At present, there are 72.12 million Millennials, while the number of Baby Boomers ages 55 to 73 stands at 69.56 million. These statistics show that millennial consumers are currently the most valuable and significant group of consumers waiting for someone to pamper their purchasing power and spending habits.
Do you want to be someone who wants to get that pampering right? If yes, then here is your chance. Continue reading this article, and we promise by the end of it, you will exactly know how to market to the Millennials. So, let’s get started!
This article will cover the following:
- Who are Millennials?
- Importance of special marketing to Millennials.
- Ways to ace market marketing to millennials.
- Great examples of marketing to Millennials.
- How can Deskera assist you?
Who are Millennials?
Millennials, typically characterized as being from 18 to 34 years of age, make up the biggest segment in the United States. As of now, they are about 33% of the nation's populace, and in 2013 they represented an incredible $1.3 trillion in customer spending.
Importance of Marketing to Millennials
In the U.S. alone, there are about 80 million Millennials, making them larger than any other demographic in the country. There are also more Millennials in the workforce than other generations, with an expected $1.4 trillion in disposable income by the year 2020.
There hasn't been such a fixation on marketing to a specific generation since the Baby Boomers, and so many consumers outside of this demographic are left wondering why they're being ignored. Older generations are currently in their prime when it comes to spending ability, so why is their money not seen as valuable as Millennials'?
It's all about the long-term potential. While many Millennials haven't hit their peak purchasing power due to student loans and starting a family, they are certainly heading that way, and brands realize the importance of getting in front of them early. But marketers should take care in making sure that they aren't alienating other groups of consumers in the process.
Focusing too much on a mobile-first mentality, over-appealing to Millennials' tech-driven nature, and straying completely away from traditional marketing mediums could indicate that you are solely focused on targeting younger generations, which might make perceived outsiders rethink their brand loyalty.
It's also important to remember that Millennials have grown up surrounded by advertising anywhere, and everywhere they go, so they're not going to be easily fooled by marketing messages. They know how important their demographic is to company sales, and they aren't going to play into advertising schemes or games unless they have some real substance.
Ways to Ace Marketing to Millennials
Be Authentic
Most Millennials consider themselves foodies, and 52 percent of them would rather go to a food festival than a music festival. Millennials expect authenticity and diversity from everything in their environment.
They are also the generation that is most connected to the way nutrition affects their health. They are busy and appreciate the convenience, but they are not willing to sacrifice taste and flavor for convenience or health. Because Millennials are authentic, forward thinkers and risk-takers, they expect the same from their food.
To market anything to the Millennials, it is important to constantly look for new and diverse ethnic flavors and search for new ways to prepare 'old' ingredients. We have come to the realization that the key to marketing to Millennials is to give them food-forward choices that feel authentic.
Be Accessible
Millennials today are looking for transparency in the way of clean and understandable ingredient panels and companies that display social and environmental responsibility. Millennials want to feel like their buying decisions are making an impact both in their life and the lives of others.
Use Influencers
In the age of social media and digital marketing, influencers have a significant impact on the purchasing decisions of Millennials. Brands should prioritize influencer campaigns when marketing to this group, as they relate to the authentic feeling of influencer content and prefer the raw, no-frills, up close, and personal nature of the social channels the influencers use. Talking about using influencers in marketing, take a look at this article Influencer Marketing to learn more about it.
When an influencer promotes a brand, it doesn't usually feel like an ad; it feels more like a trusted friend recommending a product if done thoughtfully. It's important for influencers and brands to choose the right partnerships that maintain a mutually appropriate voice and tone to avoid appearing forced and risk losing credibility among audiences.
Take Reviews & Understand Them
40% of Millennials check online reviews before making a purchase.
Millennials pay a lot of attention to the reviews you receive from your other consumers and how you respond to them. You should keep an open space for your consumers to give you feedback.
Once you have received your reviews, find ways to show that you care about them and how you wish to improve upon them, all in the public eye. All of this, as a result, would show that you care for your consumers as a brand.
Use Your Consumers in Your Content
Millennials like to see themselves in the media they consume, and you must take that insight quite literally, focusing on user-generated content to help tell your brand story.
On Instagram, create hashtags for people to use and submit their images and videos. These bring people on board and under one umbrella. It brings your consumers together.
