Juliet CarnoyMillennials are notoriously difficult to market to. As digital natives—they are skeptical of professional advertising and disillusioned by the mass marketing approach. This presents a unique challenge for marketers as Millennials will represent 1 in 3 adults by 2020 with a record-breaking purchasing power of $ 1.4 trillion.[i] The impending clout of this generation means that marketers will need to quickly learn how to capture their attention and appeal to their consumer needs.
Here, we offer three best practices for marketing to Millennials:
1. Tap into Social Platforms
Previous generations consumed advertising through traditional marketing channels, mainly print and television. But Millennials are the most digitally connected generation, consuming content across multiple channels and devices. One way to market to Millennials is to evoke a multi-platform approach through social media. A total of 71% of Millennials are daily users of social networks and are spending a daily average of 5.4 hours on social platforms.[ii]The best way to access Millennials is through the platforms they trust and are already active on.
2. Learn to Engage
Millennials are the first generation to be truly open to not only receiving ads, but engaging with them and sharing them. One-way marketing is an ineffective tactic for driving brand messaging to a generation that has unprecedented access to finding and sharing information online. Engaging in a two-way conversation on social platforms fosters genuine relationships with Millennial customers and helps win their loyalty to your brand.
3. Use Peers for Clout
Even though Millennials have unprecedented access to information, they are selective in who they trust. Studies show that Millennials exhibit a low level of trust for professional advertising and a high level of trust for content generated by their peers.[iii] Marketers should prompt dialogue between current and perspective customers to drive brand message online.
Millennials are a difficult demographic for marketers to tackle. But marketers can access them by adapting both their channel and message. Creating a two-way conversation enables marketers to both learn Millennials’ needs and create target messaging to help grow their trust.
[i] Brookings Institution, 2014.
[ii] Ipsos, 2014.
[iii] The McCarthy Group, 2014.
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