5 Tips for Marketing to Gen Z
Gen Z is entering adulthood, and their buying power will soon become the largest of any generation. But Gen Z’s habits, and especially their relationship to technology, diverge widely from Millenials, Gen X, and Boomers. What do you need to know to market to this group successfully?
Generation Z was born in the late 1990s to the early 2010s (exact years vary depending on who you ask), and is rapidly coming of age. By 2023, Gen Z will number 74 million people in the United States alone.
Ready to learn how to market to Gen Z and convert them into customers?
Follow Fundamental Best Practices First
First things first, there’s no magic formula. Not all members of Gen Z think and act the same, and pretending they do won’t help much. With inbound marketing, there’s no substitute for defining buyer personas based on your business’s target market.
When strategizing about marketing to Gen Z, create at least one buyer persona in this age group. Remember, your Gen Z persona does not represent an entire generation. They represent the interests, problems, and desires of one type of person who could become your customer.
Also, always consider your perspective and goals as a business. If your product or service appeals primarily to retirees, for example, you may not need a Gen Z buyer persona. On the other hand, if your brand aims to solve problems for people entering adulthood, you may need several.
Now that you’ve considered buyer personas, let’s talk strategy. We know Gen Z is diverse and has varied interests, but what collectively sets them apart from previous generations? Our top 5 tips will help get you started.
1. Strive to Entertain
Members of Gen Z are the first “digital natives,” people born and raised with technology at their fingertips. In part because of this, they tend not to distinguish as much between different types of content. Consider that years ago, video advertising used to come only during scheduled commercial breaks. Gen Z’s reality is much different.
They have been bombarded with content their entire lives, with marketing messages taking many different forms. It’s necessary to stand out to get their attention. One surefire way to do this? Entertain them.
Content that grabs the viewer’s attention within the first few seconds is best. Consider video tutorials for social media, behind-the-scenes content giving an honest look into your brand, and helpful resources framed with a sense of humor.
2. Use Short-Form Video
Gen Z consumes more videos than their older counterparts, particularly short-form. Given their high usage rates of YouTube and TikTok, they often expect short videos with features such as music, visual effects, and text overlays.
Include video marketing in your strategy from the start, and keep your videos to 15 seconds or less for best results. Instagram Reels and TikTok work well for your polished videos, while Instagram stories can help create a more personal connection with your audience.
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3. Highlight Your Brand’s Values and Beliefs
On average Gen Z cares more than older generations about what businesses stand for, and how they contribute to the greater good. Before marketing to Gen Z, consider your brand’s values and vision, and think about how to communicate them to your audience.
If you haven’t already, make the mission of your business publicly available. Better yet, incorporate your beliefs into your content strategy so viewers start to associate your brand with those values.
As a side benefit, the more you care about the content you create, the more authentic it becomes. Gen Z views brands skeptically, looking for proof of their values in what they do, not only what they say. So stick to your mission and spread the word about how you’re trying to make positive change.
4. Create Community
Brands often fall into the trap of marketing on auto-pilot. But especially with social media marketing, don’t forget communication goes both ways. Gen Z expects to interact more than previous generations.
Consider interactive options such as polls, quizzes, and Q&A sessions. Solicit feedback and monitor comment sections for opportunities to start conversations.
Other ways to jumpstart community include influencer marketing, which can help your audience see themselves in your brand, and user-generated content, which gives your audience a stake and a feeling of belonging.
In the near future, Gen Z might help accelerate a more fundamental change in social media. Research shows they are more comfortable with community-based platforms such as Discord and Twitch over more traditional social media.
5. Consider TikTok
When it comes to which social media platforms to focus on, the old rules no longer apply. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can still give you results, but don’t stop there.
One of the top social networks for Gen Z? TikTok. Fully 60% of TikTok’s users are in Gen Z. Known for less formal and more spontaneous content, TikTok can help your business connect with customers on a human level.
Joining a new social platform can also help refresh your brand image. Given TikTok’s emphasis on short-form video and humorous content, it’s a great place to experiment with tips 1-4 on this list.
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How Not to Annoy Your Customers on the Buyer Journey
At GoViral our marketing work is built on a solid foundation: the buyer journey. Website tools like cookies, pop-ups and widgets can help you meet your buyers where they are, but too many websites today do too much.
