Overruling the baby boomers by sheer size, the millennials are a key demographic to get under your belt and help generate some big business.
Whilst millennials have developed an association for being difficult and frustrating, with customers always looking for the “next best thing,” it’s important to realise that understanding how to attract this market makes things a whole lot easier.
Arriving at a time when social media started to take over, the millennials have since been led by a world of filters, staged social content, instant connectivity and the picture-perfect life. In turn, this has completely changed the direction and the way we use marketing to connect with customers. Identifying with this market relies heavily on understanding the core areas that millennials consider, before establishing a relationship with a brand.
What must we be doing to market effectively to millennials in 2020?
You must be mobile friendly.
Let us know if you come across a millennial without a smartphone, it’s newsworthy. Millennials are known to be attached like glue to their phones, checking them beyond regularly – perhaps excessively! They use them to do everything from shopping, ordering take out, reading books and checking social. Smartphones are a way of life for the millennial; if your business doesn’t support this device, it’s unlikely they will support you.
You must leverage your recommendations.
Traditional marketing may catch the eye of a millennial but only for the short-term. For millennials to invest you must develop their trust, but this isn’t sourced by traditional methods. Leveraging your connections and showing off your recommendations is key to driving interest from this market as they look to influencers to reassure them about new products or brands. So, get connected with Youtubers, Bloggers, Podcasters and Instagrammers and start building a sea of trustworthy and engaging content – whether that be paid or not.
You must entertain.
Producing content because you think you need to doesn’t work anymore, at least it doesn’t with millennials. There is a greater need to provide more than just product detail and information, and to deliver content marketing that is engaging for this audience. Storytelling, anything from company history to customer experience, provides a much more engaging opportunity for them to understand your business offering. Take a look around, take a look at your industry leaders that you aspire to become a competitor of, what do they have? Informative, interesting and entertaining content.
You must consider your reviews.
Millennials care about social proof, so if your business is generating bad reviews, they’ll be steering well clear. It’s not just about customer service here and how your respond to your reviews, both the critics and the fans, but it’s about building a solid and trusting foundation for millennials to respond to. If this market can see that other customers have had a positive experience with you, then they are much more likely to purchase. But remember, this isn’t just about product, it’s about business too and no matter how good the product, if a bad experience with the business is reported, they won’t be coming back.
You must be authentic.
Millennials need to see the people behind the brand and enjoy knowing it’s good from the inside out. Whilst we know social media is the most effective method of connecting with this market, we also need to consider how authentic our brand presents on these platforms whether it’s Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even Tik Tok, it matters.
Engagement is one essential focus here, with human connection drawing millennials in. Comments are not there just for the customers – get involved and respond to what they are asking or saying. Have some fun with it but remember, you’re representing the business so remain professional and think about your brand values. Finally, short-term brand relationships with influencers can be concerning to millennials. Gone are the days where we focus on the number of influencers we use, over the relationships that we have with them. Invest not just financially in these relationships, but make them long-term, and the content you produce will become much more authentic to the millennial eye.