Optimize Content for Social Media
Social media is the new cool, especially when it comes to Millennials. Focus your marketing spend on reaching them via social platforms. These drive the most significant traffic back to brands and publishers.
Optimizing the content is also key. We see the highest shares on short, captioned videos that nail the first ten seconds of content to hook the viewer. Keep it brief, and don't assume Millennials are waiting around to watch long videos with the sound on.
Word of Mouth
In today’s era of reviews, word of mouth holds a lot of value for Millennials. If a Millennial hears a recommendation from a friend or colleague, they are more likely to buy and try a product than if they just happen upon it in a print ad. So the trial is key for us. Once someone tries our product, you know you have won a customer and trust they will pass along their recommendation.
Give Quick Response to Customers
The content, the message, the videos that your consumers watch have to be real. If it looks like an ad, it will be skipped over faster. You must measure the engagement and responses to understand what resonates best with people.
The best thing about Millennials today is that they don’t keep their thoughts to themselves. They often express themselves on social media platforms. They ask questions on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and expect an instant response.
What your team must do is ensure you always answer within a few minutes. You will definitely see an increase in sales from people you have interacted with throughout the marketing process.
Easy to Adapt
Millennials like to lean forward, using the newest tech and the newest type of services. Marketers should emphasize new thinking and whatever is cutting edge. Many are interested in instantaneous satisfaction. Market the immediacy of whatever it is you offer. Social clout is important, which Millennials use to tilt the brand experience to their favor.
Deliver to their Values
Millennials' purchasing habits tend to prioritize memorable experiences and social identity. Brands that appeal to their values will rise to the top. More likely to embrace brands making a difference, Millennials want to align themselves with organizations doing good in the world and use their purchasing power to support companies that have similar values.
Transparency is the Key
Transparency is key when marketing to Millennials. This generation has virtually any information they can imagine at their fingertips and is constantly being bombarded with messages.
Being able to cut through that noise and meet them where they are through a variety of mediums is vital. Whether it's how you share your information about the ingredients and the testing of our products, to the use of user-generated content, keeping things simple, real, and honest is how you market to all of your consumers, but is especially important to the Millennial who craves that messaging and holistic experience.
Convey Your Purpose First, Then Your Product
Parents of Millennials want to know a product's features and benefits. Millennials require a second layer—the purpose of your company. You must do everything possible to offer solutions for the health and well-being of others.
Yes, you do that with your products, but it is essential to let the purpose of your company reach your Millennial consumers first, loud and clear. Philanthropy cannot be a side conversation.
Try to collaborate with charity, nonprofit organizations. Maybe try out donations from the money you earn out of every product. For that matter, let people know that if they buy a specific product, some money out of that will be donated. In this way, it’s a collaboration between you and your customers for a good cause.
Say Bye-Bye to Traditional Ads, Try Something New
A good way to go about leaving the old ways of traditional marketing ads is to collaborate with well-known social influencers in the world today. This generation values real and honest opinions more than they do communications from brands. Always re-share videos of social influencers because it's so much more inspirational and engaging to your community of followers. And that kind of content will carry so much weight with your Millennial consumers.
Create Insta Worthy Content
According to the statistics, Millennials occupy a large population in terms of Instagram users. The social media presence is everything today; for brands to not be on Instagram and not create content that is instagram worthy then it’s a big loss. Social-media presence is a badge of acceptance. Millennials are hungry for brand education via social media.
Opportunity to Change with Marketing
For Millennials, the world is their oyster, so your business needs to present a pearl. Offer an opportunity to make a difference, be a leader and transform with pure products, a healthy lifestyle, and the pure joy of helping others. Provide a meaningful product or service, and this generation will reward you for it.
Understand your Millennials
What you should have on your mind is, how to effectively and efficiently market to Millennials. More research dollars are going against this group than against Hispanic marketing or even marketing to the current demographics of a brand. Why? Purchase power.
This demographic will inherit trillions of dollars and will have a potential spending power unlike we've ever imagined. The question becomes, will they be brand-focused and spend, or will they be cause-focused, save the world, cure cancer, stop world hunger, or will they save, just as their Baby Boomer parents did.
It's a guessing game. The brand that first finds the key to unlocking the door to discover the mystery behind this group wins. Others will surely perish.
Provide Every Information in Your Content
Millennials are all about making the best out of what they have and what they get. Your content must do the same. The insight that goes beyond the price of the trip is a must. Millennials want to make the most out of every experience and will take the time to do the research that supports that goal.
