The millennial customers, also known as the Generation Y, are people who are born between 1977 and in the early 2000s, according to Phillip Kotler. Of course, there is literature that offers different age brackets, they are not written on stones as the perfect one. Generally, they are, however, applicable to those born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.
Included within these groups are different age brackets, according to Phillip Kotler and Gary Armstrong. We have the tweens, between the ages ten to twelve; the teens, between the ages thirteen to eighteen and the young adults, between ages nineteen to thirty-three. Different marketing strategies are can be applied to these age brackets to effectively tailor your offerings to satisfy their needs.
These groups of person, directly following Generation X, roam around the world, all connected digitally and present a rich market to any business looking to grow and expand into endless possibilities. Much more than the older generations, these generations are interwoven with digital technology and access to the internet.
This article explores ways by which brands can incorporate the millennial customers into their marketing strategies in a bid to acquire them as loyal ambassadors as these groups of persons are important for the success of the brand.
Millennials 101: Facts you should know about Millennials
Without a doubt, the millennial market segment is categorized as being very tech-savvy. They have embraced technology as their way of life and not a trend. I mean, it is as common to them as eating. They grew up along with top-notch technologies and are exposed to the complexities and opportunities they present.
The millennial customers thrive in a socially networked world. This is not shocking to see the increasing millennial customers who are always online; always connected. It is so easy to see millennial customers checking online to see reviews and product information extensively before they conceive buying the product. Presence of mobile technology makes it even easier and convenient to do so.
With zillions of mass marketing messages targeted at the millennial customers and proving abortive in retaining them, they thrive on a two-way communication to keep their attention. This means that companies wishing to engage millennial customers must do so by creating valuable experiences, and ensure that customers are treated special. Hence, customization is the new key to retaining millennial customers by paying attention to their specific needs.
Millennial customers have more appreciation for diversity. This is because the millennial customers are more open to change and can adjust faster than other generations. This is why they appreciate companies that offer customizable features and have an offering for diverse groups of people. It translates to them as there is always something that is for “me and my friends”.
The millennial customers usually make buying decisions based on recommendations or referrals from their friends, family members or even strangers. A millennial will be more prone to buying a product if it was recommended by a peer. I can only imagine the possibilities you will have as a brand if you have a millennial as an advocate.
Did I tell you that these groups have a short attention span? Your typical millennial will pour interest only in things that are intriguing and interesting enough to seize their attention. Hence, you should invest in attention-grabbing content that will be shared with friends across different platforms when developing marketing campaign strategies.
Millennial customers are more emotionally invested in brands than the older generations. They embrace brands that show who they are, their values and their importance in the society. This is why most millennial customers go for brands that reflect their personality and style or the image they wish to portray about themselves.
For the millennials, they wish to interact on a personal level with brands and for their ideas and concerns be listened to. They want personal experiences that will recognize, engage and interest them consistently in exchange for their loyalty. As a brand looking to attract the millennial customers, your communication with them must suggest an in-depth knowledge of their needs as people.
Attracting Millennials Through Your Product Information
More than any generation, research shows that the millennial customers search for product information online even while in a store before making their buying decision. This is because they have access to portable devices which they use almost all day, comparing prices, features, product reviews, and promotional deals among others about a product offering.
With regards to product information, you can take advantage of the opportunities given by the internet as it can influence the buying decisions of millennials. The truth is that most millennials are likely to share threads and links about their fascination with a particular brand or the experience they have with a brand on their social media pages as well as follow brands they have a relationship with, thereby increasing the visibility of the said brands.
How then do you present your product information in a seductive way that sells all we want to convey?
Remember, your product information must have the capacity to engage, persuade and sell. Of course, when conveying your product information, it must be done in a way that speaks with ease to your target customer market and just makes them want to click “buy” in the shortest time. Visualizing your target market will make your product information more personal and clearer in their mind’s eye.
As much as customers need to know the product features, they prefer to know what is in it for them and the benefits they will personally gain from making use of your product or service offerings. So, before listing all your product specification, make sure they translate into product benefits. And more importantly, get to the point and do not beat around the bush.
