By Rieva Lesonsky
When it comes to marketing, do you think like a Millennial? If not, you could get left behind. Magisto recently polled more than 500 small business owners and discovered that Millennial marketers are light-years ahead of older business owners in their comfort with online marketing. Here are 5 things they found and what it means for your business.
- It’s all about digital
Having come of age in a dotcom world, it’s only natural that Millennials think digital-first when it comes to marketing. Millennial marketers in the survey spend 58 percent of their marketing budget on digital media; by comparison, Baby Boomers spend only 14 percent of their marketing budget on digital media.
Just because you are using digital marketing doesn’t mean you have a true digital-first attitude. If you’re older than the Millennial generation, you probably still think of online marketing as an “add-on” to traditional marketing elements like print ads or brochures. In other words, even if you are heavily involved in digital advertising, you may start from a print point of view and convert that advertising to a format suited for online. That attitude could be holding you back.
- Make it mobile, too
Not only are Millennial marketers digital-focused, they’re increasingly mobile-focused. Almost half (41 percent) of Millennials spend the majority of their marketing budget on mobile media, compared to less than 10 percent of baby boomers. Again, this is a natural extension of how Millennials live — on their smartphones. With the majority of online search is now taking place on a mobile device, your advertising needs to be where your customers are — on the go.
- Social media starts the journey
Interestingly, social media marketing is one area where Baby Boomers are a bit more “with it.” More than one-fourth (27 percent) of Baby Boomers use social media advertising to generate brand awareness and revenues. However, they are still far outstripped by Millennials–more than 60 percent of them use social media marketing for these purposes.
Millennial marketers are recognizing that the average buyer’s purchasing journey has changed. It often starts on social media, as friends and family or social media advertising alerts the consumer to a product or service. But more and more, social media advertising is actually driving sales (believe me: I just bought two Christmas presents after clicking on a Facebook ad).
- Video is within reach
If you’re a Baby Boomer or Generation X, video advertising probably conjures up expensive television ads. For Millennials, however, online video is something they grew up with. No wonder that 88 percent of Millennial marketers currently use online video advertising, and 45 percent dedicate more than one-fourth of their digital ad budgets to video.
Video marketing, even on cable TV, is less expensive than you think. Cable television stations can help you create videos that you can use for both TV and online advertising. When developing videos, create concepts that you can use in multiple ways, such as shortening a longer video into smaller chunks or creating variations for different audiences.
- Testing, testing
One of the most valuable aspects of online advertising, whether it’s a pay-per-click ad, a banner ad or online video, is how easy it is to test results and get instant feedback about whether your ads are working or not. This is a huge advantage compared to traditional print.
Millennial marketers know this: some 60 percent of them test their digital ads, compared to just 13 percent of Boomers. In fact, 42 percent of Millennials test over 10 variations of their ads—just 7 percent of Boomers do. If you’re not testing your online ads, you’re wasting a huge opportunity. The report advises entrepreneurs to “fail fast” in order to succeed, and let ads that don’t work direct you what to do instead.
What does it all mean for your business? The overarching lesson: Make digital advertising the foundation of your marketing plan, and build everything else around it. It’s a different way of thinking than Baby Boomers may be used to, but one you must adapt in order to stay competitive.
