The millennial demographic is one of the hardest audiences to market products and services to, but we all do it. Why? Because the millennials are everywhere on the web nowadays, and for most companies, they fall directly into their buyer personas according to their age and interests. Most companies innovate products and services specifically for the vast millennial demographic, but the sheer size of the market and the audience doesn’t guarantee success.

In fact, if you’re not careful, you can alienate the millennials for good. Why? Because the millennials don’t like being sold to, and they know that your main goal is to sell. So, you need to employ smarter tactics and embrace a more authentic approach to marketing and sales to appeal to your millennial demographic.

With that in mind, here are the millennial-specific digital marketing tendencies and tips you should use to market authentically to this important audience. 

Strike up a conversation instead of selling

Firstly, don’t think that you can just outright sell anything to a millennial. There are many methods out there that you can try, but if you’re not using conversational marketing, you’re always going to fall short of your goals. If you’re wondering why, it’s simply because the millennials have an intrinsic aversion to blatant marketing and sales-y content. Yes, they might need what you’re selling, but they’re not going to want it if you push your products in their face.

So, your first order of business is to focus on creating a conversation. Keep in mind that millennials are willing to engage with brands in real time via social media, chat, phone, and other channels. If you make yourself readily available to talk, respond to comments, and pose important questions, the millennial customer is going to get in touch. 

Through interaction with your posts, posting comments on social media, and sharing your stuff, the millennials are effectively marketing your brand for you. Acknowledge your audience publicly, send them emails and messages, and you will generate positive feedback.

Diversify your content and focus on the visual

Content marketing is still king in the online world, especially for the hard-to-influence millennial demographic. This audience might not care all that much about your fancy ads, but they will care about an important piece on a topic that is near and dear to their hearts. The core of your content marketing strategy for millennials should be to focus on the right values and causes.

That said, you should also be mindful of the fact that the millennials rarely have the time to read through lengthy articles. That’s why you should condense the information into easily digestible videos, tutorials, and infographics in order to capture their attention. Most importantly, videos will allow you to create a richer marketing experience, just make sure to focus on the millennial and not yourself.

Offer the best cost-effective payment methods

One of the best marketing tools at your disposal is not content or a great ad campaign, it’s the tangible perks that you offer to your audience. The millennial is a practical individual, meaning that an amazing perk on your site is much more valuable to them than fancy copywriting. Yes, they still make purchasing decisions based on emotion, but much less so than their counterparts.

For example, offering better payment options on your website is one of the best ways to market yourself and sell more. Focusing on payment diversification is especially important in competitive markets like Australia, where companies need to integrate various payment solutions for their customers.

For example, the recently popularized Fujitsu Air Conditioner Interest Free Offers With Humm90 has been making waves with the millennial consumer group because companies are able to integrate them into their payment methods and provide interest-free purchases to their customers. Saving as much as they can on online shopping is one of the priorities for any millennial, so make sure to provide this type of perk to your millennial customers in your local region and beyond.

Stand up for what’s right and emphasize sustainability

The millennials care about the preservation of the environment, the conservation of natural resources, fair trade and worker exploitation, animal welfare, and more. You can’t expect to achieve much if your business is not sustainable and eco-conscious, making sure to tick all of these boxes. 

Building and marketing a sustainable business is one of the best ways to truly influence the millennial audience, so make sure that your brand and all partners in your supply chain are sustainable. And then tell it to the world.

Reach out to the people millennials trust

Millennials might not trust you, but they may trust other people that trust you. Confused? Don’t worry, this is simply influencer marketing with a more authentic twist. For the millennial, your typical social media influencer who blatantly promotes brands just won’t do. They’re too pushy and clearly working for a profit.

But that doesn’t mean that influencer marketing doesn’t work. You simply need to pick the influencers who are more subtle in their approach, and you need to instruct them how to better promote your products or services. Make sure that your brand advocates are micro-influencers first and foremost, because the millennial won’t trust someone with millions of followers.

Create a posting schedule that focuses on subtle marketing and builds a narrative around the product. Don’t just have them slap a promo code on their post, instead, create a story and show how the product has impacted the life of the influencer, and how it can impact the life of the millennial.

Wrapping up

The millennials are a tough crowd, but that doesn’t mean that marketing and selling to them is impossible. Quite contrary, use these tips and you should have no problem influencing the millennial demographic and guiding them to a positive outcome.