Be aware of the tone of your description of your product as it reflects your culture as a brand and creates a strong impression of your brand personality. Imagine you were speaking directly to your customers in real-life, how would you communicate with them? If you have that figured out, communicate the same in your writing.
I cannot stress this enough; make the information you convey about your product easy to skim and read. Some copies I have come across as a millennial trying to make purchases just makes me wonder at the typos seen and utter lack of engagement. It is not enough to jump for joy, having created a copy free of errors; you also need further editing to make sure that your copy is highly engaging and more readable for different classes of people. Use simple words in place of complicated words and make your delivery more specific.
The Importance of Pictures in Your Product Information for Millennials
We live in a visual world where pictures are fast becoming the worldwide language. Still doubting? This is why Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, SnapChat, and Tumblr are the fastest growing social media platforms. The reason is that these platforms make it easy for images to get shared online.
When you use images a lot in your content, it increases your page views. Adding a video makes the views increase more. Research conducted has shown that customers considered the quality of product image important in the selection and purchase of a product. I dare say that your product image is the most important element in your product presentation.
This leads me to emphasize the power of pictures in your content. You will agree with me that animations and pictorial description makes it fun to read and makes you feel like you already use the product, further strengthening customers’ desire to try it. So, go creative and make it colorful and interesting enough to make your customers read your product information fully and not just skim over.
Delivery of Quality Content on Your Site
For you to grab the attention of the millennial customers, your content should be intriguing, relevant and authentic. All communication messages and marketing campaigns must be consistent across all online or offline media and should be tailored to reflect their personalities. The tone of your message does matter. Aim for savvy, rebellious, daring, young, modern, trendy, fashionable, fun, energetic instead of arrogant, self-centeredness or sarcastic; as these are qualities that can be identified with their generation.
Millennials trust content that is authentic and created with their interest at hand. Hence, make sure your brand carries out campaigns that are transparent and real. Content marketing is a high necessity here if you want to win millennials over.
The Appeal of User-generated Content
Well, with everything being said about the millennials, we can all agree that much more than other media forms, they value user-generated content. Building a lasting relationship with them entails ensuring that you deliver rich experiences to be shared with others. The “sharing” capacity is highly important as it creates the feeling of participation.
Times are better today with the mobility of millennial customers affording you the opportunity to reach out at any point in time to create these rich experiences and turn them into loyal ambassadors. The reciprocity principle is usually activated by the user-generated content. I will explain better in the paragraph following this.
You know how I have talked about the millennials thriving on a two-way relationship with brands. Look at it this way; if a brand is one that listens to the feedback of the millennials and uses it to define the direction they go as a brand; it will definitely increase the experience. This increase will, in turn, prompt millennials into creating a positive buzz about the brand and spreading their favorable opinion through social media platforms.
This spread buzz will go a long way to influence the buying decisions of other potential customers. It should be noted that this generated content can also be done in videos as much as written branded content. Research shows that a lot of millennials trust user-generated content as much as product reviews. And it is no surprise to see many brands jumping on the user-generated content (UGC) bandwagon in a bid to acquire millennials as loyal customers.
Exploring the Opportunities Twitter Ads and Facebook Ads Can Generate
It is no surprise to see that millennials are digital shoppers; preferring to make their purchase decisions from the convenience of their beds. This goes to show that their use of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter is always on the rise. Social media networks continually add innovative features to their platforms to make sure they keep their customers. Why not use this information to your advantage by targeting them where they do hang out?
Google ads have gained widespread popularity with regards promoting adverts but there are still platforms like Facebook ads and Twitter ads that can be explored as they are the places where the millennials hang out.
According to a survey conducted, about two billion people use Facebook on a monthly basis with people spending one of every five minutes on the application while Twitter has about two hundred and eighty-eight million users. This statistic should give you an inkling of the reach that can be gotten through these social media platforms. Since Millennials have been known to be socially active, Facebook ads are a great way to reach them in their relaxed online communities. Facebook ads appear in the news feed and at the right-hand corner of the desktop.
