While maintaining a positive business reputation has always been a very professional task, the trends and technology of the twenty-first century have added a personal element to the mix. Now, marketing your business and appealing to your target audience also entails maintaining a personable image and more intimate relationship with them. This new element is reflective of the emergence of technology and research that has allowed for more personalized messaging in marketing strategies. In this post we’ll go over this more “millennial-style” marketing and how to incorporate it into your business strategy.
What is Millennial-Style Marketing?
Millennial-style marketing is a more personalized form of marketing. It is important for your company to show professionalism and to align with current consumer trends. However, trends and preferences will vary for each industry and target audience. For example, some companies have capitalized on our dependency on cell phones, while others have leaned on referencing political messages to gain a more united and loyal customer base. Regardless of the path they choose, the strategy here is that of engaging current and potential customers using themes that are familiar or important to them, creating relationships that blur the lines of professionalism. In essence, this is a very “millennial” approach to marketing.
Millennial-style marketing often involves humor, wit, or references to everyday living, such as with the Instagram post below.
Millennial-Style Marketing Through Business Culture
Traditional marketing has typically involved communicating a message from the company straight to the audience, but millennial-style marketing is adding the employees to the conversation. Businesses today can demonstrate their values and distinguish themselves from their competitors simply through the environment they create for their employees.
Whether it’s a startup that posts on Facebook about craft beer Fridays, or a Google campus where you can take a break from your desk to nap in one of their iconic sleeping pods, these perks are not just a living testament to the adaptability that modern business practices have come to require; they are also strategies used by companies to show their audience what (and who) they care about. If they treat their employees (whom they pay) this well, then they must treat their paying customers even better. Millennial-style marketing helps to attract more customers through showcasing a fun and healthy office culture.
Related: Free Instagram eBook
Personalized Marketing Through Branding
As mentioned above, millennial-style marketing is a form of creative and personalized marketing. It involves promoting a fun environment for the internal members of the company, but what does it look like for public-facing brand and image?
Many major companies have undergone branding ‘facelifts’ in the last year or so, to better align with the new trends and practices of the twenty-first century. They stay true to the core messages and values they ground their company in, but incorporate a modern twist with their language and style.
Today, consumers (many of whom are millennials) are looking for a simple, “fresh” look, more so than the flashy, busy logos from the past decade. Companies are therefore rebooting their presence by changing their logo, colors, and other details like type font.
Here’s a quick run down of changes you can make to personalize your marketing:
- Update color schemes and logos to be clean and simple.
- Be interactive on social media. After all, it is social.
- Get out in your community as a company. Make known the causes you care about, and give your audience the opportunity to support the causes they care about too.
- Make your public image inviting and engaging. Don’t just talk to your audience, create a dialogue with them and invite their comments and feedback.
- Pride yourself on your company culture, and let it show.
Take advantage of today’s technology to spice up your business reputation with elements of personality, humor, and fun. This way, you can connect with your target audience and stand out above the crowd.
