4 Ways CMOs Can Win Over The Millennial Generation

When it comes to customer acquisition, the best strategy is to be empathetic. Here’s what I mean: empathy is the key to understanding people’s wants and needs. Empathy is what allows you to see customers as people—instead of moving targets you’re trying to hit with loud messages. But most importantly, empathy is what helps you understand what people are struggling with, why, and how you can provide them with a meaningful solution.

Unfortunately, many CMOs don’t think this way. Especially when it comes to “targeting” the Millennial generation. Instead, the discussion centers around “going viral,” or working with the biggest social media influencers to make a new product a smash hit. And sure, those can be great forms of marketing, but they shouldn’t be the focus. If anything, those are “nice to have” circumstances, and shouldn’t be the basis for your entire marketing strategy.

Being a truly effective CMO isn’t about having the biggest ad budget, or working with A-list celebrities. It’s about understanding your customers to a point where you aren’t just capturing their attention, but earning their long-term loyalty.

If you really want to win the hearts of today’s Millennials, here are four ways for you to do just that:

1. Millennials Look For Two Things: Education Or Entertainment

According to a recent study, the average user spends at least two hours per day on social media. Whether that’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, or another social platform, there are really only two purposes to social media: you either use it to learn, or use it to be entertained. And considering “100 million hours of video content are watched on Facebook each day,” it’s clear the demand for content is only going to continue increasing.

What’s unfortunate is that most CMOs see stats like this and think, “How can we run ads to these Millennial viewers?” In reality, Millennials are constantly shifting gears between different devices to avoid ads. If an ad pops up on YouTube, they pick up their phone. If an ad plays on their phone, they leave it on their desk while they turn back to their laptop. Ads aren’t the answer.

Instead, CMOs need to think about those two purposes — education or entertainment — and how they can create content that delivers upon those wants and needs. Because the truth is, loyal engagement is the real goal. So if you can create something worth watching or following over the long term, then you’ve truly won over the customer.

There are more opportunities than ever to ignite this generation’s interest in pursuing ongoing education. SuccessLife is a decentralized, educational streaming solution that allows individuals to pursue personal and professional development programs from up 10,000 hours of streaming content. Fueled by a proprietary token, SuccessLife Tokens, remove barriers to entry and allow people to learn when and where they want.

2. Millennials Don’t Want To Feel Sold To

It’s safe to say that with how much advertising the digital age has ushered in, nobody enjoys the feeling of being sold to. But Millennials, especially, need to feel like they are being spoken to in a way that’s authentic. And part of earning that authenticity means being a brand that doesn’t just claim to be “forward thinking,” but actually is forward thinking.

According to a study by Annalect, “39% of Millennials say they are loyal to brands whose use of technology is up-to-date.” There is a lot to be said for naturally portraying the very qualities Millennial consumers value in their everyday lives. So, if you want to win over the Millennial generation with your marketing, remember to treat them as people — not consumers.

Companies like Baanx have this strategy down. Their innovative Cryptobank and crypto financial services network includes over 100 brands and has one major goal: to make cryptocurrency to be easily used in the real world. Knowing that millenials largely prefer mobile, Bannx is introducing a suite of mobile applications for ease of use.

Millennial marketing needs to be user centric and cutting edge. Companies like Baanx show how the right marketing can make a product fit right into the millennial worldview.

3. Millennials Need Value First, Before They Engage

Daniel Richmond of TicWatches.co.uk, one of the UK’s leading online designer watch retailers, believes this is part of a larger shift. “Advertising has a whole has undergone a shift from one of messaging to one of as delivering value propositions,” says Richmond. “Millennials are absolutely at the heart of that shift.”

The best CMOs know the difference. Branded conversations should always flow both ways — just like a conversation between two people. But when you think about advertising as “messaging,” you forget that people don’t want to be talked at. They want to be talked to, and with.

Today’s Millennial consumers are quick to call out brands that don’t understand how to carry a real conversation. It’s the brands that can provide value first, and can show their desire to build a meaningful connection, that build the strongest customer bases. Marketers will need to adopt new strategies and ways of thinking in order to create profitable models that conform to this idea.

For example, Zerta is implementing a customer-centric approach and aiming to solve key pains of the crypto adopters. Their team has set forth to deliver a solution which allows to trade, store, and manage both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies in a single ecosystem with customer satisfaction in the spotlight. This suite of tools is free to sign up for, offering instant value while saving users from unnecessary broker fees and time costs.

4. Millennials Are Getting Older — Which Means Their Interests Will Keep Shifting

According to the Census Bureau, the Millennial generation consists of anyone born between 1982 and 2002. Today, in 2018, this means Millennials are ages 16 to 36. That’s a broad spectrum.

“What’s important to remember is that all generations, and all customers, are always getting older,” says Jeannie Hill, CEO of Hill Web Creations. “Their interests, a.k.a. keywords don’t stay the same. Which means, as a company, even when you think you’ve figured out who your target audience is, it’s worth questioning how you can continue to grow with those audience members over time.”