Within the past few years, millennials have surpassed baby boomers to become the country’s largest living adult generation. By holding that title, millennials have become the most valuable group of consumers for marketers. In the United States, millennials’ purchasing power is at an estimated $600 billion a year, while other generations, like Gen X, are still on the lower end of using their wealth. Retailers across the country must begin implementing marketing strategies that directly relate to and impact this generation, especially as the market continues feeling the stress of inflation. Knowing the differences between millennials and other generations will be imperative when crafting campaigns that focus on creating meaningful connections that go beyond basic product promotion.
Why is marketing to millennials different from other generations?
To effectively market to millennials, retailers must understand what makes them different from their generational counterparts. Millennials are unique in that they were the first generation to come of age with mobile smartphones. Thus, many of their interactions and transactions take place online or on applications. Last year, a study found that millennials have the highest adoption of social media shopping compared to other generations. For this reason, retailers should focus their efforts on developing a strong online presence and creating mobile applications that allow for quick and easy transactions
In addition to their online shopping behavior, millennials’ sentiment towards brands is also greatly influenced by their values. A report found that 83 percent of millennials will only buy from businesses that share their values regarding social issues, compared to 21 percent of baby boomers. Furthermore, millennials today also desire a higher level of authenticity from branded content as the rise of influencers and brand-sponsored content across social media has pushed consumers to disengage and question the truth behind influencer posts. Consumers are actually becoming increasingly more critical of branded content as news of influencers admitting to lying to promote products continues to unfold.
How can retailers reach millennials effectively, especially as marketing budgets continue to decrease?
To meet millennial demands, retailers must abandon traditional advertising and provide true, authentic online content that aligns with their beliefs and purchasing style. One way of achieving this is by integrating user-generated content (UGC) into marketing campaigns. A recent study found that 65 percent of millennials would be more loyal to a brand if they requested and used content from them in marketing initiatives. Not to mention, millennials are also the biggest content drivers for UGC campaigns, contributing to over 70 percent of all customer content that is present today.
Campaigns that use UGC not only induce a greater customer-to-brand relationship, but it is also extremely cost-efficient for retailers to integrate. Rather than paying thousands of dollars in influencer partnerships or advertising fees on different social platforms, retailers can garner content from customers by offering selected discounts, rewards or simply featuring them on a company’s social accounts. As we continue to push towards a recessive economy and marketing budgets are slashed, turning to UGC provides retailers with the tools to maintain customer loyalty and favorability without the price tag of traditional advertisements.
Right now, understanding millennials and how to properly get in front of them will be crucial as more millennials continue to expand their spending power. With rising prices causing marketers to question how dollars are being spent, retailers will need to turn to marketing solutions that focus on authenticity and engagement to keep millennials favorability and trust.
Adam Dornbusch is the Founder and CEO of EnTribe, one of the first SaaS platforms helping build a community of creators for brands. EnTribe allows access to fresh content by connecting brands with all the active members of their community and boosts customer engagement by bridging the gap between what brands want and what they share.
