Millennials represent a large chunk of today’s market. Tech-savvy, achievement-oriented, and prolific spenders when it comes to things that they care for and put value in, millennials are no doubt one of the groups brands should charm if they want to boost their sales and survive in today’s competitive market. While this group has no problem when it comes to purchasing things, millennials have quirks and characteristics that are unique to their demographic, making marketing to millennials a bit more challenging.

So, how do you go about marketing to millennials? We’re discussing this and more in this blog.

Marketing to Millennials: 10 Pro Tips

1. Prioritize Social Identity

Millennials are an entirely different type of crowd — way different from the generations before them. And one of the things that make them stand out is their love for supporting causes that appeal to their values.

It’s not enough to just showcase your products and what they do. You have to include what your brand does to improve society in your campaigns and promotions. For instance, do you use eco-friendly materials when producing your products? How will purchasing your items help the community? Does your brand aim to make a difference in the world?

If you want to convince these people to patronize your brand, you not only have to provide quality merchandise, you also have to show them that you’re not only there for the money. Let them know how you’ll make the world a better place. That way, they’ll be more inclined to help you by buying your products.

2. Create a Strong Sense of Community

With social media’s popularity, the interaction between companies and brands is now easier than ever. This leads us to our second tip: using the internet and social media to create a strong sense of community.

Millennials are tech-savvy, and they use social media a lot. Moreover, they love getting involved. When you’re creating content targeted to them, make it as engaging as possible. You can do this by initiating community discussions. You can run polls, ask relevant questions, or try to get their opinions on certain subjects related to your brand. Let them feel that their voice matter.

Remember: Your social media accounts aren’t just for posting announcements and promotions. They're for networking and building rapport with your audience. Use social media to create a community that your customers and potential clients will want to get involved with.

3. Pay Attention to User-Generated Content

Millennials appreciate getting recognition for their achievements, and thanks to social media, you can provide this to them simply by sharing user-generated content.

Doing this doesn't only enable you to improve your relationship with your audience. User-generated content is a type of free promotion that’s effective in convincing people. People belonging to this age group like raw content. They’re more inclined to believe what their peers say more than the message that your paid ads deliver.

So, in addition to finding creative ways to hype your brand’s products or services, you also have to pay attention to what your audience says about you. When utilized properly, user-generated content can help you reach your target audience at a lower cost.

A good way to encourage people to post content about your brand is by holding social media contests. For instance, ask users to post pictures or videos of them using your product and tag you on their post. Or you can create specific hashtags for your contest and ask people to use it in their captions to make it easier for you to find them.

4. Respond Quickly

Now that almost everything’s done online, people expect quick results. A lot of millennials prefer to reach out to brands through social media. Whether it’s an inquiry or a complaint, you have to respond quickly and appropriately. Instant gratification is what makes the world of social media go round.

Take note that because of today’s technology, it’s easy to spread words of a customer’s dissatisfaction, and this can negatively affect your online standing. It’s good to constantly monitor what people are saying about you online so you can address issues immediately and prevent any negative content from getting out of hand.

Additionally, try to avoid using generic auto-responses and as much as possible, try to be personable with your replies.

It’s also good to cater to what they need quickly. A lot of millennials search the internet for answers to their queries before sending a message to the brand, so if you find them asking a specific question, make sure to provide efficient answers or solutions and avoid adding unnecessary lines in your responses.

5. Collaborate With Other Industry Leaders

Millennials are drawn to authentic content, and they appreciate reviews from people they know or from people who are experts in their industry more than any paid well-designed marketing ads.

If you want a better chance of success when it comes to your promotions, then it’s good to collaborate with people whom they listen to – like influencers and other industry leaders.

Influencer marketing has been getting a lot of attention lately, and for good reason: People are listening to them. And since they trust what these people say, it’s easier to convince them to try out your offerings.

When choosing an influencer to represent your brand, make sure that they have a relevant following, see to it that their niche is the same with yours, and try to build a long-term partnership with them. This strategy can help in exposing your brand to people who belong to the industry you’re in and has a high chance of converting followers or readers into potential customers.

6. Think Purpose Over Specifications

Gone are the days when you only needed to explain how special your product is to people. More than the quality of materials used for production, its list of top-of-the-line specifications, and how it works, millennials prefer to hear about your brand’s purpose for coming up with that line.

You have to show them what problem your product is addressing as well as how your company can contribute to the welfare of the community.

People appreciate companies that make an effort to help society. If you already have a good product to offer, showing how you care for a relevant cause can give you bonus points, especially in the hearts of your millennial customers.

7. Utilize the Power of Social Media

Millennials are active on social media, and oftentimes, they know about new brands from the various social media platforms that they use.

You don’t have to be present on all of them, but try to see which network holds the bulk of your brand’s target audience and focus your attention on those platforms.

Once you’ve decided on a platform, study its trends and learn its algorithms. See how your content can become more searchable, and find ways to increase the chances of your uploads showing up on your followers’ feeds. Research what types of keywords or hashtags you should add to your captions to improve rankings, when you should post your content to ensure that your target audience sees it, and other aspects. This way, you can properly optimize your content to reach your market.

Remember, algorithms change constantly, so keeping yourself updated on the latest happenings can help a lot. Moreover, always monitor your analytics to determine if your strategies are working to your advantage.

Social media can open doors for your brand and enable you to reach a wider audience. Handling your brand’s social media is a large responsibility. It’s also mandatory for businesses today, especially with the large number of people using them.

It can be a demanding job, but if you’ve utilized these social media platforms correctly, it can certainly make your sales soar. It helps to assign a team that will solely focus on creating high-quality content, monitoring your audience and followers, responding to your followers’ comments and the messages sent to your social media accounts, and ensuring that all your social media accounts are well-managed. Doing this in-house can be pretty expensive. Fortunately, you can outsource this highly important task to a company like LSM, who's an expert in the field.

8. Stick to a Theme

Consistency in your creatives can help with your brand recognition. It’s good to stick to a theme that best identifies what your company stands for. It can easily be done by choosing which colors you want to be emphasized in your images, the style, and placement of your brand’s logo, the opening of your video, and other aspects that can show off your branding. Furthermore, it’s also good to be consistent in the voice you use in your captions so your audience can identify with you better.

9. Be Authentic

Millennials value authenticity, so be sincere in your content and promotions. Avoid overselling or hard-sell. Clearly let your audience know how your brand can help them, and be open in your responses.

Aside from that, it’s also a good idea to give your audience a glimpse of what goes behind the scenes – like when you’re making the product or producing your video content. It makes your brand seem more approachable. You can also occasionally show pictures or videos of your employees at work or participating in your events to give your feed a more personal touch.

10. Listen

A lot of brands are spending a ton of money to know what their target market thinks. While this can still be helpful, sometimes, all you need to do is to listen to what your audience is saying. A lot of millennials express how they feel about certain causes or issues online, and what they say on the channels where they spend time is often more genuine than what you can get from paid surveys.

Read and review the feedback you receive, take time to check out the content that people tag you in, and be open to what these people are saying. Sometimes, you’ll find excellent suggestions from what they’ve posted online. Additionally, listening o what they say can also help you see how you stand with your audience – whether they’re satisfied with your products or not, what they hope you'll improve on in the future, and others things that can help you progress.

Marketing to millennials may seem challenging at first, but if you’re able to address their concerns and provide them with what they want in a brand, they can become your loyal customers in no time. And if you’ve successfully gained their trust and loyalty, they can help spread the word to their peers and gain you even more potential customers.

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