To stay ahead in this competitive world, companies need to continuously explore new marketing tactics, and try to replace them with new ones. Millennial Marketing is one such kind of marketing technique which we are going to discuss here.
Millennials are a group of people and the definition of the group varies according to different sources. They are the groups who are very familiar with media, communication digital technologies, etc.
According to Howe and Strauss theory, Millennials are people who are born between 1982 and 2004.
But another source Newscreek says that they belong to a group that was born between 1977 to 1994.
Time Magazine says that millennials are born between 1980 to 2000. People born in this category are very smart and brilliant.
Marketers are struggling to make them believe in a product. They are the major population in the United States and no marketing is possible by ignoring this group.
If you need to attract their attention, you need to work hard. This is not possible to do without spending enough time and money.
Without good research based on their response to any marketing strategy, you cannot go forward.
By reading all the hard part, don’t think that it is not possible to market products to millennials. It is possible if you can follow certain strategies that can attract their attention. Most millennials are brand conscious and the first task you have to achieve is to create a strong brand name.
This is an ultimate guide for you to know more about millennial marketing. In this article, I am going to cover
- What is Millennial marketing?
- Consonants of millennial marketing
- Millennial marketing strategies
- Tips for millennial marketing
What is Millennial Marketing?
Before going to millennial marketing, you should know about the term millennials.
There is not a correct definition to millennials as of now. There are various opinions about millennial concerning their age or year of birth.
According to the dictionary, millennials are people who are related to the millennium in the US. So, people who born between the 1800s and 2000 can be considered as millennials.
They come under the age group of 17-40 years. There is another name to millennials as echo boomers because they are children of baby boomers.
More than 25% of the US population is millennials. They are well educated and technically advanced group of people.
Millennials want to change the existing system and create their own mark in the field they are working in. They don’t want to follow the traditional system that exists in the world.
Marketing efforts that concentrate on this particular group is known as millennial marketing. It is not easy to convince them about a product.
A marketer needs to think in advance and develop strategies to make them believe in your product. Once they start to love your brand, they will follow it easily.
Here are some important points marketers need to know while concentrating on millennial marketing
Commandments for Millennial Marketing:
Make your efforts mobile friendly:
More than 85% of Millennials are smartphone users. So if you want to attract them, make the mobile version of your website
Use all the tools properly:
Best way to reach Millennials is through the popular tools they are using. Use all social media tools effectively to reach them
Content is very important:
Replace old advertising strategies and use digital marketing strategies to get a place in their heart. Create contents that can attract them
Engage your audience:
While using tools for business promotion, make sure that it is interactive and engaging to your users
Be honest:
Millennials like genuine products and they want to know the reviews of them before buying it. So, don’t hide anything from them and include genuine reviews about your brands on your website
Business objective:
Millennials are interested to know the back story behind your brand. You can tell them about the idea behind your business and your strategies and goals.
Be active on social media:
You must inform everything related to your product/service to your users through your social media account
Communication is the key:
Interact with your customers and know feedbacks about your products directly.
Change is inevitable:
If you want to be stable in your business, your product has to go through a lot of changes according to user’s demand.
Millennial Marketing Strategies:
Like any other marketing strategies, there are some important points you can follow to attract Millennial group towards your business. These tactics will change, according to new technologies and developments.
At present, there are some important tactics you can consider impressing Millennials to your brand. This can surely bring a change in your business sale and popularity.
Check out some effective Millennial business strategies
1. Project your product well:
As I said above millennials are very smart and you can’t convince them by spending so much money to create an advertisement.
According to the latest survey, more than 84% of millennials don’t believe in the traditional advertisement. So, to attract them go to the platform where they are more active.
Social media platforms are the main area where they will notice your ad fast. There are Facebook Ads, Google AdWords and so many advertising platforms for you to try. But this is not enough to attract a major percentage of this generation.
Millennials believe in good reviews. They also follow their friend’s suggestion before buying a product. Face to face and genuine reviews are valuable to millennials and they trust in them.
So, when you sell something online, make sure to encourage your customers to put reviews in them. There is no shame in asking to review your product/service.
More than 50% of your customers will be ready to put reviews or comments about your product. There could be good, bad or ugly reviews. Also, you can promote testimonials and case studies from your existing customers.
Make your customers easy to review in your site. You can leave a link where users can click and write reviews about your product.