Considering we are talking about excelling marketing in the industry, how about you take a look at this articles 10 marketing tools for entrepreneurs to boost online business?
Always Listen to the Millennials
The amazing thing about marketing to Millennials is that they are so good at telling you what they love, what they hate or dislike. If you are truly listening, it can be incredibly helpful.
It makes selling your products in kits, using your customers as your models so they feel like they are buying from a brand that represents them, asking them what new colors and styles they want you to make, where your next pop up or event should be, and even how they want you to communicate with them.
Every decision you make must be informed by listening to your customers, so when Millennials purchase, they are not just in love with the product, but they feel like they are a part of something special that they helped to create.
Build A Strong Bond with Influencers
As we have already established, influencers today play an important role in the marketing realm so it’s necessary for you to build a strong relationship with them. Millennials are quick to discern a disingenuous brand story.
Millennials seek value and appreciate the convenience of online shopping and discovery. They aren't waking up to read a newspaper to get their current events. They’re reading their Instagram feed.
Millennials put extreme trust into the recommendations of influencers, and you must make it a priority to establish sincere relationships with the personas behind these trending lifestyle accounts, who have become advocates for your brand.
You must reach these engaged narrow pockets of prospective customers through digital marketing channels like podcasts, blogs, and social media. Involve and collaborate with young, hip bloggers and social media influencers.
Keep it Interactive
We know through history that humans have an innate desire to be part of something bigger than themselves. Millennials drive this in the online and social space every day. Millennials should be your true partners in driving the next generation's live experience.
When you give them a more interactive experience by making them part of the event production, they give back by engaging with the show or game. It's critically important for your Millennials to know they are part of a much bigger movement and that they're with you in creating a more communal next-generation experience for the better. A great way to also interact with you customers is an active exchange of emails. Don't believe us? Take a look at this article 15 ways email marketing can grow your business.
Relevant Content
Millennials are always the first to work with new facts of technology access. They absorb and interact with information differently across various platforms. Hence you must tailor your marketing strategies to be relevant and engaging across a variety of devices and applications. Talking about new devices and digitalization in place to cater to the needs of the consumers, look at the 13 ways digitalization has transformed customer service.
Depending upon the platform targeted, that can mean a number of things, from the use of striking photography and video content to the incorporation of a witty, relatable copy. Whatever you create must be relevant.
Go for People Hard to Crack
Offer the Millennials a unique experience, event, or special offering, to tap into their drive for being involved and staying in the loop. They also tend to be frugal, so special coupons, deals, and product trials delivered on social channels and apps resonate with this customer base.
Sharing a sneak peek of something that's trending and timely also works. Of course, Snapchat and Instagram are the platforms of choice for the under-35 set, in that order, and are good choices for promotions and to generate buzz for your brand.
Start a Conversation
Starting a conversation on social media is a game-changer. You market your products and the purpose of your company very clearly. Considering social media is a platform open to all, a place that allows everyone to express their views, so if as a brand you start a conversation, it provides a safe space for Millennials to express their opinions.
Give Out Samples
To reach out to people, you don’t necessarily need big marketing budgets. Millennials today can spot a paid endorsement a mile away. This, as a result, completely turns them off. What they are heavily influenced by is authentic experiences. The Millennials spend up to 25 hours weekly online, and when they find a product that they truly love, they are eager to post, tweet, and talk about it.
Instead of paying for endorsements, opt for subscription and sampling services in your category. Your samplings campaigns can have some of the largest impacts. You instantly win authentic reviews, web traffic, and passion for your product is far less expensive than paying tens of thousands of dollars for one-time activation. Sampling really reminds me, we have a great article called product examples in marketing, take a look for greater insights.
Meet Your Customers
To build a bond different from others what you really got to do is, actually meet your customers. Yes, it is not easy to do that, and we don’t suggest you meet all of your customers but find people who have a story to tell about your brand or your product. Meet them in person and build a bond of loyalty.
Great Examples of Millennial Marketing
There are some great leaders in the market you can take inspiration from to ace marketing to Millennials. Let's look at some of them and draw some good strategies.
Netflix
Netflix has figured out how to continue to attract Millennials, despite the generation’s growing needs and lifestyle. Netflix keeps a close eye on Millennials and has used social media to attract and engage them. The company has extensively used Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms in its Millennial marketing efforts.
