Getting Your Message Through

Their buying power is astounding and this group are by far the most cashed up generation of youngsters ever. Added to this, very few of the under 30’s are subject to the financial ‘shackles’ of mortgages or young families. As such, they are a commercial force to be reckoned with. Those who can understand them and communicate with them most effectively stand to win and win big!

Be warned, however, that this well informed and highly educated group are not easy to woo. They are savvy to the tools and tricks of advertisers and require more than a stroking of their brand-conscious egos. Getting a message to Gen Y through the thick haze of media and noise that surrounds them requires a certain set of skills and understanding. Furthermore, it requires a commitment to offering more than simply good value or competitive pricing.

In order to craft a message that will win over the hearts and debit cards of Gen Y, it must be:

1. Entertaining
   Having grown up with more rich media and quality entertainment than any generation previous, Gen Y expect advertising messages to be an art form in themselves. Simply outlining features and benefits is not enough - you need to shock, impress and most of all entertain this group if your message is to make a mark.
2. Authentic
   Gen Y have a finely tuned ‘BS Meter’. Overly audacious claims and sweeping statements that lack substance will only lead to scepticism. Steer clear of using the 99.9% figure in any marketing with this group... it is perceived as just too convenient to be true. The secret is to be real and transparent with Gen Y.

   Everybody likes to feel they are being treated as a smart, informed consumer. It should come as no surprise that this is especially true of younger generations who seem to turn their noses up at anything that smells remotely of manipulation or even over-confidence in a product. Sometimes pointing out the obvious and engaging in self-deprecating humour is the most effective way to disarm this group of consumers. Remember – Gen Y know that you are marketing to them so don’t try and hide it.

3. Subtle
   The best marketing messages for Gen Y are the ones that don’t appear to be marketing anything at all. The litmus test of whether your advertisement will work for this younger group is to first show the ad to their parents. If the older generation are left asking what the point or the product is, you may be on a winner.
4. Vital And Organic
   The internet has changed everything when it comes to getting a message, product or idea past the ever-critical tipping point. Be careful not to market at Gen Y but rather focus effort and attention on turning ideas into ‘epidemics’ by helping customers do the marketing for you via viral word of mouth (or click of mouse). The key way to hone a message in is actually to market through and not to. Create a video, an idea or a scandal that gets your market talking, sharing or debating and you will get the attention of younger people.
5. Principled
   If you look closely at Gen Y and what they are choosing to fill their lives with, you will see that they aren’t as flippant and naive as their reputation suggests. Key purchasing motivators for Gen Y will often include the social conscience, environmental sustainability and ethics of a brand.
6. Relational
   Gen Y spend the bulk of their time doing one thing online... building community. For this group, a sense of connectedness, togetherness and ‘tribe’ is absolutely key. If marketers can effectively use symbols, images and language of community and relationship in their marketing messages, Gen Y will typically pay more attention.
7. Narrative-driven
   Younger generations are typically described as being ‘post modern’ in their mindset. Defined as world view characterised by a belief that all truth is relative, post modernism is typified by the notion that experience is king. As such, the mantra of a post modern generation is ‘don’t tell me it’s right, show me it works’. The best way to get a message through to a post modern consumer is to use stories. Facts, evidence, pie charts and experts can make them wary and adversarial, but the sharing of a real person’s experience will work almost every time. Using genuine, unedited and somewhat raw testimonials from people who seem ‘just like them’ will be a powerful form of influence with this group.

Marketing has come a long way from the newspaper advertisements that read more like an engineer’s spec sheet or a sales rep’s one-page. Gone are the days where features or benefits alone persuaded the consumer. Marketers today need to be far more sophisticated and strategic if they are to get a message through to a generation who have so many options and are surrounded by so much noise.

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