Fortunately, there’s a way to stop annoying your customers. Keep the buyer journey front and center when planning your website strategy. This will help you meet your buyers where they are, rather than simply throwing everything and the kitchen sink at them when they walk through the door.
What Is the Buyer Journey?
Simply put, the Buyer Journey is a buyer’s path to purchase. Customers don’t just spontaneously appear. They move through a process of research and consideration before deciding to purchase.
There are five stages to a buyer journey. First comes Awareness that a problem exists. Second, Research to try to solve the problem. Third, Consideration of one or more options. Fourth, Purchase of a product or service that solves the problem. The final stage is Post-Purchase, when a buyer reflects on their purchase and has the potential to become a loyal customer.
To map out the most accurate buyer journey, you’ll need to identify your buyer personas. Head over to our Buyer Persona Guide to learn how. Creating buyer personas can be a helpful reminder that your potential customers are people, not numbers.
Now that we know how to start building our strategy, let’s take a look at the different types of pop-ups you might put on your website.
Make Cookie Notices Compliant and Unintrusive
Let’s talk cookies. Cookies are text files that collect information about website visitors, usually in an attempt to improve the user experience. Most websites that use cookies (hint: if you use Google Analytics, you use cookies) are required to notify visitors and explain how their information is used. In some areas, including Europe, website owners are required to get consent in order to use optional cookies (cookies not necessary for the functioning of your site).
When required, cookie notices must be displayed to every first-time visitor. This means you can’t segment your visitors based on where they are in the buyer journey. You might think first-time visitors are all in the Research phase, but some may have interacted with your brand through a different channel. Some even may have made a purchase already. Perhaps they purchased in person but never visited your website, or perhaps they cleared all the cookies in their browser and are starting from scratch.
The point is, the cookie notice is a pop-up that can’t be reliably mapped to the buyer journey. So instead, focus on 1) fulfilling regulatory requirements and 2) choosing a pop-up that covers as little of the page as possible. Consult your legal team to ensure you’re following regulations, and opt for a banner-style pop-up, preferably placed in the footer. A pop-up that covers your entire page obscures important information and is more likely to annoy your visitors.
Add Help Widgets Only Where Necessary
If you want to install a help widget on your website, consider which pages will attract visitors looking for help. Leave the widget off all other pages.
Of course, consider your brand. If the entire purpose of your website is to provide live help, and this is clear to visitors, you’re probably an exception to the rule.
Place your help widget at the bottom of the page. Visitors typically read a page top down and left to right. By placing the widget at the bottom, you give your audience a chance to find the information they need first. Only after scanning the page will they reach help, which they can bypass if they no longer need it.
As far as the look of your help widget, make sure it fits your branding without blending into the page. Use contrasting colors to make sure the widget stands out for those who need it, as well as for those who just need to find the close button.
Target Newsletter Pop-Ups to Visitors in the Later Stages of the Buyer Journey
Are you trying to get more subscribers to your newsletter or other regularly published content? Newsletter pop-ups rarely make sense on the homepage of your website.
Exceptions: maybe your website is a sub-site intended for loyal customers. Or maybe you’re able to display the pop-up only for visitors who have been to your site multiple times (or based on different parameters you set). Some Content Management Systems such as Hubspot allow you to target pop-ups in this way, which you should use to your advantage.
Many marketers value newsletter sign-ups highly because you are collecting email addresses of people interested in your brand. Considering email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to reach buyers, you should treat the people behind those emails as respected, valuable contacts. Make sure to include a clear Call to Action on your newsletter sign-up, and enough clarifying information that visitors understand what they’re signing up for.
CASE STUDY: PharmaLedger
In February 2021 our client PharmaLedger came to us with a request. A consortium exploring blockchain technology’s application to real-world health care challenges, they like many brands were struggling to gain subscribers to their monthly newsletter.
They didn’t want to annoy their visitors with an intrusive pop-up, but we came up with a solution: a pop-up from the footer that appears only when visitors leave the site.
The chart below shows total newsletter subscribers, with a sharp increase after we made the pop-up live in February 2021.
Use Video Auto-Plays Sparingly
Do you have embedded videos on your website? Unless the primary purpose of your page is to play video, you should probably opt-out of auto-play.
The key, once again, is to put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. Why are they visiting the page in question? If it’s a landing page only accessible from a link that makes it clear they’re clicking to watch a video, auto-play is a great option! If your page serves different functions for different visitors (like most pages), leave it to the visitor to decide whether to play the video.