Encourage reviewing on all major platforms like Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc. All of them will help in your business growth. Also, make sure to make all reviews up to date.
Many people won’t consider reviews that are very old and outdated. Approach all reviews in a calm and composed way. Take negative reviews as a lesson and try to make it positive by improving your product quality.
2. Support a cause:
Millennials always want a reason to choose a product. If you can project your product in that way, the sale will automatically increase.
Have you seen such examples?
Some products say that they are donating some part of their income to educate children, treatments, help people in need, etc.
All of them are very effective to get their attention. Millennials always support noble causes and they want to make their contribution to it. Many companies and business use this as a marketing strategy and stand with noble causes.
No matter what the price of your product is, they will support your product because of the cause. Millennials support companies which support society rather than being self-centric.
There are many examples of brands who succeeded in this strategy. One of the biggest examples is TOMS. This is a shoe brand which supported people in-need and donates shoes to them.
This noble cause made the brand popular than other shoe brands like Nike, Adidas, etc.
3. Promotion through social media
Millennials are addicted to social media platforms and you can reach to them easily through these platforms.
Facebook is not the only platform to publish your product ads. There are many other platforms like Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter and many more. Most Millennials get influenced by these ads from social media platforms.
Just by publishing advertisements on the social media platform, your sale won’t increase. Constant interaction with users is essential to create a strong connection with your users.
Millennials give more importance to brands that communicate with them. Don’t waste your chance of gaining more sale by neglecting social media users. Create engaging contents and create brand involvement with users.
Many brands created customer involvements through surveys and campaigns. This will make users believe that they are also part of your brand. This though is very helpful in your product branding and promotion.
Make them as a part of your promotion by encouraging them to share contents that feature your products. Typical advertisement cannot create a unique place in the user’s mind. But user-generated content is very strong and entertaining.
Think differently to stand out among your competitors using user-generated content as your social media promotional strategy.
Using hashtag is the main way to get into the right niche. Users post some content that features your product using the hashtag to fall into the right category.
Improve your sale by using social media as your promotional tool in the right way to reach Millennials.
4. Millennials like product specially made for them
Millennials are interested in customized products. They have to connect with the product.
Know their interest and create products as they want. This is the best way to make them feel valued by your business.
Every business will succeed if they work for their customers. Many businesses give choice to their customers. They will choose the product or service as they want.
Millennials always prefer such business with customization options if they are available. Many services like rental cars, hotels apartments, etc follow this strategy to attract millennials.
They give an option to customize their service as they want so that they can try the combination they want. This will enhance your business popularity and sale in this group.
5. Inbound marketing:
Millennials support the business that helps them with informative content. If you have a website which contains various possibilities of using your product, it will click.
Informative contents like blogs, images, videos, eBook, etc are some best way to offer something useful to your customers. Influencer marketing is also useful to attract millennials. They trust experts and can get influenced by their blogs and articles.
Tell them about your products and their advantages through blogs and articles. If they can reach to 1st page of Google search result, most Millennials believes it. Also, there are influencers who are famous with so many followers.
They can influence the buying decision of users using powerful words. Connect with them and work together to make your product reach as many millennials as possible.
YouTube is another way to influence these people. They want to see visual contents related to a product. If you can guide them in using your product or solving any issues related to it, they will appreciate your product and support it.
YouTube is the perfect site for you to use when you want to attract more customers. Try all the possibilities to provide them with informational contents about your product and improve your business.
Tips for Marketing to Millennials:
- Ensure to promote your products through mobile marketing. This can help to reach this particular group and improve your brand popularity
- Promote experience-based products and services which are very popular among millennials. This can increase your product sale
- Conduct events to meet your customers and interact with them. Direct meeting with your customers is more important than connecting with them on social media
- Offer them coupons or special incentives to encourage them to stay with your business
- Appeal to their values and make it easily adaptable.
- Sell the experience instead of selling products. You need to keep Millennials exciting and provide a unique experience by building effective strategies
- Be active on all social media platform and keep all of it updated
Use these tips and attract millennials to your brand. They are the major group and without their support, your business cannot succeed.
Conclusion:
Millennials are the people who come with the age range of 17-40 years. They are very smart because of more technical knowledge.
As the smartness of people increases, marketing will become tougher. Research and good analysis are very important while trying Millennial marketing strategies.
Check popular brands and find out what they do to attract this particular group. Be unique in your business promotions to get attention and support from this group. Connect with them and improve your sales.