Attracting millennials to your small business should be a top priority. According to the latest U.S. census numbers, millennials are now the largest generation. Whether you are a B2C or B2B business, millennials are your buyers. This generation is very different from those before it or after it, so millennial marketing is unique.
In this post, we’ll break down millennial buying behaviors, being millennial-friendly, and how to attract them to your brand.
Millennial Buying Behaviors
To win at millennial marketing, you need to understand their buying behaviors. For this, we look at the data.
How they shop:
What matters to them when they buy:
- 40% consult online reviews and testimonials before purchasing.
- 52% prefer to shop with companies that share the same social and political ideologies.
What they think about digital experiences:
- 92% say a website’s appearance contributes to whether they share their personal information.
- They are 54% more likely to buy a product promoted by a social influencer than older generations.
- 43% of millennials will engage with an ad if they think it’s funny.
In reviewing this information, we can make a few assumptions. Millennials like to shop and research products online. They care about a brand’s position on social issues. They look to social media for recommendations and prefer ads that are funny, not salesy.
Considering this information, you can begin to understand if your website and brand are millennial-friendly.
Are Your Website and Brand Millennial Friendly?
Millennials are digital natives. It’s been a constant part of their life, and they treat online interactions just as they would in-person ones. The generation is also more socially conscious than those older than them. They are both savvy and skeptical in how they evaluate brands.
To achieve a millennial-friendly website and brand, you have to think like one! Consider these questions for self-assessment:
- Is the website mobile-friendly and responsive?
- Is product or service information readily available?
- Is the website design modern?
- Do you regularly update your website with helpful content?
- Are testimonials and reviews visible?
These are essential questions to evaluate where you are and where the gaps are. Next, we’ll move on to overall marketing tactics to attract millennials to your small business.
How to Attract Millennials
From an overarching marketing strategy, these are the key areas to improve to gain more millennial customers.
User Experience (UX)
Remember, this generation has had a lifetime of technology. They also spend about 211 minutes each day on an app or online. They have high expectations for UX. And if they aren’t impressed, they’ll leave. Work with a professional website designer to fine-tune your UX to be intuitive and easy.
Social Media Marketing
Millennials look to social media when they are researching problems. You can use this to your advantage with several tactics.
- Be consistent on social media: Post often, reply to comments, and engage your community.
- Use social media ads: Millennials respond to these, but tailor your social media marketing campaigns to fit their persona and deliver value.
- Share user-generated content to promote your brand’s credibility: The words are coming from your customers, so they hold more weight.
Testimonials
Focus on getting more reviews for your business since they matter considerably to millennials. Develop a strategy to do this and then share these on your website and social media.
Need Help with Millennial Marketing?
If your small business wants to optimize its marketing to target millennials, our digital marketing experts can help. Contact us today to get started.
