With the rise of digital tools, marketing has completely changed in recent years. No longer are marketers relying on print advertisements, billboards, and commercials to get their message across to their target audience.
Instead, marketing pros now have access to deep data about their potential customers and can leverage those insights to deliver the right message, at the right time, through the right medium. And if you’re marketing to millennials, you have to be even smarter about where you direct your marketing dollars.
In order to effectively reach tech-savvy millennials, you have to understand where they’re spending their time. In this post, we will share three tactics you can use to resonate and drive brand awareness with younger audiences.
Learn who they trust
Even before the introduction of digital marketing, people have always been more trusting of peer recommendations over advertising. In fact, 88% of consumers place the highest level of trust in word-of-mouth recommendations from people they know.
But now, the accessibility of online reviews has solidified this fact even more. Platforms like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google allow customers to leave reviews for nearly any business, and millennials are highly tuned in to these sites.
Before choosing a new restaurant, gym, or item of technology, for example, 97% of millennials read online reviews. Having a strong presence on these sites is essential to drumming up new business from younger customers. Even if you receive a negative review, you should respond thoughtfully to show that you value your buyers and their experience with your brand.
Invest in social media
Millennials have grown up with social media and are among its most active users. Not only do they use social to keep up with friends and family, but they also use social platforms to interact with brands and evaluate new products before making a purchase.
If you’re running a brand account, it can be difficult to know how to approach your social media strategy. Regardless of what you sell, remember that real humans will be viewing your content – and they want to connect with it! But only if you’re genuine and trustworthy.
Millennials are savvy enough to spot pandering easily. On social, be authentic, engage with your followers, and post relevant content. This is a winning combination to organically attract new fans and keep them up-to-date with your company.
Show them how you can make their lives easier
The most successful millennial brands excel at making their customers’ lives easier. Challenge yourself to present this point of view to your audience by putting their needs first.
For example, companies like Uber and Postmates have seen high adoption among younger clientele because they identified a pressing need and made it as simple as possible for customers to use their services. Simplifying a millennial’s life is an effective way to get in their good graces.
While the techniques you use to reach a millennial audience may differ from older generations, you should still focus on basic marketing strategies as well. Providing a useful and unique service, creating a great customer experience, and being authentic will all go a long way when marketing to millennials.
