June 30, 2014

It Might Be Time for You to Reconsider Your Millennial Marketing Strategies

By now it’s almost guaranteed you’re moving forward with a content marketing strategy. After all, your customers demand custom content, and in order to develop a long-term mutually beneficial relationship with them, you’ve got to engage them.

But is your strategy comprehensive enough? Or are you taking a one-size-fits-all approach to content creation? If your answer is “yes” to that second question, it might very well be time for you to rethink your approach to your younger millennial customers.

According to a recent report, 45 percent of millennials—those who were born roughly between 1980 and 2000—aren’t necessarily fans of the custom content that brands are pushing their way. Millennials will command a staggering $1.4 trillion of spending power by 2020, so it’s of the utmost importance that marketers rethink their strategies when approaching this demographic.

“We see a number of strategic and creative changes marketers could be making in order to better engage millennials,” explains Lauren Weinberg, VP of global research and insights at Yahoo. “Brands need to understand how millennials are different and engage with them on their terms.”

The report indicated that millennials spend their days cycling through 7.1 devices to engage with content. Because of this, 72 percent of them feel like they suffer from information overload.  The trick is being able to filter out the good from the bad.

But the need for millennials to consume content is still there. In fact, 76 percent of them still want to stay current with topics, and 75 percent of them want to become more intelligent.

“In terms of strategy, brands should engage [millennials] on a human level,” Weinberg continues. “In terms of creative, brands need to take the opportunity to help millennials get a sense of escape, discover things they didn’t know and achieve their aspirations—all things millennials desire from the content [they] consume and share.”

So how can you better engage millennials? Consider these three tips:

  • Leverage social media. According to eMarketer, 84 percent of millennials have active social media presences. That, coupled with the viral nature of social media channels, should encourage marketers to have pronounced presences on several social media platforms. Who knows? Your brand might very well hit the next viral home run.
  • Optimize for mobile. About 63 percent of millennials used smartphones in 2012, and we can logically expect that number to have increased since then.  With so many millennials consuming your content via mobile devices, it’s imperative that you optimize that content for mobile so as to ensure a seamless reader experience.
  • Target millennials with millennials.  What better way to target millennials than by doing it with their peers? If you haven’t already, consider adding a millennial or two to your content marketing team. Give them some leeway to create some custom content they feel will resonate with their peers.

How does your brand target millennials? Tell us in the comments below! 







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