Effective Tips for Marketing to Millennials
In 2018 and 2019, the most effective tips for marketing to Millennials, or anyone for that matter, are based on effective brand building strategies, keep reading.
Over 75 million Millennials are helping to make up the American today.
They have grown up with technology and an array of different advertising strategies and tactics. Traditional marketing methods and ads, however, have proven relatively ineffective.
With so much media exposure, Millennials, unless you can capture their attention, are typically ad-blind.
With that reality, how should a company reach out to the Millennial customer?
There are a handful of key and effective tips you can use if marketing to Millennials is your goal.
When trying to capture the attention of Millennials – brand is everything.
You’re going to need to think past simply drawing their attention — you’re going to need to have a strategy in place for gaining their trust, communicating at a personal level and ultimately deliver an experience that they are looking for.
Sure, on the surface this sounds like marketing to pretty much any audience, however…
Millennials Want More from Brands They Like
One of the great things Millennials offer is the fact that, if they like what you have to offer, they want to see more of it and engage with it. They’re loyal.
On the other side of that loyalty coin, they have higher expectations of you as a company. The best tip here is to engage with your audience, through email or social media regularly and ask their opinions.
That brings us to another effective tip for marketing to Millennials;
Act Like Your Audience is Composed of Individuals
Millennials know what it feels like when a brand has succeeded in catering to their specific needs and tastes.
They like options and the chance to make personal choices about the products they use and how they use them. The easiest way for any brand to make an impact in the realm of personalization is through email automation tips and best practices.
In this way, you can orchestrate a unique experience for individual members of your audience, or segments, allow your customers to sort themselves into the right groups, and even let them choose how they experience your content. In this way, no customer is overwhelmed and opts out. They are in control of the experience.
Millennials are probably the most adept at sifting through the deluge of content online, so don’t be afraid to;
Give Them More Information
Millennials want a second or third opinion before they buy something.
Typically, they’ll go to a trusted blog, video producer, or social media personality for this advice. Making sure you have a strong presence in at least one of these areas can make a significant difference.
If you have to choose one area to focus on, make it whichever you’re strongest in.
For example if you have a lot of video content, play to that!
Maybe you have an active blog or social media following, make that the focus of your strategy.
Excelling in one space is better than spending a little bit of time everywhere.
Following up on this idea of ‘playing to your strengths’, you’re going to want to:
Curate the Experience Your Business Offers
Millennials tend to prefer experiences over the purchase of goods.
However, this doesn’t mean brands that sell products rather than services or experiences are out of luck. This can also be translated to suggest that a Millennial will pay a premium to have a better experience when they do purchase material objects.
Premium beauty brands and retailers understand this. They offer consultations, makeovers, trips as rewards, and highlight everything their products can let you experience. The key is, the experiences you highlight have to tie directly into the products you offer and remain authentic to your message.
Remain Authentic
Authenticity rates higher than production values or flash with Millennials.
They want real, actionable content. The more of it, the better.
Authenticity, for many brands, remains an idea that is poorly defined and hard to incorporate into their marketing strategy. The best way to start is, again, by knowing what experiences your users will have with your products or services.
From that list, you now know what a Millennial wants from your brand in content form.
It could be the best tips you can find from your most experienced users and employees. It could be a simple, easy to follow set of GIF tutorials. Even if there is something else out there that is similar, use your brand and your personal experiences to demonstrate what you offer. That is authenticity.
Lastly,
If Something Is Working, Keep at It
Millennials are a diverse group. There are dozens of more ways to connect with them than any other generation that had come before. However, that doesn’t mean they all have the same tastes or platform preferences.
With the amount of active content and the sheer number of options available, the best strategy, if you put all of these tips together, is to find whatever strength your brand has (by virtue of both what it offers and the people who make up your company) and play to that.
Do everything you can with it.
Trying to compete on a different platform just because another brand does is often a waste of time and effort- and a Millennial will, usually, be able to tell when you’re doing that.
