I’m not the world’s foremost expert on marketing to millennials. I thought I should throw that out there from the get-go. I have, however, observed a few things about this particular demographic and I can tell you this: It’s a tough nut to crack.
A millennial is defined differently by different “experts.” I’m going to go with the law of averages here and say that the average millennial was born in the early 1990s. We’re talking about people who do not remember a world without the Internet. They can’t fathom having to carry a camera, phone, pager, and music player with them everywhere when their smartphones do all that and more. They’ve grown up with conveniences that even Generation X didn’t have (or even dream about).
I tend to look at these things from the perspective of one who runs a copywriting company, but I’m going to also tie in the entire content delivery model with this. The entire package matters and needs to be presented well. Here are a few things that are key influencers for millennials and how they factor in to successful marketing.
The Internet
Millennials were born at the advent of the Information Age. By the time they had developed a more sentient picture of the world, dot-com was already king. Past generations were much more apt to respond to certain media types than millennials are today.
If you listen to radio commercials these days, even the Top-40 pop stations are featuring a huge number of commercials that appeal to an older demo, not their actual target audience. Why? Because they realize that a twenty-something is completely tuning out when the music stops. Millennials are used to things being very visual and engaging, and talking at them just isn’t going to get the point across without a concerted effort on the advertiser’s part.
If you have something to say to a millennial, it has to be in a more “show and tell” format. This is why apps like snapchat are so popular. It’s also why Twitter eventually expanded to include images and other visual media and why visuals are so important to any social media content strategy.
Now think back to my radio example. Do you know how radio advertisers write copy that gets the attention of millennials? They tie it all in to their social media campaigns, because that is where millennials hang out online. They use the same messages, the same words, the same everything. They start by implanting a visual through social media, then create a radio ad around that.
More and more advertisers are finding that this works better than just producing a catchy ad and hoping for the best. Once millennials have heard a piece of advertising on the radio, they’ve seen it on social media.
So what’s the key takeaway for this point? Simply put, when dealing with millennials, show, then tell, and make the words as meaningful as the pictures.
The Age of Mobile
I won’t go too far into statistics about smartphones, but suffice to say that every year the shift away from desktop computers to mobile devices keeps increasing, and it is winning over all ages and demos.
So why, if everybody is consuming content with a smartphone, is it so important that we watch how we market to millennials on mobile platforms?
The answer to that is also pretty simple: Mobile is their domain. No one speaks its language quite as well as they do. Their parents are starting to get the hang of it, younger kids are starting to discover it, but this crucial demographic practically has mobile written into its collective DNA.
The 5-Second Rule
I don’t think I need to tell you that people’s attention spans are getting really short these days. Millennials have to deal with more distractions than any previous generation, so if you want to engage one, you have to deliver content in small bites.
Most younger Internet users will decide within just FIVE SECONDS if they’re going to continue consuming the message you’re sending, so you need to work fast and convince them. Here are three great ways to get that particular job done:
1. Keep It Simple
When composing web copy for millennials, paragraphs have to be short, and you have to get to the point as quickly as possible. Good headlines help with this tremendously, but the meat of the message needs to come across as bite-sized. This is where paginated content and split posts come in handy. They create the illusion of being content light when, in reality, you’re getting a lot more information out there than the reader realizes.
2. Use Emotional Language
If your message seems even remotely stale, it won’t get the attention of a millennial. This is a generation that is very much in touch with their feelings and their sense of self. That’s a nice way of saying that everything is about them. Your copy and the rest of your content needs to communicate that you agree – it is all about them.
Using words like “you” and “your” are vital to capturing a millennial’s attention. They elicit an emotional response. Use of positively charged adjectives and superlatives also work well. It’s not “buy this water bottle.” It’s, “Quench your deep-down thirst with the world’s best thermal bottle.” The combination of language there promotes action, which brings me to my next point…
3. Provide Clear Calls to Action
While it may seem like a more universal rule, giving clear directions about what to do with the content you’re presenting is important when dealing with millennials. While they are more self-aware than previous generations, they like things to be laid out in simple terms. They won’t proactively click on anything or sign up for an email list… they need to be told to do it and the content leading up to it has to explain why they’re doing it otherwise they’re doing it for you, not for themselves.
Keep these things in mind when creating content for millennials. They are smart, but they are distracted. They are autonomous, but they like clear directions. They’ve grown up on the Internet, and it is their domain, so make them feel at home with your content if you want to communicate with them effectively.