74 / 108
70 •
PPB
• DECEMBER 2014
THINK
1. Market with them, not to them.
Millennials are digitally savvy and
can spot an advertisement quickly.
Marketers need to re-examine
efforts to market to millennials, and
instead consider marketing “with
millennials.” The key is to identify
millennial advocates and work with
them.
2. Let millennials share their stories.
This generation wants to communi-
cate with everyone, and brands are
no exception. Brands must make mil-
lennials feel their voices are being
heard. They want to share their expe-
riences, so brands should allow them
to do so. When brands arm millenni-
als with content and make it easy to
share, they will happily share their
experiences with their friends and
networks.
3. Mine millennial data to improve
marketing.
Millennials are also much
less concerned about privacy com-
pared to other generations. A recent
survey by the USC Annenberg
Center for the Digital Future found
that more than 50 percent of millen-
nials would give up their personal
information in exchange for an incen-
tive, so the opportunity for brands to
collect, mine and leverage social
data to make better marketing deci-
sions is tremendous.
4. Be a brand with which they want
to be associated.
Millennials have
grown up in an age of instability—
September 11, the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars, Hurricane Katrina,
the Haiti earthquake, the housing cri-
sis and an unstable economy.
Millennials actively seek out brands
they believe are “paying it forward,”
and reject brands that fail to demon-
strate social responsibility. They won’t
advocate for just any brand—but they
will advocate for a brand they love
and want to be associated with.
5. Build long-term relationships.
Show millennials that you care about
them and they will be happy to
advocate on behalf of your brand.
Don’t reach out just once and forget
about them. Build an ongoing millen-
nial advocate communication plan.
These relationships with millennial
advocates open up the opportunity
for brands to create lifelong cus-
tomers.
Adapted from the “Millennials as
Advocates Survey” conducted by
SocialChorus, July 2013
Five Tips For Marketing To Millennials
MEET THE MILLENNIALS
201412_Millenials Feature_PPB 2013 11/13/14 12:37 PM Page 70