Conversations and articles about millennials and their habits are appearing everywhere. It seems everyone is trying to solve the mystery of how to best market to us. Everyone seems to have an opinion on what works, so as a millennial myself, I thought I would share my opinion – supported with some research – on the top five ways to market to my generation.
1. Keep it simple. Millennials are faced-paced people, and getting our attention is hard. Keeping marketing simple and to the point is key. Big brands such as Apple and Nike do a good job of communicating short clean messages, and some say it is a reason they are so popular among millennials.
2. Use incentives. A USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future study reported 51 percent of U.S. millennial would share information with companies in exchange for an incentive. Personally, I see my peers constantly signing up for freebies and liking social media posts if it means they get something in return.
3. Cater to diversity. From my experience millennials tend to be the most open-minded generation because we grew up with all types of people. According to Pew Research Center, 43 percent of millennials in the U.S. are nonwhite, the largest share of any generation. This means the ‘typical American’ stereotype no longer exists within this generation, making it important for marketers to appeal to every race, sexuality, religion, etc.
4. Support with social media. Not a single day goes by that I don’t check all of my social media accounts, and I can pretty confidently say this is true for most millennials. According to SDL, five out of six millennials in the U.S. connect with companies on social media networks. Marketing to a generation that is primarily digital means it is crucial for marketers to get on the screens of millennials smartphones, and what better way than through the social media accounts we check multiple times a day (source: bingdigital.com/managed-magento-support).
5. Repetition. With so many marketers trying to reach millennials, it is easy to get lost in the clutter and in the minds of such a faced-paced generation. Repeating a marketing message multiple times gives millennials the reminder they need. Repetition is key to being remembered by my generation.
