Know Your Targets
Marketing smarter in the new millennium
VFC specializes in bringing smart growth solutions to the SMB sector. Just like large corporations, small and medium business can be strategic, creative, position and target. They can do everything a Fortune 500 company can do, and more, with planning.
VFC develops objectives, marketing plans and creative briefs for our clients with the goal of reaching specific targets but it’s important that clients understand their targets and their motivations.
Motivations are what drive people to take consumer action and they are influenced by a variety of factors, not the least of which is generational trending. While Baby Boomers are still significant targets for most marketing, that group is shrinking while Generation X comes into strong market influences and Millennials are leading the social commerce movement.
In fact, Millennials are more likely than any other group to like/follow/pin companies and brands, and are more likely to be enticed by coupons and discounts often using mobile phones and tablets. Millennials are multi-channel shoppers, buying both online and in-store, and they are the fastest growing generation of potential consumers for small and medium-sized businesses.
According to a recent study, Millennials are active online in ways that allow them to connect, organize, stay informed and shop. They spend more money on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest than other groups, making them the ones to watch as social commerce surges forward. Other key findings of this study include:
These are some of the key findings of social media study, “Millennials Drive Social Commerce: Changing a Like, Follow or Pin into a Sale,” conducted by Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., and Ava Lescault, of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Dr. Barnes is a Senior Fellow and Research Co-Chair of the Society for New Communications Research.
Millennials pick and choose, not only which information they will be exposed to, but how the information is delivered. By liking, following and pinning specific brands, Millennials are customizing their exposure to advertising based on their preferences.
Is your brand right for Millennial targets? As that generation comes into consumer power, flexing their social networking muscles and the others start to shrink, it’s time to evaluate how your brand can speak to the motivations of consumers aged 15 – 34 – they think differently and have different motivations.
