Visibility

The traditional form of marketing that had been developed and perfected throughout the 20th century is dead.  No one would think of using an old TV set from 1970, a low resolution beast that took up more space than an armchair.  It was fine at the time, but now that you can get a high definition flat screen that hangs on your wall, it would be silly to use something so outdated.  Yet everyday advertisers are doing just that, using methods that worked great at the time but have become out dated.

The days when marketers could confidently sink all their advertising dollars into traditional media such as TV and radio are dead.  The problem is the new generation of consumers, commonly referred to as Gen Y, doesn’t play by the same rules most had come to take for granted.  As a member of Gen Y myself, I can attest that I rarely watch TV unless it is Tivo’ed and I can hardly remember the last time I listened to the radio, since my iPod plugs into my car.  If by chance I am ever subject to a traditional advertisement such as a mailer, I am more annoyed by it than I am persuaded to consider a product.  In fact marketing to this generation in a traditional sense will often have the opposite of the implied effect.  Instead of showcasing your brand and all the benefits, you are showcasing that you haven’t bothered to look into what your consumer wants.

Gen Y wants to be talked to, not talked at.

The conversation should be a dialog not a lecture.  Don’t tell me why I should buy your product without first asking what I want in a product. Thanks to the prevailing force of the internet, Gen Y is more reachable than any generation before it.  Yet still companies don’t take advantage of the accessibility of Gen Y. 

Let Gen Y do the work for you.

The change most advertisers fail to grasp is that we promote products within our own groups.  We don’t rely on information that is solicited to us.  We ask friends who would know, even if we haven’t talked to our friend who is a “tech guy”, he is still our friend on Facebook, and we can ask him as easily as our friend we talk to everyday.  If we don’t have an expert friend, we can easily find an online forum that reviews you and your competitors.  Essentially, companies can’t convince Gen Y they need a product, they will decide on their own, which is why it is more important than ever to be a great company and give the consumer exactly what they want and not try to convince them they want what you have to offer. 

The power of creativity

A little creativity will go a long way in the hearts and minds on Gen Y.  Give me a product I can put my distinct mark on and I am much more likely to buy it.  Give me an ad campaign that is unique and gives me an opportunity to interact with it, and I am much more inclined to talk to my friends about it.  A great example is Apple, I love my iPhone the way most people love family members.  It has everything I could possibly ask for and more, from my customized background and theme, to my Nintendo emulator.  Apple gave me what I wanted and still gave me room to make it my own.  Plus since Apple is constantly on message with all their new and uniquely cool ad campaigns, I am proud to have people associate me with the brand when they see my iPhone. 

What can you do to reach Gen Y

Get someone who is actually part of Gen Y, to look over things.  This seems obvious, but I constantly see ad campaigns that were very obviously designed by baby boomers trying to think “hip”.   When I hear these ads I couldn’t cringe any harder if I saw my dad in a rap video.  The problem is the gap in generations is too large to be successfully navigated alone.  In the same way that a group of French students will all compliment each other on their conjugation, while a man from Paris throws up a little in his mouth just listening to them butcher his mother tongue.  When we aren’t native speakers of a language certain subtleties tend to elude us and though the errors may be small, the ramifications on overall communication can be huge.

Why care about Y?

In these tougher economic times it is important to reach this huge demographic that totals over 80 million and 200 billion dollars a year in purchasing power in the US alone.  Perhaps more importantly they are the future, as the baby boomer’s spending becomes a nominal figure, the Gen Y spending will be coming into its own.  So this is not an issue any advertiser can choose to ignore forever.  Companies will have to learn how to market to this group on their terms or risk becoming as outdated as their practices.  Though this is not a grim scenario, in fact it is a huge opportunity.  Any company that can learn to market to Gen Y effectively will have a distinct advantage over the competition, and can in fact become and stay the market leader of their industry.  Apple as a company established dominance in the young consumer market, and now droves of Gen Y consumers line up to purchase their next product.  That kind of dedication to a brand will not fade away over night, and now thanks largely to Gen Y purchasing Apple is the brand to beat, shouldn’t your company have the same advantage?