Strategies If Advertising To Generation Y Group
Generation Ys are those young people aged between 17 and 28 years old, the baby boomer offspring. Some sixty million strong, they are the largest influential group on the American scene since the baby boomers. While not quite as immense 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.
Some three-quarters of Generation Y go online regularly, the familiarity with this medium no doubt initiated through elementary and secondary schooling that demanded Net access as a necessity. The group's tendency to use this medium as its central communication method should encourage marketers to establish ways and means to target its users.
Generation Ys make contact via email, social networking and video, and they primarily like to send texts. Studies show that huge numbers of texts are sent by many teenagers in any given month. The majority of 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 three-quarters 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 attempts to reach the smaller Generation X group, which had to be tolerated. Generation Y, however, is becoming vast enough to impact on a boomer brand more significantly, simply by not taking any notice of it. Rival brands could also be launched to create a more significant upheaval. To achieve success in marketing to this group, then, you will need to learn what makes it tick.
Members of Generation Y have grown up in an even more technologically advanced media than the baby boomers and respond to advertising in a different way. In many instances 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 Internet, social networks, and cable TV.
When you consider the multitude of social networks online, only 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 network caters for a variety of Generation Y needs.
Older generations as well as marketers can learn a lot from these networks, to better understand who Generation Ys are and what they're about. They don't expect older generations to grasp everything about their lifestyle. They simply seek understanding and respect.
To the online marketer, then, learn about the Generation Y motivators. 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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