With more competition than ever before, establishing robust brand awareness in the millennial demographic is a must for businesses of all sizes. Unfortunately, with so many different options, companies often find themselves suffering from paralysis by analysis.
Why Brand Awareness Among Millennials Matters So Much
Millennials have officially surpassed baby boomers as America’s largest generation. And, before too long, they will hold more wealth than any generation in history ever has. Along with that wealth comes spending power and the ability to make or break businesses and entire industries.
Cheap marketing is all the rage right now. Brands are looking for the cheapest possible ways to increase impressions and clicks while keeping the cost per acquisition down. And while there’s nothing wrong with this approach – these are key metrics of successful marketing – it often breeds shortsighted strategies. In the pursuit of cheap results, marketers often use cheap techniques. Brand awareness is often the casualty, which is a costly mistake for companies that need the buy-in and support of millennials.
Brand awareness is ultimately the probability that a customer recognizes your brand, product, or service when it’s time to purchase. In fast-moving, highly-saturated markets where businesses want instant gratification, it can be tempting to skip over establishing brand awareness. However, it’s a critical factor in grabbing attention.
“When it comes to purchasing decisions, studies show that the brands consumers recognize most are more likely to be included in their consideration sets,” writes Revecka Jallad of Forbes Council. “In fact, 75% of shoppers said they are more likely to purchase from a company that knows their name and purchase history.”
When you zoom in to look at millennials in particular, 76 percent say they’re “more likely to trust a new product if it’s made by a brand they already know.” In other words, brand awareness has a direct impact on purchase decisions.
If you want to build your brand for the long haul and set it up for success, building brand awareness is a must. And while it’s admittedly easier said than done, there are plenty of techniques you can use to accelerate your results.
4 Tips for Driving Brand Awareness With Millennials
Every brand is going to have a unique approach that requires careful, tactful execution. But when you think in broad terms of connecting with the millennial demographic, here are several helpful tips:
1. Create Compelling Content
Content is the cornerstone of online brand visibility. Engaging, valuable content draws people in and fosters connection. In order to be successful, you need compelling ideas as well as diverse formats. This may include a combination of blogs, videos, infographics, podcasts, and interactive content to cater to different audience preferences.
When carving out a content strategy, make it a point to conduct keyword research so you understand what your audience is looking for. You can then develop content around those topics. This will increase your relevancy and appeal to different corners of your niche.
At the end of the day, creating compelling content that lifts your brand awareness is more about quality than quantity. Focus on creating high-quality content that will deliver long-term value, rather than a bunch of cheap, fleeting content that has no relevance after a few days.
If you want to ensure your content gets more eyeballs on it, you’ll want some sort of public relations strategy that helps you secure placement. A PR company, like Rankin PR, can use their network to both write and facilitate placement of those articles in top-tier publications. This is something that the average brand has trouble doing on a consistent basis.
2. Embrace Social Media
With baby boomers and Gen Xers, there will always be some innate level of hesitancy and distrust of social media. That’s not the case with millennials – they put their complete faith in it, as it’s what they’ve known for most of (if not all) their lives.
Winning with social media marketing isn’t not just about “going viral” and getting as many impressions as possible. When utilized correctly, it’s also very much a 1-to-1 engagement tool.
Foster engagement with millennial users by initiating conversations, responding promptly to comments and messages, and creating shareable content. Leverage user-generated content and user testimonials to build trust and credibility. You can do this through a combination of content that’s educational, entertaining, and promotional.
3. Stop Selling and Start Telling…Stories
If your marketing is built around hard sales pitches, you’re going to find it challenging to truly connect with millennials in a meaningful way.
“As consumers, millennials are less likely to fall for traditional pitches and high-pressure sales tactics,” Sparklight explains. “They’re wired to learn, and they expect businesses to provide insights and access to information that helps them understand the brands they’re buying from.”
The key to building brand awareness with millennials is to get good at telling compelling stories. This can come in the form of feature stories, client testimonials, or even long-form video. (In fact, video might be the most effective option when you’re pursuing millennials, as they tend to connect with it better than any other content medium.)
4. Optimize With SEO Tactics
While it’s arguably getting more difficult to rank for search in a world where thousands of websites are created on a daily basis, it’s still something that’s possible and worth pursuing.
A good search engine optimization (SEO) strategy will give you a chance to earn organic clicks and visibility for your brand – even if you don’t have a massive advertising budget. This makes it one of the most helpful things you can do.
Adding it All Up
Building brand awareness with millennials is a long-term play that requires persistence, patience, and a willingness to stay true to your brand identity while regularly pivoting and adapting to new strategies.
When you combine brand awareness with strategic marketing and advertising, good things happen. It’s probably better to get started sooner rather than later!
