Millennials are the largest generation in America, with plenty of spending power. However, they’re notoriously challenging for marketers since they respond to marketing messages differently than previous generations. If you understand millennial values, priorities, and desires, you’ll be a step ahead in your marketing and promotion efforts. To help, here are eight tips to market to millennials in 2022.
You may have begun including millennials in your marketing efforts, which is fantastic and will pay off. Well, now it’s time to think about the next generation: Generation Z, or those born in the mid-1990s to 2000s. Sure, they may be young now, but they’ll be your customers soon enough. Most importantly, this generation makes up 27 percent of the US population and is projected to have a staggering $44 billion in buying power.
To help you, here are eight tips to market to millennials in 2022.
Be authentic
As you may have read in previous issues of LivRio, millennials value authenticity more than any other demographic when it comes to purchasing decisions. One surefire way to market with authenticity is to post user-generated content, which millennials rate as the most authentic form of advertising.
Provide instant gratification
In this digital age, we can do almost anything with a finger swipe or a face scan. Instant shopping is a must for millennials, but so is instant response and customer service. Keep up with your emails, social media comments, and private messages to maintain that instant contact with millennial customers and build trust.
Prioritize mobile
Millennials were the first generation to grow up using mobile devices as the primary means of communication. Every day, the average millennial spends seven times longer on a smartphone than on a desktop computer. They’re using apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and many more.
Use real-life visuals
Fortunately, as a floral business, you can provide plenty of original images of your arrangements. Plus, you can feature specific customers in your posts, have a local influencer “take over” your social media accounts for a day or create a poll or contest on your Instagram story. And make sure to put out original video content since they’ll be watching videos far more than looking at static images.
Keep up with your blog
Fresh content is key to getting more website traffic, and it’s essential when it comes to grabbing those
millennial customers. Studies show that well-written blogs can increase website visits by 50% or more. Fresh, updated content will increase your chances of showing up on search engines, which is vital because Google reports that 55% of millennials ignore brands that don’t appear well in search results.
Focus on inbound marketing
Traditional advertising and paid media are still important when promoting your products, but inbound marketing is even more important — particularly to millennials. They are unlikely to look at paid ads and would rather see informative newsletters, blog posts, and fun videos. This will keep them interested and engaged, making them far more likely to turn into buyers.
Use advertising to gather info
Inbound marketing is also a fantastic way to get more information from your customers. Create social media polls, send out email surveys, and pay attention to customer service feedback. That way, you’ll know what your millennial customers want.
Use a variety of social media platforms
Did you know that 87% of millennials in the US use Facebook at least once per week? That makes it a powerful marketing tool for your floral business! But it’s not just Facebook: 79% of millennials use social media multiple times daily and spend more time across different platforms than other generations. So, make sure you’re not just marketing your flowers on Facebook but also on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and more.
And here are tips that will help you learn about Gen Z, what they want, and how to market to them effectively.
Get real and tell stories
As with millennials, Gen Z wants to see real people and relatable stories in marketing campaigns. They’re looking for stories about people who share the same struggles and beliefs as they do, and they can sniff out a paid actor in a nanosecond.
Be quick
You don’t have a lot of time to share your marketing message since the average attention span of a Gen Z consumer is eight seconds.
Market with a purpose
Social responsibility is a huge factor in marketing to Generation Z: approximately 55 percent of Gen Z customers specifically look for socially responsible brands when making purchasing decisions. If you’re using sustainably farmed flowers in your arrangements, this generation would respond positively to that message as it shows you’re taking care of the environment.
Create a seamless mobile experience
Gen Z consumers grew up with mobile devices and make most online purchases on smartphones. That’s why it’s vital to optimize your site for mobile devices and make the checkout process as smooth as possible.
Create simple, straightforward emails
Social media should be the priority when marketing to Gen Z, but that doesn’t mean email doesn’t have its place. In fact, 58 percent of Gen Zers access emails many times daily.
Advertise differently on each social media platform
As you can imagine, Generation Z is the most social media savvy of all generations. And since they live their lives online, they use each platform differently. That’s why you can’t advertise the same way across all of them: Your content choices will heavily depend on what social media platform you use.
- TikTok:
Sixty percent of TikTok users are Gen Z, so if you want to reach them, this is a great way to do it. You can find many online tutorials on using TikTok, but here are a few tips: Create engaging videos. Join challenges or start them yourself. And post consistently. - Snapchat:
Seventy-one percent of Gen Z use Snapchat daily to share real-life experiences, so it’s a great way to get your viral content seen. Like TikTok, you can find tutorials on how to set up a Snapchat account and create short, entertaining, authentic, timely content. - Facebook:
Gen Z users go to Facebook to build communities and have group discussions. As an example of using Facebook to appeal to Gen Z consumers, you could create a community around the power of flowers to improve health, happiness, and overall wellness. - Instagram:
Influencers and Instagram go hand in hand, which is excellent when marketing to Gen Z because Instagram is their preferred platform to exhibit their aspirational selves. And Gen Z relates more to micro-influencers than celebrities, which makes it easier and less expensive for you to partner up with a local influencer for your Instagram posts. - Twitter:
For Gen Z, Twitter is all about news, company updates, and reviewing products and services. Twitter is the platform where you can create a solid reputation (which is extremely important to Gen Zers) by responding rapidly to positive and negative reviews or feedback and quickly resolving any issues. - YouTube:
Gen Z loves using YouTube to learn things: 80 percent are on the platform to learn more, and 68% to acquire new skills or improve themselves. So, dive into YouTube with flower benefits videos, flower arranging tutorials, and more. And remember, if you’re advertising, keep it short; shorter video ads work better than long-form video content.
For more information:
Equiflor
www.equiflor.com