Marketing to millennials: building a communications strategy
As the first digitally native generation, millennials have re-written the rulebooks when it comes to brand marketing. Unlimited access to information and 24/7 connectivity across multiple platforms and devices – often on-the-go – means that today’s marketer must deliver communications that are relevant to the device, channel and stage of the buyer journey to earn their loyalty.
But marketing to millennials doesn’t need to be scary if you have the right strategy in place. Here’s my advice on how to build an effective communications strategy for millennials:
Make it visual
Millennials scan through mass amounts of text quickly searching for key information, making visuals a powerful tool to capture their attention in a text-heavy world. Think about pairing attractive visuals with your text to make key messages stand out.
Bite-sized chunks
That being said, just using images isn’t enough to capture their attention: the sheer volume of information available means that 41% of millennials suffer from information overload. Keep text concise and to the point, and break up important ideas across multiple pieces of content.
Be original
With so many brands competing for their attention, it’s important to create a brand identity that is recognisable and consistent. This means shunning the stock imagery (or being very selective with it!) and creating original, visual content that is synonymous with your brand.
Mobile-first design
With over 80% of social media time being spent on mobile devices, make sure that your visuals are optimised for consumption on a mobile device – this means that any text should be readable and important elements visible without having to zoom in.
Channel relevant
It would be easy to think that you can post the same content to all your social media channels – it’s all the same, right? Wrong! Consumers use different social channels for different reasons, so make sure the content you’re posting is relevant to the channel it’s on.
Focus on the why
84% of millennials say that they don’t trust advertising and will research products thoroughly before buying, so forget the hard sell. Focus instead on creating content that highlights why you do what you do and where you fit in your customers’ lives, for example through buyer videos.
Marketing to millennials is all about developing the right message and delivering it how your audience wants to consume it. Done right, and you stand to gain the loyalty of a generation that is expected to have the highest spending power in the coming years.