Useful Tips If Marketing To The Generation Y
Generation Ys are those people aged between 17 and 28 years old, the baby boomer offspring. Made up of some sixty million, they are the biggest group to impact on the American scene since the baby boomers. While not quite as big as the baby boomer group, they are nevertheless on target to increase in size and to soon have as great an impact in buying power.
Around 75% of Generation Ys use the Internet on a regular basis, the familiarity with this media no doubt initiated through elementary and secondary tutoring that demanded Web access as a requirement. The group's tendency to use this medium as its central communication method should encourage marketers to create ways and means to reach its users.
Members of the Y Generation connect via email, social media and video, and they primarily like texting. Studies show that many texts are sent by many teenagers in any given month. Almost all Generation Ys have cell phones. Text message campaigns, therefore, are something for marketers to include in their marketing plan, especially as it is estimated that 75% of all text messages are transmitted by the Y Generation.
Marketing to the children of the baby boomers will be difficult. Boomer brands were not successful in attempting to target the smaller Generation X group, which had to be tolerated. Generation Y, however, is becoming big enough to have an effect on a boomer brand more significantly, simply by ignoring it. Competitive brands could also be launched to cause a greater threat. To achieve success in marketing to this group, then, you will need to learn to think as it does.
Members of Generation Y have grown up in an even more technologically advanced medium than the baby boomers and respond to advertising in a different way. In numerous cases they are resistant to the traditional marketing channels that appealed to older generations. The marketers that do manage to grab the attention of Generator Y consumers are locating them in places they are known to visit, for example, the Web, social networks, and cable TV.
When you consider the multitude of social networks online, just a few cater particularly for Generation Ys. Facebook and Twitter are very popular, even though their popularity is associated with a number of groups. Others include: BrazenCareerist.com, 20somethings.ning.com, Unigo.com, myYearbook.com. Each of these networks caters for a variety of Generation Y needs.
Older generations as well as marketers can learn much from these networks, to better understand who Generation Ys are and what they're made up of. They don't expect older generations to acknowledge everything about their lifestyle. They simply want understanding and respect.
To the online marketer, then, learn about what motivates Generation Y. Visit their social networks and acquaint yourself with them through reading what they are writing about. Your experience there will give you some knowledge on how to advertise to the needs of Generation Y.
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