Millennials want to be able to share content with friends, and Netflix has accommodated this desire with its social settings and features that connect Netflix and Facebook accounts. Not only does this sharing capability appease Millennials, it also helps Netflix to continue to advertise its brand to individuals who may not have subscribed yet to the video streaming service.
With its exclusive content, ease-of-use, and constantly upgraded applications, Netflix has been able to evolve right alongside Millennials.
Netflix rightly recognized the evolving lifestyles of Millennials and changed with them.
Uber
Millennials are all about sharing, specifically a sharing economy. Unlike some of the older generations, Millennials are not as into cars, but they are into convenience, and Uber knows it.
Uber has encompassed both of these trends into its service and marketing strategy and makes it incredibly easy to find a ride and pay for it using its smartphone app. Uber has also done a great job marketing to Millennials. For example, did you hear about #UberKITTENS? It is a campaign that Uber ran on National Cat Day. Using the Uber app, you could have kittens delivered to your house. Uber has also capitalized on the show Boardwalk Empire and movie Transformers: Age of Extinction by creating contests that allowed lucky winners to get a very special ride.
Coca Cola
If you really want to win customers over, use their names. Coca-Cola utilized this approach in a powerful way with its “Share a Coke” campaign. What better way to increase sales than to make bottles personalized to customers? According to The Wall Street Journal, Coca-Cola’s soft-drinks sales in the U.S. went up 2% after launching this campaign. The campaign put 250 of the most popular names among teens and Millennials on 20-ounce bottles.
The result? A customized and personal product, as well as share-worthy content. Coca-Cola even created a website wrapped around this campaign that lets customers discover facts about their names, order customized bottles, and find out event dates for the Share a Coke tour. Coca-Cola Made its products personal and customizable.
Nike
Millennials are all about memorable experiences. They are on a constant quest for the next big thing to eat, drink, shop, do, think or feel. From travel experiences to sporting ones, big brands are beginning to capture this need with an all-around epic customer journey.
Known for its motivational messaging, Nike is a brand that sells the experience of exercise as much as the product itself. With 45.3m followers, its Instagram page demonstrates the sheer power of inspirational photos.
Recently, Nike has also delved into the world of long-form advertising in the form of a mini-series targeted at female Millennials.
Chipotle
Chipotle has nailed Millennial marketing and is a great example. As a brand known for placing a high value on fresh ingredients and offering a “build-your-own” burrito, bowl, or taco, Chipotle has created an interactive experience for its customers.
The ingredients and experience are appealing to Millennials; plus, Chipotle figured out how to get its message out in a unique way. This casual food chain developed a fictional web series, “Farmed and Dangerous,” which featured a Millennial-aged sustainable farmer as the main character.
In the comedy series, the farmer named Chip battles a corrupt industrial food production company. The web series has its own website, which includes music, behind-the-scenes clips, and even show trivia.
Dominos
Most millennials use Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. As a result, more and more brands realize that they’ve no choice but to use them too. If done right, tons of consumers will happily pin, retweet, and Like otherwise stagnant content into a viral tailspin, making social media not just the obvious choice but the most valuable one for any campaign.
A brand that has recently utilized the potential of Snapchat, the hottest platform of the moment, is Dominos. Though it has always made excellent use of social media, the brand recently took the plunge and made its Snapchat debut with a short film, ‘Dough to Door’.
Similarly, its latest campaign uses bespoke face swaps to display the unbeatable feeling of joy when the delivery man rings the doorbell. What millennial could fail to relate to that?
Carlsberg
As soon as there is a label for a particular age group, it’s far too easy to over generalize. It’s vital to remember that Millennials – whilst all born as part of the same generation – can have wildly different experiences, perspectives, and opinions.
Consequently, any good marketing campaign has to go deeper than what’s ‘cool.’ What kind of person are you targeting? Where are they from, and what is important to them? Social groups and life stages all play a vital part in how the audience will respond and engage.
A brand that knows its audience well but is still willing to move away from a certain stereotype is Carlsberg. With humor at the core of all its advertising, it has found recent success with reactive content.
Jumping on the furor caused by the ‘Are You Beach Body Ready’ campaign, it cleverly placed ads asking commuters if they were ‘Beer Body Ready’. The combination of timely relevance and relatable humor made it one of the most inspired campaigns of the past few years.
