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Generation Z is becoming a larger consumer segment, and it’s more important than ever to learn how to market to it.
Millennials are still the generation with the most buying power and prioritizing your marketing efforts toward them might still be the best idea if they are a significantly larger percentage of your customers.
But if you think your business’ audience will shift to the newest generation in the market - Generation Z - it’s time to adapt.
Hint: It probably will.
A few years ago, it was a generation that only a small minority of companies had to prioritize.
And that’s because most Gen Zers were still too young to spend significant amounts of money on their own. But the oldest members are now in their early 20s, and they’re about to graduate from college.
The game is changing.
Now that Gen Z is graduating from college, it’s becoming part of the workforce. And why is that important? Because their earning power is increasing, and thus, their buying power.
For this reason, many businesses are planning to shift their focus to younger consumers.
But even as of now, Gen Z’s buying power has already become considerable. They have a direct buying power of approximately $44 billion, and that doesn’t even take into account the influence that they have on the spending of other family members in their household.
Get prepared, by 2021, they’re expected to account for a whopping 40% of the consumer market.
Are you ready to face the change?
Traditional Marketing Methods Don’t Work as Well. Adapt.
As you’ll learn in this article, traditional marketing methods that work with baby boomers, and to a certain extent, with millennials, work much less with Gen Zers.
Gen Zers move much more quickly and have been living with a phone in their hands all of their life. They know when you’re trying to sell them something for the sake of selling, and they hate it.
You’re going to need a much more delicate and inbound approach if you want to reach their hearts - and their wallets.
Popping an intrusive, flashy ad in their face is probably not going to cut it. Instead, you’d be much better off by being authentic and relatable, using marketing strategies such as storytelling, and by following the tips we’re about to show you.
It’ll take some time for your business to adapt to this age group. But at least in many ways, they’re similar to millennials because they’re also very tech-savvy, and because they’ve lived with technology from a young age.
However, as you’ll soon discover, Gen Z is a completely different generation, and their customer behavior differs in some ways more than in others.
Are you ready to learn what it takes to market to Generation Z?
Let’s dive in!
Build Trust
Gen Zers grew up with the internet. They’re used to an environment where everybody is trying to get their attention, and they are savvy enough to quickly discard ‘salesy’ ads that are clearly trying to sell them a product.
They have developed thick filters that require a human touch to be bypassed. To acquire this human touch, marketers have to take a more personal and relaxed approach.
To succeed, you need to find ways to build trust, and then let your Gen Z customers know, in a relatable way, about the benefits that they could get if they acquire your products.
Key: You need to give them the impression that you’re a trusted source recommending them a solution, and not a marketer trying to sell them a product for the sake of making a profit.
If you can’t give them this impression, then it’ll be hard to sell to Gen Z.
Just like with millennials, you’re going to have to take an Inbound approach, not an Outbound approach. Use storytelling, create a relationship with your customers, be authentic, and speak on a human level.
Gen Z is much more likely to purchase products recommended by trustful resources, which leads me to my next point:
Gen Z Knows How to Research
The buying process for Gen Z is different. Indeed, different age groups prefer to pay for goods and services differently. Before, information about products and services was much more limited, and previous generations would make many of their choices based on what the sellers had to say.
Now, younger audiences use social media and search engines to find information about the products that they’d like to purchase.
Let me show you an example of what happens if a baby boomer vs. a Gen Zer sees an ad about a pair of sunglasses:
Baby Boomer sees sunglass ad, considers the item, and there’s a possibility that it’ll click and make a purchase.
Gen Zer sees the ad, considers getting a pair of sunglasses, and then googles “top 10 modern looking sunglasses 2019”, and ends up getting a completely different pair of glasses.
They know how to do their research, and pick products based on trustful resources (in this case, resources found on google).
So, find a way to become part of their buying process.
How do your customers do product research? Is there anything you can do to make them find your products in their research process?
Get your product recommended on Twitter or included in a blog post. Give away free samples to mini-influencers in the hopes that they’ll spread the word.
Short Attention Span
The younger the generation, the shorter the attention span.
It’s common knowledge amongst experienced marketers that millennials have very short attention spans when it comes to ads. The strategy to deal with this type of behavior has been to capture their attention very quickly, in a time frame of under 10 seconds or so.
Generation Z, unsurprisingly, has an even shorter attention span. To capture their attention, your ads have to be direct, concise, and to the point.
Mobile apps and user interfaces better be responsive if they want Gen Zers to stay on board. After all, they’re incredibly impatient and don’t want to deal with slow loading speeds.
A survey revealed that almost half of Gen Zers consider that the most important thing when shopping is the capacity to find things quickly. They also said (more than 60% percent of them) that they would not use apps that load slowly or that are hard to navigate.
Impatience, high expectations, call it whatever you want. These digitally native youngsters just don’t want to wait.
Their inability to wait is so severe that Gen Z’s attention span is estimated to be 8 seconds. In comparison, millennials have a span of 12 seconds.
It’s not necessarily that they have an inability to concentrate. It could also be seen as a sophisticated, fast-acting filter that helps them find relevant content quickly.
And that might make you wonder: How do I create content that gets their attention?
If you make a blog post, make it short and snackable. If you make a video, get to the point quickly and make it interesting right from the beginning.
If your content doesn’t get their attention right away, they’ll skip right through. Your only option is to hook them quickly.
Mobile First
Gen Z’s favorite device is the smartphone. 75% percent of them chose the mobile phone as the device that they use the most in a survey by IBM.
Therefore, it’s crucial for your business to be mobile optimized:
- Your content should look great on a small screen.
- Your site should be fully mobile optimized.
- Your checkout process should be as simple as possible.
Prioritize mobile above all else. Remember that most of them are used to having a phone in their hands since they were 12 years old.
And they’re not just using their phones - they’re abusing them for hours. In fact, 55% of them are on their phones for more than 5 hours a day.
Using TV and magazine ads to reach the younger generations is not a good idea anymore. Most of the content they see is at an arm’s reach in their phones, often shown through a wide selection of social media sites.
Since phones can be carried around easily, it’s not hard to spend a lot of time using them. After all, you can use them anywhere, anytime.
So reach them through their phones. It’s your best bet.
How to Market to Generation Z: Understanding Global Trends and Consumer Behavior.
Generation Z is a digitally native generation, which means that its members have been using technology since they were born. This inevitably means that they are the generation of kids who have been marketed to the most.
Marketing to them is different, and your business will need some time to adapt. But with the tips in this article, you should have an idea of the shift that your business will have to take.
Did you learn anything new about Gen Z? Is there another strategy that you consider important when marketing to these youngsters?
- Top 5 Tips for Businesses Selling Directly-to-Consumers
- How Does Internet Marketing Benefit Consumers?
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