As the largest generation in U.S. history, millennials are a valuable pool of potential customers that small businesses cannot afford to ignore. These digitally savvy customers, aged 19 to 35, aren’t kids anymore. They are full-grown adults who have unique interests and a lot of buying power. But marketing to millennials takes special considerations; they think and respond differently than any previous generation – especially to marketing tactics.
Marketing to Millennials: Making the Connection
As a small business owner, it’s important to understand that millennials have unique needs and that they’re much different than their parents, the Baby Boomers. Since before they could walk, millennials have lived in a digital world filled with changing technologies and social connections. We’re not just talking about the giant, Facebook. But also, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, blogs, etc. For a small biz to succeed in the (ever changing) quest in marketing to millennials, they must connect with their audience online.
But how?
1. Be Proud of Your Size
A recent study by American Express shows that millennials don’t trust big businesses. They want to feel a connection with a business (not a big box store) and would rather “shop local.” Be proud of your size and use those homegrown roots to your advantage.
2. Prioritize Mobile
Almost 90 percent take selfies daily or weekly.
This selfie generation is attached to their smartphones. Targeting them with mobile-friendly content is crucial to your success. If you’re not on social media, get there…yesterday.
3. Give 100% Customer Service
Customer service is very important to millennials. They want to buy from a brand who they trust and feel a connection. To really win their hearts, highlight online reviews and customer feedback about your products or service.
4. Sincere Communication Style
According to Pew Research Center, cell owners between the ages of 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day—that works out to more than 3,200 texts per month.
When it comes to communicating with businesses and brands, Millennials prefer supportive and sincere discussions…through text.
5. The Experience
Millennials would rather spend on experiences than material stuff. Compared to their parents who may prefer a new car, this generation would prefer to show off exciting vacations (complete with selfies, of course).
What does this mean to your business? Genuine marketing with informative content trumps advertisements.
6. Keeping it Real
A study by Harris Group found that 72 percent of millennials prefer to spend more money on experiences than on material things.
Marketing to millennials means providing authentic and helpful content with genuine pictures of real people promoting the brands they like.
7. Content as Your New “BFF”
As you can see, millennials are a powerful demographic for small businesses to aim for and target as potential customers. The key is to anticipate their needs with quality content that they can connect with at the right (micro) moment.
Fine Tune Strategies for Marketing to Millennials with Post Café
At Post Café, our marketing professionals research trending topics to find out what’s going to resonate with your target audience. We make it easy by writing the articles and posting them to your social media accounts, so you don’t have to. Let the experts at Post Café help you with the content so that you can connect more with customers one-on-one.
Here’s our number. So, call us maybe at 732-218-9377 to learn more.
