5 Top Tips for Marketing to Millennials
Millennials are the generation born after 1980 and before 2000 (17 to 37 year old). They are the generation who were brought up with the internet. Social media is not a new phenomenon for them.
Why knowing how to market to Millennials is important?
Even if the millennial generation is not your target audience now, at some point, they will be so knowing how to attract their business is going to be of benefit.
Sitting on a plane last week surrounded by 18 – 21-year-olds I attempted to engage and find out what they had planned for their holiday. I, in turn, told them that I was a skipper and traveling to deliver a yacht. Exciting this sounded to all of them, however, the responses I got gave me some insight into their perceptions of the yachting world. Comments & questions such as 'It's expensive' 'I don't know anyone that sails' 'Isn't it hard?' 'How do you get into it?' made me think about how we need to market to this generation and I have since done further research.
5 Tips to Help you Market your Brand to Millennials
1. Millennials are all over social media particularly Facebook, Instagram Youtube, and Snapchat. I am not suggesting you use every channel but use at least two and gear a proportion of your posts to that generation depending on how many of your target audience fit this age group.
2. Don't try and push your products on them. Give them great content such as 'How to sail for free', 'How to learn to drive a powerboat in a weekend' 'Volunteering to work with sailing charities in your summer holidays'. Millennials are all about experiences and if the yachting industry does not grab their attention climbing, kayaking, surfing or one of the many other adventure activities will.
3. Millennials do not trust traditional advertising. They do not respond to 'cheap sailing courses' but rather 'the best places to learn to sail'. For this reason, content becomes more important than advertising. It was for this reason that Facebook introduced sponsored posts as millennials do not like Facebook ads. Make your posts on social media give value to them.
4. Millennials do not trust large corporations, they trust their friends and people who look and act like their friends. They like recommendations from other millennials whom they can relate too. For this reason, the content generated by users of your brand is going to appeal. Use images of Millennials enjoying your products and services. You will not sell to this age group by showing much older people doing those activities. If you don't have any images, run a competition and give away some products or services in return for blogs, images, etc.
5. Millennials love brands, they want to be part of your brand experience, therefore, you have to offer them experiences. Again don't sell too, make them want to experience your brand because it fits with their personality. Adventures, concerts, sports, festivals, and parties are on most millennials radar. Think about how you can incorporate these into your marketing. How can they share your brand experience with their friends?
Understanding your target audience and giving them what they want will ultimately make the difference between you selling your hip new product to them or another company selling theirs.
