How can college students starting their own millennial marketing agency even think to be successful? The answer:
Millennials matter. Let us tell you why.
Who are millennials / what do they do?
Typically described as people aged 18 to 34, millennials (also known as Generation Y) make up a target audience that is wary of traditional advertising, has immense buying power, and is primarily approachable online or on social media. This combination of characteristics requires new approaches in order to market effectively.
Why are they relevant?
Millennials grew up alongside technology and social networks
There is great potential, but underlying difficulty, to marketing to millennials. This is a generation that grew up alongside emerging technologies, and the dominating social networks that came with them. This gives most millenials a unique profile of being tech savvy and more accessible through new technology than through traditional marketing outlets. It is essential that companies keep this in mind when developing targeted campaigns towards millenials.
Millennials live online and expect their brands to follow suit
Gone are the days when companies could rely on in-store customer visits or word of mouth alone - millenials live and breath the internet. While there are exceptions, for most brands to be successful in marketing to millennials, they must have integrated online and social-media presences. According to Forbes, “62% of millennials say that if a brand engages with them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer.”
Millennials need constant stimulation, and brands need to consistently be vying for their attention.
In the stimulating world of social media, the attention of consumers, namely millennials, has become scattered among dozens of online sites/communities or social media outlets. This is much different than the marketing world pre-internet, when attention was concentrated on few major news, television, and radio outlets. This shift spells both good and bad news for future businesses.
The good: millenials are more accessible than ever, and the cost of entry to access their attention (i.e. through facebook or instagram) is lower than ever.
The bad: Since attention is scattered, it is susceptible to fast and unexpected change. One year a brand could be trending constantly, the next it could have a lackluster presence on social media.
Brands need to keep stimulation in mind so they don’t lose out on opportunity, or grow stale among millennials.
Millennials have shifted their trust away from traditional advertising to social media networks.
Just as the attention of individuals online has exported away from traditional advertisements to online communities, their trust has similarly shifted. Because of the human-facing nature of social media networks, millennials now trust friends, followers, or even strangers, as reliable sources of brand information more than companies themselves. In fact, “84% of millennials stated they did not like traditional marketing and, what’s more, they didn’t trust it.” (Forbes)
Millennials are truly committed to their social media networks, and rely on them for content, entertainment, and most importantly, advice or opinions. As such, brands need to optimize their strategies to take advantage of this dynamic.
Millennials can be more effectively reached through alternative outlets.
Although the trust of millenials has moved towards social media, it can be hard to penetrate these communities, especially ones on popular and noisy outlets like Facebook or Instagram. Besides investing into higher quality and more engaging content to stand out on these big platforms, a lucrative opportunity for brands is targeting niche communities. These platforms with smaller social followings, like musical.ly or Pinterest provide more potential to command attention due to a lack of competition. Of course, it is much more difficult to cater marketing strategies to these new platforms, but if brands can get it right, there is massive upside.
Millennials respond better to integrated marketing
So what is the right way to market on social media? Since the most valuable attention of consumers nowadays (at least millenials) is invested in communities over major media outlets, blatant advertisements are no longer viable. Not only are they ineffective, they can actually ruin relationships with customers. Marketing should instead be naturally integrated into communities, blurring the lines between advertising and audience interaction. Examples of these integrated strategies could involve curating communities, providing value through educational content, or entertaining audiences. The more brands give to millenials, the more they’ll receive in attention and loyalty.
Where does Studio 67 fit in?
Millennials are a fickle and tricky audience to target. Reading their desires and tastes is one of the most challenging new problems in marketing, and reaching them is a daunting task. That’s what where we believe Studio 67 comes in.
Studio 67 is the ultimate bridge between marketing and millennials. Why? Because we are millennials, and are immersed in millennial life. We are sharp observers who act on our insights, which we take from everyday life. The millennial experience is our experience, and our people are some of the most talented of that group. We take pride in our insights, and that pride shows in our work.