Ultimate Guide to Millennial and GenZ Marketing (+ ‘The’ Marketing Plan for Millennials & GenZs)
- BigTree Marketing Consultants
- Sep 28, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 18, 2020
(– By Millennial Marketers)
There is something fascinating about Millennials, GenZs, and today’s consumer behavior. The whole marketing industry is focusing on and chasing this generation or this section of the population. But are they doing it in the right way? Do they really know their target customers?
The marketing fundamentals that the marketers have been following for decades are changing with the emergence of Millennial and GenZ generations. The rules of online advertising and traditional advertising are changing more frequently than ever before.
Marketers, like us, have been in a constant run to read the customer’s mind and change product or service offerings accordingly. However, with rapid changes in consumer behavior, thank or blame to the evolution or earlier marketing practices, it is actually becoming hard to match the customer’s expectations these days.
But why it is becoming so difficult? How it led to the situation where we need to relook our marketing approach and redefine the whole marketing strategies that worked before for earlier generations but now are not working for Millennials or GenZs?
The Problem in Understanding Millennials and GenZs
The first thing, for every marketer, is to understand that, with the rapid growth in the economy, possession of high disposable income, and the influence of advanced cultures & societies, the general population has evolved and moved up or moving up from the ‘need’ and ‘want’ stage to the ‘desire’ stage. This change of priorities, in terms of what they expect from life, has forced them to acquire an advanced lifestyle and many mental & behavioral changes.
In addition to this, the reducing barriers between distant societies and cultures with an open exchange of thoughts and ideas have also changed the way they look and experience life in general. Their way of accepting & experiencing things has changed and they are expecting more from every product, service, experience, and brand.
In addition to this, earlier marketers constantly followed a similar way of tools & techniques to interact & engage customers and fed customers with similar kinds of interactive elements that made customers immune and bore to their marketing efforts. This passed on to their kids (now Millennials and GenZs) where they expected a little more or a totally different way of engagement.
Moreover, the inability or negligence of marketers to study this changing societal demographic, psychological, and behavioral norms has also denied companies to know about their actual customers. It is now that many companies realized the emergence of a new generation that is totally different in how they encounter & engage with their products & services.
Understanding Millennials and GenZs
Before we get to the core of the problem and understand the neural structure of these generations, let us first define ‘Millennial’ and ‘GenZ’ and then we will try to look into their mind, their thought process, and how they deal with brands and life in general.
Although definitions for Millennials & GenZ are still debated and everyone comes up with their own definition and timeline to separate Millennials and GenZ generations but for the sake of this article and current discussion let us just follow the definition by Pew Research Center.
According to Pew Research Center, anyone born between 1981 and 1996 is considered as a Millennial, and anyone born from 1997 onward is part of a generation Z (GenZ).
It is not wrong to say that these generations are internet generations or social media generations. These generations tasted social media very early in their life and this changed the way they interact with everything in their life.
They have seen technology grow, change, and evolve with them, and have made themselves at home in the digital world. They came in contact with a vast amount of information on their fingertips and with this vast amount of information came a very different viewpoint to see things.
They started to express themselves like never before. Be it extroverts or introverts, everyone engaged with each other and in each other’s life. They started to get inspired, motivated, envy others. Some wanted to look and be like others, while some wanted to have their own reputation.
Games of Social currency and Social validation started. With social media, they can now look up to people from different corners of the world that leads to aspiration, demand, and to achieve more in whatever they do.
The Mental Map of Millennials and GenZs
To put in simple bullet points, defining the mental map of Millennials and GenZ, is hard but we, at BigTree Marketing Consultants, have tried to put those in 25 points:
They are smart (or as they think they are).
They are go-getters and achievers.
They like to speak their mind.
They need some kick in their life on a constant basis.
They believe in life-experiences.
They are intelligent and hungry for success.
They need ‘instant’ everything.
They want to change the norm.
They do not believe in the status quo.
They do not want a typical 9-5 job.
