices to stay in touch with friends and family, producing content that’s mobile friendly is of utmost importance, especially when your customers are using highly personalized devices with a human-centered design like the Samsung Galaxy Note5.
This means that any webpage or media content with your brand on it should be optimized for mobile devices so that load times are fast, the aesthetics are appealing, and the call to action is easy to see and engage with. Tall order eh?
The main advantage to making your brand mobile friendly is that you ensure people can connect with you when they’re on the go, which makes it more likely that they’ll connect with your core message.
Transparency and Honesty
Millennials are much more suspicious of faceless organizations than preceding generations, especially when these companies use stilted PR language reminiscent of a presidential candidate trying to scrounge up more votes. Can we say smarmy much?
Millennials are much more receptive to give-and-take relationships, and they prefer a sense of humility rather than an overt façade of corporate professionalism.
One of the best things you can do as a marketer is create transparency within your organization, so your younger audience can engage in a dialogue with the products and services they love.
By incorporating customer feedback into the development of your products, you create an environment of inclusivity, which in turn makes your customers feel like they are part of the team.
By clearly communicating your company’s main objectives and showing customers the steps you’re taking to meet these objectives, you’ll gain a lot of respect from them.
Marketing for You
For many young people, the brands they choose to use are seen as a way of expressing their individuality and defining their personality. Some of the most obvious examples of this are seen in the tech industry, such as with Apple and Android devices.
You can empower the customers that love your products and services by providing freebies for them to review or inviting them to take a behind-the-scenes look. When you do stuff like this, these brand ambassadors will help light up social media networks with praise for your company.
Considering that 84 percent of millennials report user-generated content has some influence on their buying decisions according to Bazaarvoice, it should be pretty obvious that the power of customers speaking on your behalf is enormous.
Not to mention this socially-engineered marketing engine is practically self-sustaining and requires very little effort on your part once it’s started.
Over to You
How are you marketing your company? Are you speaking to the younger generation in a language they understand and resonate with? Or are you letting business fall through the cracks because you are overlooking a very large demographic?