The Millennial is the sexy new kid on the block – young consumers with plenty of expendable income to spend. However, this demographic is savvy to the ways of Internet marketing and very cynical about who they do business with. Here is a crash course on how to market your business to this age group.
First, be sure that your marketing campaign is fully authentic.
Whether you are marketing for new employees or trying to sell the newest tech application, you need to be authentic in your marketing structure. The Millennial does not respond to the traditional ad, nor does this demographic respond to a boring ad. High production values are not necessarily the most important thing sitter. You should focus on a message that is community oriented with a spokesperson that is trusted within the community. For instance, getting a Vine superstar may actually be better for your brand than contracting with a mainstream actor.
Second, make sure that you are hitting the avenues that these people actually attend.
If you are looking to market to the Millennial, then you do not need prioritize TV or radio. Most of these people use social media. The new word-of-mouth is a post about your business on Facebook that has been shared around trusted sources. Engage these people online at their source – you need to join the niche oriented message boards that they are a part of. You need to try to get into the Facebook groups that they join.
Aside from social media, the main source of new business for the Millennial is the blog. Baby boomers had Siskel and Ebert to tell them about movies and other critics to tell them about other products. Today, the Millennial has a completely different set of taste makers. If you get these people to believe in your product, they will serve you there audience on a silver platter. Keep in mind that many of the webmasters conducting these blogs are Millennials as well, so you need to exercise the same kind of marketing at them as you would to the average customer.
Third, be entertaining as well as informative.
Part of the authenticity of your ads is that will cut back on the hard-sell. The Millennial does not respond to the hard-sell at all. As a matter of fact, you have a better chance of selling to this age group if you have an entertaining video that goes viral with your product centrally placed as a part of the plot somehow. This is an entirely new way to think about a commercial, but it is necessary in order to create a lasting bond between your business and this generation of people.
Fourth, be accessible.
The Millennial will only trust the person that is accessible online and in other avenues. Be sure that you always have a way that people can get in touch with you in order to ask questions or offer critiques. Answer questions that people throw to you in social media comment sections. Never let a problem go unattended no matter how small it may seem to you – every Millennial has a great deal of power to spread the word about bad service from your company.
Overall, remember that the Millennial generation is a generation that moves quickly. You will need to follow them into their new forays of communication if you hope to continue to sell your products to them.
