If you want to talk to someone different from you, you must use their language. It’s a significant adjustment on your part, but forging connections doesn’t happen without much effort. In pretty much every relationship you form in life, there must be some common ground for you to establish a strong connection with another person. The same principle applies to business.
If you are not part of Generation Y or Z and want to target them as customers, you must establish a connection with them.
Why Should You Target Young Customers?
They will be long-term customers
Logically speaking, the earlier a customer knows your brand, the more loyal customers can be. Therefore, you should be investing in efforts to “court” young people. Statistically speaking, they have long years to spend on Earth than any other customer age bracket. The future is in the hands of the young.
They are open-minded
This doesn’t have anything to do with the generation they belong to. It has to do with the fact that they are young and are therefore more prone to changing their views in life. The baby boomer generation was once like this, too.
It’s hard to target older customers because they have solid beliefs that are not easy to sway. Their buckets are almost full. Meanwhile, younger people are just about to start. Being exposed to the Internet also helps with their open-mindedness. Younger people are likely to change their position about something when presented with new facts.
They are accessible
Is there a teenager out there that doesn’t have any social media account? There probably is, but the number is meager. When you put out online advertisements and do it right, you are likely to reach younger customers in no time.
Reaching them is one thing, but making them buy your brand is another. So how do you exactly get them to be curious about your brand? How do you get them to buy?
Know Who They Are
The easiest way to understand what captures the younger generation’s attention is to look at the things they consume. And there is no better place to do that than the Internet. It helps to point out a specific demographic to do this. After all, targeting a whole generation or two is still too broad. Among millennials, there are young working professionals, moms, and dads. Among Generation Z, there are activists, K-pop fans, students.
What do they consume?
What kind of content do these people watch and interact with these days? Since there are various social media platforms, it’s both easy and challenging to find out.
Look at the trending topics on the leading social media sites. You will see what shows they are tweeting about. What kind of music do they listen to? And what pastime do they engage in?
Who are the celebrities they look up to? Look at the cause they support. Observe how they feel about specific issues.
What are their pain points?
A vital component of a successful business is problem-solving. When you sell a solution to a customer’s problem, they will likely buy. After all, who doesn’t want to solve their problems?
Look for the pain points of the younger generation. What makes them frustrated? What are they longing for?
You can do extensive research to find out about this. Or you can be innovative and efficient by using data analytic tools to find out all this information. Specifically, marketing analytics make it easier for you to identify potential customers and model their behavior.
Analytics tools like IBM Cloud Pak for Automation make life easier for you and your customers. Almost all business processes now are automated.
Launch a Marketing Strategy Specific to Them
Now that you know what brings them joy and what doesn’t, it’s time to roll out a plan that will touch on those points.
First, you have to create relatable content. There are many ways to do this. One is to ride the trend. Look at what movies are hot at the moment. Release ads that relate to these. Hire relevant celebrities to endorse your product.
Or make content that does not necessarily sell anything but talks about something that the young people care about. If there is the latest news like the COP26 Summit, share your thoughts about climate change through a post, video, or tweet.
In short, be relevant by inserting your company into the discussion that the younger generation participates in.
Final Thoughts
Since every generation is unique, businesses also have to come up with unique strategies to target them. You will be missing out on a lot if you don’t make an effort to engage them.