Video auto-plays can doubly annoy visitors with images and sound, so tread lightly. Remember, your website may allow you to track click percentages or how many seconds a video is played. This information is impossible to gather if the video auto-plays.
Want expert guidance on leading your customers through the buyer journey? Contact us to request a proposal.
The Importance of Buyer Personas
Too often marketers and business owners forget that their targets are people, NOT numbers. But, you can’t expect to reach engaged customers without first identifying your Buyer Persona.
The concept of buyer personas is one of the most overlooked areas when it comes to a company’s marketing strategy. I can’t tell you how many times over the last 10 years of GoViral, I’ve asked a client who they are selling to, who their IDEAL buyer is, and they tell me something along the lines of “men and women between 18 and 65 in the UK interested in fitness.” As an inbound marketer, I NEED to know who I’m talking to in order to attract, convert and delight them. How do I talk to a “men and women between 18 and 65?” What basis do I have to understand their needs or their problems?
One of the first things I learned in sales is that if you just tell someone all the great things you do, then you are just telling them features. If you first take the time to simply LISTEN and find out what their needs are and then match your offering to those needs, then you are describing benefits. People buy benefits, not features. Yet business owners are so quick to pass over that step and narrow down on a human, authentic ideal customer to target.
Their fear is that if I make them narrow down a specific persona to target, then they won’t be able to reach other audiences. But that’s not what happens. When I identify a buyer persona, I can create content that speaks to them. So yeah, the money spent on this targeting is going to give you the best return. But do you know what else it does? It also creates content, copy, images and voice that sounds authentic. Content that speaks in a helpful and caring way. Content that brings customers.
Instead of being that person who enters a room and wants to tell everyone as loudly as possible how great they are to all the “men and women between 18 and 85,” be the person who’s done their research before they entered the party and take the time to listen and offer great advice to the people who would benefit the most. This will create a healthy buyer journey that gives you the most bang for your buck. Here’s how.
-Belinda Filippelli, Managing Director at GoViral Digital
Your buyer persona is a huge part of successful Inbound Marketing. Instead of wasting time and resources to market to the masses (outbound marketing), tailoring your content to attract potential buyers (inbound marketing) “looking” for your product or service can save you a lot of time, effort (and $$). Inbound marketing can be viewed as a cycle: attract, engage, delight. You attract potential customers and engage with them with interesting content, and then delight them by addressing their problems (usually through your product/service). But in order to engage with your audience in a way that will convert, you have to be sure you’re talking to the right people. This is your buyer persona.
What Is A Buyer Persona?
Buyer Personas are fictional representations of your ideal customers based on real data about demographics and online behavior.
When creating your buyer persona(s), it’s important to go beyond the traditional demographics. You should include aspects such as behavior patterns, motivations, goals, and any other factors that would further clarify who your target is. The more detailed you are, the better.
A detailed buyer persona will help you determine where to focus your time. As a result, it will facilitate your ability to attract the most valuable visitors, leads, and customers to your business, and keep them brand loyal by ensuring you use the right voice.
It’s the difference between making a few one-time sales, and making a community of brand-loyal customers who will continue to convert.
Questions to Ask When Creating A Buyer Persona
To get started, think about the different facets of your buyer persona’s life: personal, professional, values and fears, goals and challenges, and use this to better understand how to speak and sell to your audience. Below are some good starter questions we use at GoViral.
After you’ve established the foundations of your buyer persona, you can even take it further to really get down to understanding what drives them by considering any objections they might have, and how you could convince them otherwise.
Tying it Together
Once you’ve gotten this far, you’re ready to start putting the pieces together to make the story of your buyer persona! Here’s a brief example of one buyer persona (often, you will have multiple!) we came up with for an e-commerce client, The Clean Living Company, a health food and supplement company specialising in organic bone broth and collagen supplements.
Be Flexible
Once you’ve got your buyer persona down, don’t be afraid to change it. After you get things moving, you might realise an aspect of your buyer persona that you were way off on. Maybe you’ve seen some reservations you didn’t account for in your initial strategy? Maybe you have a totally different audience interested in your product or service that you didn’t initially account for? That’s great! Marketing is an ever-changing process, so it’s important to be flexible and willing to make updates and improvements as time goes on.
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