Marketing for millennials: seducing the tech generation

Getting close to millennials is one of the biggest challenges that brands face in this day and age, which makes designing marketing strategies for them a little difficult. Many companies get shipwrecked when trying, simply because they don’t know the fundamental keys to unlocking this diverse and heterogeneous group of young people born between 1980 and 1995.

One of the things that millennials have in common is that they are a generation that has grown up in economic prosperity and even though they have faced a horrific economic crisis in the last few years, it hasn’t put a dent in the way that they see the world.

These are the factors that have made these digital natives what they are today, characterized by their addiction to mobile devices and wanting everything immediately. It is this generation that interests companies the most, but how can they be conquered? How can we grab their attention?

Millennials are one of the most difficult consumer groups to conquer nowadays, as what they are looking for and what they want is very different from the generations that came before them. In addition to this the speed at which technology is evolving also makes this generation change their opinions, needs and likes equally as quick, much faster than in previous generations, which makes them increasingly demanding consumers.

What are millennials looking for?

To help you in this arduous task, we suggest a number of trends and marketing tricks for millennials that are being used in the market right now that could help you tackle this audience.

1.- Encourage them to create their own content associated with your brand

The majority of millennials generate their own content and this is the area that businesses have to take advantage of. It’s a great opportunity for users to openly talk about their experiences and interactions with your company and express their points of view through the sharing of photos and videos. There isn’t a better social test than this technique for grabbing this generation’s attention and getting them to buy your products or services.

There are a number of different ways in which you can motivate users to share their experiences with you online. For example, on a social network like Instagram your company can create a hash tag where customers can tag photos or videos of themselves using your latest products.

The Starbucks example allows for the creation of a page with different experiences where interested users can find out about or inquire about products that your company has on offer if they have any questions or doubts. The strategy of using your own customers to attract more customers is fundamental and you wont find a better endorsement for millennials.

2.- Influencers

If millennials trust in anyone, or better said, if there is something that is fashionable among millennials right now, its social network influencers. It’s common nowadays to find that brands collaborate in some way with influencers with the aim of promoting their products or services, they are particularly involved with fashion and beauty brands. By using influential people this way on social networks, these companies can not only reach a wider audience but also get to meet potential customers.

The key to making these millennial marketing strategies work is finding an influencer who is actively speaking about and publishing content directly related to what your company does. So be sure to research the influencers that you are interested in really well before you contact them to make sure that they will be a good fit for your brand.

Once you have decided on the right person for you, get in contact with them. How the influencer promotes your brand will depend entirely on the platform that they use. For example, If it is a blog the person may write about your product and include a few photographs whereas if it’s a YouTube or on Instagram you could have the same person presenting the product in hand in a short video.

According to the “Annual study of social networks” 85% of users say that they follow at least one influencer and 29% of them are active in these platforms both reading and sharing the published content.

3.- The magic of live streaming

Millennials love the magic of live streaming. In fact, it is becoming so fashionable among them right now that there are new platforms such as Periscope, which allow everyone to do it. Even Facebook has gotten involved in this innovative system for showing videos in real time and has made the new tool available to all of its users on its platform: Facebook live.

These young people highly value both authenticity and content and there isn’t anything more authentic than transmitting something live. This can be an intriguing option for launching new products, services or even promoting events from your business in a way that appeals to millennials.

The same can be said of applications like Snapchat that, even though they don’t transmit live, they still manage to generate a sense of urgency in the user. This app erases all images and videos after 24 hours, which keeps the users of this social network continuously aware of what’s being published.

Therefore it is an app that guarantees that if a company publishes a video of a new product or service, it will have a good chance of being seen by the users as most of them are constantly checking the app looking for new stories.

4.- Closeness

Millennials are a generation that look for brands to be more than just brands, they want more of a connection, and they want to feel like they are the brands “friends”. The key to achieving this factor lies in social media.

Nearly every millennial has an account in one of the main social networks and it is generally through their profile page of either Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for example, that they have their first point of contact with different brands. Therefore the fact that a company like the example of the TV channel TenTV has a social networking account, which the millennials can see and making them feel closer to the brand and more connected with it.

5.- Similar likes

Another key factor when marketing to millennials, and which attracts a lot of this generation, is when they see that companies are interested in the same things as they are. A good way to really push this angle is through social networks; in fact they are the ideal place for publishing videos or viral images to really target the millennials.

On the other hand, it is also a good idea to do some research into the likes of your target audience and depending on the results, put together different publications with specific content that interests them.

6.- “Mobile first”

Another name for the millennials is the mobile generation as its practically impossible nowadays, to find a young person who hasn’t got a mobile glued to their hands. This means that for any company who wants to catch the eye of a millennial the mobile isn’t just an alternative to grab their attention, it’s a must. It is said the youth of today see the world through the screen of a mobile, and it’s true as it’s the way that the majority gain access to the Internet.

For that reason all companies should make sure that all of the content that they put online is optimized for mobile devices. For example an investigation by “Informe Ditendia: Mobile in Spain and in the world 2015” found that three out of every ten people that had a smartphone looked at their mobile more than 50 times and which also included 10% that checked it more than 100 times. In addition a great deal of users look at their mobile daily just to wake up.

Therefore, any company that seriously wants to connect with millennials must build their digital marketing strategies around mobile devices otherwise you will just turn them off.

These are some of the marketing strategies that every business can start using to grab the attention of millennials and convert them into clients. In fact a number of different studies show that this generation will, in time, start to spend even more money on the latest products and services, which makes it a very interesting audience for all companies.

Marketing for millennials is neither easier nor more complicated than other marketing strategies that capture other types of clients the only difference being, that millennials are the most demanding consumers that exist in the market today so the campaigns directed at them should be dynamic, flexible and engaging.

The interesting thing about setting out marketing strategies for millennials is treating them individually throughout all of the channels that they decide to connect with your brand. Therefore it is essential that your digital marketing strategies are cross-channel so for this you will need a platform that allows you to work on all your digital marketing in one place.

MDirector is the only email and SMS marketing platform that incorporates a landing page generator and programmatic buying (RTB) in one tool. Do you want to learn more about how MDirector can help you generate Email Marketing and Marketing Automation strategies for millennials?