Brandon Evans recently blogged about how Millennials make buying decisions. Because he’s considered an expert on this age group, I thought you might be interested in his thoughts on how to sell your clients on targeting these media-savvy youths. Evans breaks it down to five key characteristics, but I feel his No. 5 should be your No. 1.
Generation Y consumers tend to take ownership of the brands they love and buy. They speak about, repurpose and associate with a brand or product as they see fit. By writing about products through blogs and product reviews, and participating in online discussions, essentially they are doing your grunt work! What better word-of-mouth for a business? “Marketers must focus on reaching and impressing their core vocal consumers in order to substantiate other marketing claims and spread to new consumers,” Evans writes. Your clients — no matter how big or small — can benefit from targeting these young adults and you should show them the way. I can hear the fingertips hitting the keys now — spreading the word because of your ad placement.
When creating advertising to appeal to Millennials, know that they are almost born multi-taskers. You will never receive their full attention. Marketing and placement must hit that one portion of the person’s interest while chatting, texting, Facebooking and searching at the same time. These kids are good at blocking you and your client out. Evans finds that while adults send 3 E-mails for every text message, teens almost completely flip the ratio with 2.5 texts for every E-mail.
Keep in mind that these consumers don’t follow a common path — they are more committed to following their hearts than a path pre-established for them by their parents, school or community. This generation commits to products that mean something personally to them. They want to make decisions as individuals.
Everything I’ve read says that Gen-Yers are brand-loyal, but Evans says this mentality is diminishing. According to a recent SurveyU study, 78% of college students feel that people place too much emphasis on brands. It seems as though the more outlets for comparison and research shopping there are, the less this group is sticking to the tried and true brand-names theory.
Lastly (and least), this generation of shoppers is unfazed by celebrity endorsements. But I think we already knew that. In that SurveyU study, only 15% of college students agreed that a celebrity’s endorsement of a product would influence their opinion of that brand.
[Source: Evans, Brandon. "5 Rules for Snagging Consumer 2.0." Media Post's Engage: Gen Y blog. April 17, 2009.]
Friday, Apr 24, 2009
Courtney Huckabay