How do Millennial consumers view brands? What’s necessary to win their brand loyalty?
The answers to these questions are important because in the aggregate Millennials have billions to spend.
If you win them over now — depending on your goods, services and industry — you might also create customers for decades to come.
So it’s important to understand their attitudes and their preferred media channels.
Millennial study
Many of the answers are provided in a 2014 study of 2,000 American Millennials by Adroit Digital.
In querying respondents who own both a computer and a smartphone, the firm recommends that marketers consider new advertising strategies.
“For brands and agencies seeking to gain the trust and admiration of Millennials, the secret to success will lie in their ability to select the right partners, employ the right strategies, leverage the right technology and be prepared to constantly turn and pivot,” said Scott German, General Manager of Adroit Digital in a press release.
“Through the wide array of ad tech available today, they’ll be able to open the dialogue of engagement and lay the foundation for earning the loyalty of Millennials,” he added.
The firm’s key findings:
The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree: When it comes to brand loyalty, 64 percent of Millennials surveyed feel the same level of or greater brand loyalty than their Baby Boomer or Generation X parents, with 24 percent feeling more brand loyal than their parents.
Social is Challenging TV for Influence: 60 percent of Millennials said that social advertising has the most influence over them in how they perceive a brand and a brand’s value, compared with TV at 70 percent.
In contrast, traditional media outside of TV falls flat. Radio, billboards (OOH), and magazines finished last in the sphere of influence, with mobile and online — both display and video — comfortably in the center.
Maybe Mother Doesn’t Know Best: While many Millennials have brand loyalty identical to or surpassing that of their parents, 77 percent will use a different set of criteria in selecting brands to which they’ll be loyal.
No One Wants a Bad Reputation: In the new age of branding, having a quality product is no longer enough to secure loyalty. 47 percent of Millennial respondents said they would change brands if their current brand were found to have bad business practices.
Keeping it Real: Moving forward, brands will need to sit up and listen in order to remain relevant to Millennials. Over half of the survey respondents, 52 percent, said that for brands to maintain their relevance, they need to be willing to change based on consumer opinion.
Forty-four percent expect brands to engage in open dialogue through social channels and 38 percent want brands to be more about the consumer and less about the brand.
From the Coach’s Corner, editor’s picks:
11 Tips for the Best Business Mobile Web Site — If you operate a retail business, it’s increasingly important for your Web site to be easy-to-use for mobile users.
Insights into How Twitter Users Can Forge Opinion — If you want to influence public opinion on Twitter, the trick is to get your message out early. Once your message is stabilized on the social medium, it’s too difficult for your competitors to overcome your lead according to research released in 2014.
Social Media: 5 Ways to Use Instagram for Revenue — Now that marketers have learned Instagram is a potent force in social media — a study shows it beats Facebook, and Twitter — you might want to learn how to capitalize on it for revenue, too.
“Youth is when you blame all your troubles on your parents; maturity is when you learn that everything is the fault of the younger generation.”
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