Twitter as a social medium helps in connecting people from different areas and finding trending news and businesses. Twitter ads can be a veritable tool in your marketing campaigns helping you advertise on the network’s real estate. Your tweets should include images for more engagement using Twitter Cards, which is a unique function Twitter offers. The dashboard and interface of Twitter make it easy to understand, create ads and monitor its effectiveness. It is easier to share on twitter because of its easy-clickable nature.
You can experiment with Twitter because of its ease of use and can be delivered to all mobile users with the option of creating the specific campaign you want to embark on. Campaigns can range from followers, tweet engagements, installs of apps, increased video views, generating leads amongst many others.
It is more expensive advertising on these two media paid ad platforms because of the high demand for advertising space on the media that reduces supply. Facebook ads work with a bidding system influenced by your bidding strategies, goals, competition and target strategies; allowing payment by clicks or by impressions. On the other hand, using Twitter ads is similar to Facebook ads but with a different pricing system. This means that you pay only when users take an action in line with the campaign you are running with Twitter ads.
Other Acquisition Strategies to Attract Millennials
Never forget to appeal their sense of adventure. Millennial customers will bend over backward and do everything within their power to look good in front of their peers and set a particular trend. This is why you must appeal to their inner adventurous spirit by packaging your offerings in a way that makes it look unique and adventurous.
The power of customization should never be underestimated and can be a very powerful weapon to capitalize on their spontaneity. Brands should customize their offerings tailored to satisfy differing individual needs of the millennials if they are to acquire them for life.
You need to have powerful content. The quantity of the content is not as important as the quality and its ability to consistently command attention. Brands should create innovative and interesting content that is easily shared among their peers.
As a brand, carry out campaigns that can give the millennials an avenue to make your brand story into theirs by sharing their experiences, giving you a fully engaged customer base in the process. This is because these groups of persons are the last set of persons you expect to swallow the aggressive tactics of traditional media hook, line and sinker. They do not take your advertising messages at face value but will only accept people’s opinions with regards to their experiences when making use of the product.
Looking to attract millennial customers? Key into the incentive bank as incentives have proven to have the power to engage. Referral marketing is one great way to create virality to your marketing effort. According to research, millennial women share an average of 1.17 purchases, getting 3.77 referrals for every social share while their male counterparts get 2.47 referrals for every social share of 1.5purchases made.
Other incentives can be applied include; holding contests, creating loyalty programs to reward committed customers, featuring user-generated content on your media channels amongst others.
Millennials love convenience, so make it easy for them to get your product in the shortest time possible. Their experience, both in-store and offline, must be such that convenience will be guaranteed.
Build relationships with online influencers you know the millennials trust and hold in high regard. This means you should align your brand with media personalities, notable bloggers and vloggers, celebrities, and Instagrammers to have an easy access to their world. Millennials are influenced by peers and the persons they follow on social media. Doing this will also help you as a brand to gain more visibility and popularity.
Conclusion
Today’s millennials thrive and get high off on adventure and excitement. Whenever millennials associate your brand with these top emotions, you have a loyal customer. This means incorporating experiences that are compelling enough to warrant a repeat action and not just selling a product or service offering. Research suggests millennials will rather buy experiences than mere products.
The typical millennial does not remember what it feels like because they are always online. Looking for how to identify them? They are heavy social media users and are usually active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many more.
Embrace the innovativeness offered by digital marketing channels and stop over-concentrating efforts on traditional channels. You need to enforce your presence in, within and across all online and offline media types to be fully engaged with the millennials; offering them marketing with a personal touch.
The amount of influence the millennials wield is so strong, especially in sharing experiences had with a particular brand. Give a millennial a bad experience with your brand and news of that singular experience will travel to parts you never knew existed through their social media channel. For example, a tweet has the power to reach millions of customers in a matter of minutes.
As a store owner with an offering to the market, ditch the status quo and embrace strategies that can attract the millennials to your store. They are a huge unexploited market filled with opportunities waiting to be tapped into. This is why different brands are keying into understanding what motivates the millennials and informs their attitudes and behavior; basically, everything that makes them tick!
As much as millennial customers are the in-thing, they do not have patience and they want their complaints settled immediately. The truth is that the purchasing power of millennials will keep on growing for the next decades to come and by capturing them; you are setting your business up for success!
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