Many entrepreneurs today are targeting millennials or Generation Y. There's a good reason for choosing young people as their target market due to their consumptive lifestyle.
It's no surprise that this generation dominates consumer databases. By determining your target market, you can decide which marketing strategies are suitable.
There are several things to consider if you're targeting millennial audiences. For example, you need to understand who millennials are, their characteristics, their marketing strategies, and so on.
So, before marketing, it's best to get to know the millennial generation to understand what marketing strategies are suitable for engaging them.
What is the Millennial Generation
You've probably heard of Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z. Each of these generational terms differs based on the year of birth. Generation X includes those born between 1961-1980, Generation Y between 1981-1994, and Generation Z between 1995-2010. Millennials are another name for Generation Y.
According to Katadata.co.id, the millennial population is 25.87% or equivalent to 70 million people, ranking second after Gen Z. Given this large population, this age group becomes a target market in business.
However, millennials are a diverse group. Therefore, marketing products to them is a significant challenge.
Read: Note! Here's How to Become a Successful Millennial Entrepreneur
Characteristics of Millennials
Millennials are visionary, creative, and thirsty for knowledge. They consider education important, enabling them to bring innovative ideas and master science and technology well.
This is because millennials were born amid rapid technological development. The emergence of computers, gadgets, and other technologies grew rapidly during this generation's time.
Millennials are also career-oriented. For them, work is important because they have a consumptive lifestyle. Therefore, they must work hard to support their lifestyle.
Yes, most of them are willing to spend money on new gadgets, travel and culinary tourism, buy vehicles for mobility, and so on.
So, if their job doesn't support their lifestyle, they won't hesitate to quit and choose another job that is more promising.
On the other hand, they also realize the importance of stability and saving. So, despite their consumptive lifestyle, they are smart about saving part of their income for the future, such as buying a house or property or starting a business.
Millennials as a Potential Target Market
Knowing the characteristics of millennials, there are several reasons why they are a suitable target market for entrepreneurs. Here are some of the reasons:
Consumptive
Millennials are known for their consumptive lifestyle. They don't hesitate to buy popular items. With this consumptive lifestyle, they become a promising target market for entrepreneurs.
Active social media users
Millennials are very tech-savvy. They have witnessed the development of social media and it's an integral part of their daily lives. Not only in the real world, but millennials also build connections in the virtual world.
Moreover, they find it important to connect with brands they trust through social media. This is what many entrepreneurs take advantage of, especially those who run marketing strategies using social media.
Read: Using Whatsapp Business for Social Media Marketing
Easily influenced
Being digital savvy, millennials often search for information on the internet and social media before deciding to buy something.
For example, they look for reviews about products or services and access various content relevant to their needs.
This information can easily influence them. Because of this, they become a potential target market.
Marketing Strategies Suitable for Millennials
A business targeting millennials certainly has promising potential. However, to attract their attention, you need the right and effective marketing strategies. Let's take a look at some of them.
Brand image must be Positive
Because they are tech-savvy, millennials can easily find out any information, including a brand's image. They will trust brands with positive reviews, and vice versa. So, make sure you have a good business reputation if you want to target them.
Market Segmentation
Even though they belong to one generation, millennials still have different tastes. Therefore, market segmentation is still necessary. You can find out what they like and create content that matches their preferences.
Read: Note! Here's the Most Appropriate Business Promotion Target
Implement soft selling marketing
Millennials are critical, including how they respond to product advertisements. If they find promotions that use unrealistic appeals, they will not be interested.
Because they prefer to make their own decisions. So, avoid implementing hard selling marketing strategies that tend to be forceful.
You're better off using a soft selling strategy by convincing them of the advantages of the product and also highlighting the educational side, meaning this strategy focuses not only on the product but also on the target market and what consumers need.
Involve influencers
Because they are easily influenced, you can involve influencers as a marketing strategy to attract millennials. Influencers have the ability to influence their followers on social media.
However, make sure the influencers you collaborate with are relevant to your business and have a good reputation as well as followers who actively interact with them.
Utilize cashless payment systems
Millennials prefer cashless payment systems when transacting. They consider this system more practical than cash. So, you should implement a cashless payment system if you want to attract millennial interest.
With cashless, consumers no longer have to bother carrying a lot of cash in their wallets. Additionally, transactions can be safer, guaranteed, and faster. For entrepreneurs, digital payments are also more practical and transaction records become more accurate with fewer errors.
If you have a business and want to have a more convenient digital payment system, you can rely on the online cashier application from Opaper that will help make business transactions faster, more practical, and easy.
With Opaper, you can immediately get a beautiful menu that customers can access from any gadget, without having to download an app first. They can scan a QR code to see the menu, order, and pay directly for dine-in, takeout, or delivery.
Not only for streamlining operational systems and automatic menu updates, but you'll also get a beautiful website and catalog to showcase your menu at your restaurant or cafe, along with social media and Google Maps. And there are many more interesting features.
So, register your business with Opaper. Or you can download the app through the Play Store and App Store.