Back-to-School: Marketing to Millennials 101

College towns look a little different when the end of August hits. Campus is suddenly more crowded than shopping malls or swimming pools. Now that it’s back-to-school season, college kids line up for used books and school-age children stock up on crisp uniform shirts and the latest gadgets. As they prep for the school year, your company can (and should be) tailoring its marketing strategy to suit them.

The back-to-school season means it’s time to get back to marketing basics, like knowing your audience. Today’s lesson will teach you the fundamentals of marketing to millennials. But first, a word of caution: don’t underestimate the spending power of millennials. Businesses with older marketing managers make the mistake of ignoring them because it’s easy to speak the language of their own generation. Communicating with an age group very unlike themselves doesn’t come naturally, but it can be learned (even by you!) 

Study Group

If you were to make up flashcards to remind you of millennials’ shopping and spending preferences, they’d surely include the following hallmarks of the 18 to 28 year old demographic.

To begin with, millennials expect to interact with their brands. The more you invite their input the more likely they’ll consider you one of their brands. Post questions on your social media outlets, for example, and show them how you’ll implement changes based on their positive or negative feedback. Millennials are also immersed in digital culture—print and online marketing that doesn’t mesh will hurt your credibility. Always try to find a creative way to mix print and digital marketing, aiming for niche crowds will usually help you focus creative energy to make a bigger impact.

Double Major

Yes, marketing was simpler when there were fewer marketing channels. But it was a lot less interesting—and millennials agree with us.

Grip your millennial audience by diversifying your marketing plan. For example, print QR codes on marketing materials and direct individually minded millennials to a personalized landing page. This set grew up wired—to them technology is as natural as green grass or fresh eggs. So remember that from a millennial’s perspective you can’t have print marketing without technology to back it up (and vice versa). Unless it's a wedding invite (even those are getting high tech these days), there needs to be some way for your client to interact with a digital medium from a printed piece.

Smartest Kids in Class

Millennials are more informed as customers than any generation before them. Before they do business with you, they know you. Make sure that your online reputation precedes you. For example, downplay any negative online reviews by inviting happy customers to review you online (and highlight your good report). Sometimes all it takes is an invitation to make quiet customers more outspoken.

Knowing your audience is a classic marketing tip, and marketing to millennials is increasingly important. Don’t let the youngest and largest buying demographic pass you by—revise your marketing plan now to make it more millennial-friendly tomorrow.

You can read more print, marketing, and design blogs on our website : Minuteman Press News Archive

Minuteman Press
4185 Sunbeam Road, Suite 100 • Jacksonville, Florida 32257
Phone: 904-733-5578 • Fax: 904-733-6568
sales@mmpjax.com

The Significance of Social Media and Customer Feedback (Good or Bad)

It’s probably safe to say you’ve already heard what we’re about to tell you. But it’s important enough that a reminder won’t hurt.

Happy customers are valuable ones, and loyal happy customers are even more so. Unhappy customers, on the contrary, are worse than worthless. Disgruntled clients can precipitate a major dip in your balance sheet.

Especially now that most consumers are connected to social media on at least one channel, it’s important that you respond strategically to their feedback.

Why You Need to Socialize

Don’t think of your business as at-risk upon joining the social media sphere...in fact, openness to customer feedback on Facebook, Twitter or wherever you make your mark will ultimately help you. Here’s why: Customers want to interact with you on social media—or at least, they want the option to interact. In fact, they even expect it. Nowadays businesses without social media accounts look suspicious.

Think Twice Before Deleting

Some businesses, especially small ones, are ravenous for social media content. Any attention is good attention. And there’s some truth to that. Even negative comments are of value when you respond to them appropriately.

When customers complain about your products or customer service on Facebook or Twitter, let them have their say. You may be pleasantly surprised to find loyal customers defending you. That’s all the more reason to let whiny, obnoxious or unfair feedback stay on your page.

Sales Side Effects

Happy customers that respond to unhappy ones will always be ideal. But until you’ve built up a band of happy–go-lucky social media followers always at the ready to go to battle for you, responding to negative feedback yourself will have to suffice.

The rules of responding to complaints on social media are the same as they are in person:
-Hear out whoever is so upset with you. Read their comments with an open mind to understand where they’re coming from.

-After reviewing the complaint—and quickly looking into the situation as necessary—respond right away. While not having a social media presence will look suspicious, taking ages to update that presence will look inauthentic. Calm unhappy customers, stat.

-Handle negative feedback on social media well and it could turn into a positive. Clients and prospects may be impressed by your understanding response, which of course could make your sales outlook even brighter.

-Keep an eye on your business’s social media properties so that you can turn every bad customer experience into a sales opportunity.

You can read more print, marketing, and design blogs on our website : Minuteman Press News Archive

Minuteman Press
4185 Sunbeam Road, Suite 100 • Jacksonville, Florida 32257
Phone: 904-733-5578 • Fax: 904-733-6568
sales@mmpjax.com

Tangible You Can Handle

It can be easy to get caught up in the next big digital marketing tool. But how much of this digital marketing do your customers respond to? Although it is indisputable that digital marketing has changed the way businesses market and advertise, studies have shown that consumers still crave the tangible items that you can provide for them. So go ahead and give your customers a message that they’ll hold on to, literally. Here are some reasons you shouldn’t forget about print marketing:

The Old Timer

There must be a reason that physical marketing pieces have worked for so long. As it turns out, there are internal reasons that we love tangible marketing materials, such as direct mail or newsletters. A recent study by Millward Brown (millwardbrown.com) showed that these physical materials use up emotional processing. When it comes to memory and brand associations, more emotional processing is essential.

Physical marketing pieces also generate a great brain response connected to internal feelings. More activity occurs in the parts of your brain that generate vivid memories when you are presented with physical materials. That means your customers should connect on a greater level with your physical marketing tools and also remember your materials better than digital marketing.

Let’s Get Real

When you’re at home, you wouldn’t print out a document until you were finished preparing it. And then, when the information is printed on paper it suddenly becomes much more real. Just like this, a tangible item gives your customers a sense of reality that digital marketing can’t give them.

Consumers can often skip over or quickly delete items that they are emailed or that pop up on the side of their computer screens. But when the item is placed in front of them, chances are they will take a closer look before deciding whether or not they want to hold on to the information. And if you have designed your materials creatively and effectively, it will be even more difficult for consumers to discard the information.

Time is Money

Companies that take the time to send tangible marketing pieces show consumers a level of caring that they might not get in the digital world. Isn’t it nice these days when you receive a hand written card in the mail, as opposed to an email? Knowing that somebody took the time to actually prepare something for you shows a much greater sense of intimacy than an email that you could have sent in a few seconds without hassle. If you took the time to send customers tangible marketing materials, they’ll know that you’re really there to help them with what they need. They’ll feel cared for and you’ll see that your extra time and money pays off in the long run.

You can read more print, marketing, and design blogs on our website : Minuteman Press News Archive

Minuteman Press
4185 Sunbeam Road, Suite 100 • Jacksonville, Florida 32257
Phone: 904-733-5578 • Fax: 904-733-6568
sales@mmpjax.com