Marketing Content Towards Millennials: 5 ways to reach millennials in 2020.

Proven strategies that will increase engagement among this audience.

Written by: Dejah Braggs

There are many benefits in attracting Millennials to your content. With more than 80 million millennials, making up the U.S population they are the largest demographic in the country. This target demographic represents a society's young adults and is often associated with words like "tech-savvy," "self-absorbed," and "free spirited"(Kay, 2014). Marketers are beginning to adopt more of a personal, engaging stance, while using the prominence of social media to engage with Millennials. This diverse generation of young adults has a lot of potential in terms of purchasing power and brand loyalty. Find out below how your company can reach this demographic!

Building an Online Brand

It is important to note that having a brand that is online, is not enough to reach Millennials. In fact having an online brand means nothing, without having an online presence on social media. That means having active accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok, Twitter, and Snapchat, and presenting your content in platform-appropriate ways. The ultimate goal would be to have active social media accounts among all platforms, but this can often be a hard goal to achieve. Be sure not to spread yourself too thin, as it is better to have one awesome social media account, than five poor ones.

Avoid “selling” to Millennials

Millennial are often skeptical of brands that try too hard to sell a product to them. A common misconception is that marketing and advertising is just about getting the consumer to purchase a product. However, it is more about creating brand loyalty and identifying the needs of the customer. As Millennials outgrow annoying TV commercials that call consumers to “BUY NOW!”, more brands are leaning towards the storytelling techniques. Storytelling that reaches the heart of the consumer and evokes a feeling or a memory. This allows your brand to be memorable, while also allowing the consumer to instill their trust in your brand (Lux, 2019).

Personalized Marketing

Millennials want to know that companies are marketing to their specific needs. However, in a digital age where individuality is celebrated, one-size fits all marketing will not work when trying to reach Millennials. Millennials have a sense of self that is unlike any other generation. A survey suggested that Millennials show preference over other generations in customizable products and services. For example, more than half of Millennials surveyed (56%) said they would swap their current brand for a brand that customizes to them while only 26% of Boomers were likely to switch from their current brand. When you begin the personalization process, persona-driven content creation is key (Simon, 2019). Persona-based content can help you tailor your messages to the right audience. When customers feel like their needs are met, will find themselves returning to your

Meaningful Partnerships

Though your brand may not have a philanthropic message behind it, content marketing can benefit from aligning your brand with an organization that is socially aware. By expressing support to nonprofits such as the Trevor Project and the World Resources Institute can take your marketing campaign a major step forward in the eyes of millennials if you find a way to partner with organizations and causes that make a positive impact on the world in some way.

A reported 90% of millennials are likely to switch from one brand to another if the second supports a cause—even if cost and quality of the two are the same (Barkat, 2014).

Enlist the Help of Micro Influencers

Influencer marketing is a strategy that businesses use to promote their products and services by partnering with popular social media users or bloggers. Influencers usually have a large, engaged audience that brands can tap into to build credibility and even drive sales.

Partnering with influencers is a number one marketing strategy for many brands. Some of the benefits of influencer marketing include :

Reach a bigger audience
Build trust for your brand
Grow your social following
Increase site traffic

Before reaching out to an influencer make sure you establish a relationship with them. You can accomplish this by commenting, sharing and liking their posts. Also, be sure to compliment their own content, this could lead them into commissioning a blog post or video about your band.

When looking to enlist the help of social media influencers make sure you are partnering with a person who is within your industry. For example, it would not be if your brand focuses on skin care it would be beneficial to use Beauty influencer, to promote your products rather than someone who’s personal brand is centered around technology. When you align your brand properly, Millennials will respond to this positively. Since they already have trust and respect the influencer it will allow them to instill trust in your brand (Armano, 2019).

Reaching Millennials when cultivating your brand can seem like an uphill battle, but by utilizing these strategies you will be able to build a relationship with this unique target demographic, taking your brand to the next level!

Armano. (2019, December 20). 3 Ways Influencer Marketing Will Further Mature in 2020. Retrieved from https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/3-ways-influencers-marketing-will-come-further-mature-in-2020/

Barakat, C. (2014, February 1). Cause-Related Marketing and the Millennial Mindset. Retrieved from https://www.adweek.com/digital/cause-related-marketing-millennial-mindset/

Kaye, D. (2014, July 3). Marketing to Millennials? Make It Personal and Customized. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234891

Lux, J. (2019, March 15). The Psychology Behind Brand Storytelling and Its Effect on Consumers. Retrieved from https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/the-psychology-behind-brand-storytelling-and-its-effect-on-consumers/

Simon. (2019, November 15). The Beginner's Guide to Defining Buyer Personas. Retrieved from https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/en-us/blog/the-beginners-guide-to-defining-buyer-personas