Airbnb
Millennials aren’t interested in the hard sell. Young adults crave content that has an inherent purpose, other than being a vehicle for the product itself. Whether it’s a viral video, an infographic or just a great story, content must be able to entertain or inform. Or in an ideal world, both.
Research has shown that capturing a specific mood or moment is particularly effective when marketing to young people. With an emphasis on adventure, exploration, and self-discovery, Airbnb has captured the millennial’s desire for travel.
The community feels, and Instagram-inspired content of its blog helps to align the brand with those who are no longer satisfied with just a gap year. That being said, it is the company’s success with young people that has also helped increase its popularity with older generations.
Midsummer
Midsummer is a dermo-cosmetic skincare collection that creates natural products sourced by nature and inspired by science. Midsummer has successfully aligned itself with millennials through its active social media presence on Instagram and Facebook. They’re able to target and relate to everyday millennials who want cruelty-free, environmentally friendly products by posting user-generated content and clean, aesthetically pleasing graphics for their skincare line.
On their Instagram feed, midsummer recently posted a story of their founder to show their brand story and exemplify their commitment to ethically sourced products. The story highlights the raw human aspect, or the struggles and triumphs of an entrepreneur who pursued her passions despite adversity, to create midsummer.
Visualizing the founder’s story helps millennials know they are not just interacting with a figurehead or company that simply sells products, but a company that is deeply invested in their customers and interested in hearing their comments and concerns.
Their content shows millennials they are not alone and that a brand is ethically and consciously listening to their needs in a skincare line that was born out of passion and the millennial spirit.
Reading about the founder helps consumers learn about the raw obstacles and accomplishments that ultimately led to creating midsummer, a brand ultimately focused on the health and wellbeing of their customers through naturally-sourced skincare products.
Walmart
From removing the hyphen in their name to shrinking their large stores, Walmart is making moves to get on the good side of the Millennial crowd, and – surprise – it’s working.
The major chain knows that millennials appreciate a one-stop-shop, so they’ve altered their marketing strategy to tap into this desire. The store now offers smaller stores in different areas, including the Walmart markets, where it is predominately grocery-related things all the way to campus stores.
Marketers are definitely seeing this as a great move on Walmart’s part, as the store is usually one that is found in more rural areas. With this new approach, Walmart is giving itself the chance to move into more urban locales with wider access to a millennial crowd. Their results are paying off, and now Walmart ranks as one of the top shopping destinations for millennials age 24 and younger.
How Can Deskera Assist You?
Marketing, in general, is a difficult one to get right, and if you are marketing to Millennials, it’s only going to get harder. However, once you have a good team and software like Deskera to ace your marketing to Millennials. Wondering why Deskera? Deskera CRM and Deskera CRM Plus are the tools you need to make that world of a difference from the way you process your sales, customers, and orders. The cherry on the top, Deskera, also has a set of some amazing landing page templates that will help you create yours. To learn more, take a look at this quick walkthrough.
Key Takeaways:
- Millennials, typically characterized as being from 18 to 34 years of age, make up the biggest segment in the United States.
- Millennials haven't hit their peak purchasing power due to student loans and starting a family; they are certainly heading that way.
- Millennials have grown up surrounded by advertising anywhere, and everywhere they go, so they're not going to be easily fooled by marketing messages.
- Millennials expect authenticity and diversity from everything in their environment.
- Millennials today are looking for transparency in the way of being clean and understanding.
- Brands should prioritize influencer campaigns when marketing to this group, as they relate to the authentic feeling of influencer content and prefer the raw.
- Millennials like to see themselves in the media they consume, and you must take that insight quite literally, focusing on user-generated content.
- Millennials pay a lot of attention to the reviews you receive from your other consumers and how you respond to them.
- Focus your marketing spend on reaching them via social platforms.
- If a Millennial hears a recommendation from a friend or colleague, they are more likely to buy and try a product than if they just happen upon it in a print ad.
- Ensure you always answer within a few minutes to your Millennials.
- Millennials like to lean forward, using the newest tech and the newest type of services.
- Millennials' purchasing habits tend to prioritize memorable experiences and social identity.
- Social-media presence is a badge of acceptance.
- Be a leader and transform with pure products.
- Offer the Millennials a unique experience, event, or special offering, to tap into their drive for being involved and staying in the loop.
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