Youth marketing is a big focus for many consumer facing businesses today because this audience typically has a higher disposable income than other age groups, from buying clothes to food, drink and entertainment. Students alone contribute an estimated £20 billion to the UK economy every year. As a result, brands have spent years trying to understand how best to communicate to younger generations by gaining insight into their daily lives, habits and attitudes. They are a challenge to engage with and a big splash ad campaign is no longer enough.
In a recent survey, Lidl, Pizza Express, Schuh and YouTube were rated as some of the most popular brands amongst youths. This is mainly due to the fact that they identify their interests and successfully incorporate this in their marketing, or simply provide quality products and services at good value.
But what can you do to catch the attention of this lucrative market?
Young people are big users of social media – 97% use Facebook and 45% are on Twitter. Those that ‘follow’ brands on the likes of Facebook will usually want something in return such as free products, promotional offers or the opportunity to enter competitions, so it’s always worth considering these. It’s also about making your content as interactive as possible. Virals and online games for example, can be a great way for customers to interact with brands providing an entertaining and fun experience. For some inspiration, some of the best viral videos can be found here.
According to research by The Beans Group young people like brands that make life more convenient for them. This means that using the right channel to target them is critical and more often than not this will be mobile. Ofcom reported that four in ten (39%) adults now own a smartphone with 42% regularly using social networking sites and 51% using e-mail. In addition, the time spent using the internet on mobile devices has dramatically increased. Teenagers and young adults are leading these changes, so it’s essential to target them via these channels.
You might think that mobile and digital marketing is dominated by bigger brands, but it’s actually a great way for smaller businesses to better target younger audiences and it can be done quickly and cost-effectively. Through a combination of setting up mobile optimised sites, allowing customers to pay for products and services instantaneously on their devices or even implementing QR codes that can be scanned to retrieve more information, you will be able to increase your chances of getting noticed. By identifying the best way to approach this interconnected environment that youths are so drawn to, your business has the potential to become part of the wallpaper of modern life – those that fail to do so will be discarded into the trash bin. Ultimately, if you become part of their daily routine, you can then enjoy the healthy profit margins brought in by the youths of today.
The post Targeting Youths: How to crack the 16-24s appeared first on pbSmart™ Essentials.