Key Components of Marketing to Gen-Z Audiences
You know them, you love them, maybe you’re even a little scared of them. No matter where you stand, gen-z has a spending power of over $140 billion, which means it’s time you start shifting your marketing efforts if you want to stay relevant! Below we’ll cover the key components of marketing to Gen-Z.
Time to say hello to Gen Z! We have all heard of them before and the power they hold goes beyond social media, but they can easily be found in the digital world (especially when it comes to online shopping). So what makes a Gen Z shopper different from other generations and how can we better market our businesses to them? The answer is actually quite simple and is less about marketing and more about intentions. To be completely honest with you: Gen-Z does not care about what you’re selling or servicing as much as they care about why you’re doing it. Gen-Z will 100% hold you accountable and they want to know what your brand stands for. For example, Forbes found that 62% of Gen Z prefer to buy from sustainable brands and are willing to pay more for ethically made products.
Goodbye to the days of only buying products just for the sake of having them or because they’re household names, and hello to the importance of brand missions, personality, and most importantly your values. Gen Z wants to feel connected to not only an experience but a whole mission, so it’s no surprise that smaller independent and indie brands that offer that are what gen-z gravitates toward. Goodbye Victoria’s Secret and hello Parade!
Gen Z is shifting the way people interact and purchase products and what businesses they choose to buy from and endorse. They want to have a connection to the brand, to feel a part of it as if it was a sense of community. They want transparency and authenticity from brands in the same way they expect it from other facets of their lives. There must be a relationship with the brand that is built off of similar values, beliefs, and goals.
So how can you market your business to this new crowd?
Build a Strong Brand Personality
Let your business speak for itself by showing your true intentions. Be bold, be vocal, and show up STRONG. This is why tapping into strategies like heavy uses of user-generated content (especially video-based!!), influencers, and connection building on social media. A great example of this is Duolingo or ScrubDaddy, these are both brands that had existed for years and while sure they were popular, they didn’t necessarily have any personality tied to them. They were just a product/service. However, once they started building a presence on TikTok, solely around being troll-y and tapping into humor (the key to a gen’s heart) they immediately started getting a ton of traction and grew huge audiences as a result.
You can cultivate this personality both by what your brand posts on its pages AND how your brand interacts with other brands/people online. Whether it’s a pop-culture meme or a self-deprecating tweet, Gen-Z lives for a good laugh. Show that cheeky and fun part of your brand. Chipotle is another brand that does an incredible job at this.
Have Clear Values
If there’s one thing about Gen-Z, it’s that they will NOT support brands that aren’t standing up for what’s right. If your company does not give a clear stance on what they believe in, especially when it comes to social issues, you will have a much harder time gaining the trust of this generation. They recognize the many issues we face (climate change, systemic racism, sexism, to name a few) and they want to know that you are going to be part of the solution. With that said, they don’t expect perfection either. They want transparency more than anything, so long as you are honest about what your brand is doing or wanting to be doing to create social impact, that will be what cultivates that deep trust.
Learning to connect with this generation is a process that may require some shifts in your business, but it’s certainly worth it!
We’re here to help you build the best brand for your business! Click the link to learn more and find out what we offer to help your business!
https://www.irresistiblysocial.com
