A detailed survey by Magisto has shown some interesting and quite frankly, dramatic, findings about the differences in marketing preferences between Millennials and Baby Boomers for small and medium sized businesses.
Millennial Marketing Methods Vs. Baby Boomer Marketing Methods
According to the survey, virtually no Millennials would spend money on television advertising and they’re 136% more likely to create videos to market on social media than their Baby Boomer counterparts. And yet they continue to have the very same goals. Over 75% had the goal of acquiring new customers and over 50% described their marketing goals as improving brand loyalty and increasing brand awareness. Millennials’ preferences for video and social media marketing is drastically higher than their desire to market via television or print, traditional advertising methods that are still very attractive to many Baby Boomers. In fact, over half of Millennials surveyed are devoted to lifestyle storytelling expressed via video over more traditional ways to present their products and product information.
The Future
This report is just another major indicator that social media marketing, digital advertising and online video show no signs of slowing down. Millennials are responsible for much of this phenomenon. They have essentially grown up with social media and they feel comfortable and confident enough to use it for business purposes as well. They understand what is truly necessary to make meaningful connections with their target audiences on various platforms and they also know how to keep these audiences engaged through such means as personalization, authentic voices and storytelling.
Challenges
While this is the wave of now and the future, there is one challenge that must be considered for success. It must be remembered that lifestyle marketing, marketing through storytelling and content marketing for branding, marketing and advertising make it much more difficult to track results. The most effective way to apply these strategies is to ensure appropriate targeting for the right target audiences and to use key data sources to analyze the efficacy of various types of content and campaigns as well as appropriateness of marketing spending in relation to ROI.
While the majority of Millennials may be shying away from traditional advertising, it’s important to be aware of the power of a diverse marketing mix as well as the efficacy of various advertising and marketing channels based on various consumer groups. It may be natural for us to commit to online marketing today, but that doesn’t mean that small and medium sized businesses cannot also take advantage of having marketing presences in offline channels as well – particularly with it comes to marketing on a local level.
What is your take on these findings? Do you market both online and offline? How?