They wish to be their own boss, start their own company, and change the world.
They like to follow their passion.
They want to be the first in everything that could give them brownie points for social boasting and adrenaline or a dopamine kick to their brain.
The majority lies in the innovators and early-adopters category.
They have high levels of buying frequency and power.
They like to live life on their own terms and in luxury.
From a recent study, millennials are 2.5x more likely than other generations to be early adopters of technology.
They like to have a social validation and want to get famous quickly.
They like to look at their best all the time.
They are health conscious.
They like to DIY.
They like to try different things.
They are always open to new concepts and ideas.
They seek rewards in everything they do.
They are good at detecting patterns.
How many of you have come across someone who says that these generations are always bored? We are sure that you must have heard this from your parents or from ‘Sharma Uncle’. Now let us understand the science behind it.
These generations are definitely bored. They are bored because they are very good at detecting patterns; patterns in movies, patterns in advertising, patterns in games, patterns in day-to-day life, and once they get the pattern (often quite easily and quickly) they start to get bored from that thing. That's why the bullet point 4. This is evolution, we literally can’t help it.
Once marketers understand these 25 points and the mental map of the Millennials and GenZs, their tasks could become easier than ever before while targeting these generations.
Inside the mind of Millennials and GenZs
Now, let us see what they think and how they actually interact with the marketing and advertising efforts from brands.
According to HubSpot, 84% of millennials do not trust traditional advertising.
SocialChorus data also shows that only 6% of millennials consider online advertising to be credible.
They don’t trust typical advertising.
They reject any hard selling from any brand.
They like to see value in the product or service before making any purchase.
They know when an ad is running or can easily differentiate ads and non-ads.
They search for the ‘skip button’ when an ad pops up.
They detect patterns easily.
And thus, they are bored.
With such a different set of mental and behavior patterns, Millennials and GenZs are the toughest kinds of generations having an attention span of fewer than 3 seconds. So to gain their attention and acknowledge, marketers have to do something extraordinary or ‘ordinary with a twist’, listed down below:
'The' Marketing Plan for Millennials and GenZs
It is important to understand the psyche of your consumers but it is equally important to devise a great marketing plan to get into the minds of the consumers. The marketing plan should augment the effort taken by the marketers and the brand.
‘The’ Marketing Plan every marketer should follow now:
Support a cause. Focus on Cause Marketing.
Try Experiential Marketing.
Try to get their attention in the first three seconds in your brand communications.
Show them something that they don’t see on a regular basis.
Involve and Engage them in your communication.
Focus on giving them some Social Currency.
They rely more on their social suggestions. Use testimonials.
Be relevant and constant on social media. Use topical marketing to your advantage.
Take the power of UGC (user-generated content) to get to your target segment. This builds authenticity to your brand communication.
Share their passion, likes & dislikes, and don’t forget to stand for them and as well for something that is right. This makes your brand memorable and trustworthy.
Give them something brag-worthy, shareworthy, and Instagram-worthy.
Be there where they are or where they spend most of the time.
Surprise them. Always.
Provide them something challenging and engaging. Gamify their whole experience with your brand.
Tell them a story. Play with nostalgic, funny, comic, AR/VR, video, and audio elements.
Include an engaging Reward and Loyalty Program to your brand.
Though this sounds simple enough, it can be complicated unless you figure out what makes them tick and then integrate that knowledge into your marketing plan and marketing communication strategies.
Conclusion
No doubt, that Millennials and GenZs are one of the toughest generations to marketing professionals. Millennials and GenZs like to interact with humans and expect brands to behave and act like humans. Thus, doing proper research to understand the psyche of the target segment is the only key to crack their persona and easy entry to their mind.
A well-planned integrated marketing approach and a well-thought marketing communication strategy help marketers to ease their efforts to get their target segment to their brand community. The above-mentioned points integrate all the possible areas to attract and engage Millennials and GenZs to your brand.
Karma Points
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