We’ve told you how can you make Millennials work for you, it’s now time to know how can you make Millennials patronise your business.
This might come a bit of news to you, but Millennials are EVERYWHERE. In just the United States alone, Millennials, or as we call them sometimes, “Generation Y,” there are about 77.5 million of them – something small businesses cannot afford to ignore.
Hailed as the most technologically sound and digital savvy bunch, Millennials have an annual buying power of $1.7 million, in a report by American Express. The amount may seem a bit measly, what do you expect, Millennials are usually made up of students or entry-level workers, but don’t let that discourage you.
According to Five Stars blog, due to their sheer number, Millennials are bucking normal marketing trends. Sales promos, radio ads and Internet ads just don’t work with this generation anymore because 84 percent of them just don’t trust traditional advertising.
So what do you do? Well, for starters don’t scam them. But to be more specific, read on our list to make Millennials subscribe to your small business.
1. Capitalise on The Allure of Being a Small Business
Millennials just don’t like big corporate business, as they see it as something mass-produced, low quality and untrustworthy. This may be due to their horrible customer service, but this is where small and medium-sized business thrives.
Since you’re a small operation, your service is just more personalised, leading you to give a more custom-fit transaction with a Millennial customer. This generation loves “Artisanal” everything, because to be honest, who doesn’t love a handcrafted, customised and personalised product or service.
Also, they also prefer small businesses because it gives the allure of “quaintness” and “hominess” so embrace it and see them flock to your store.
2. Ride the Social Media Wave
Social Media is so big, but more so with Gen Y. It’s not big news that this generation subscribes to social media a lot, since this is the generation that witnessed its boom.
Apart from building a significant social media presence, small businesses should also devote a portion of their marketing to the youth, and that doesn’t mean just any marketing, it has to be personalised. So personalised that it didn’t even come from you directly.
What do we mean? We mean user-generated content, which means your “customers” should do the marketing for you in the form of testimonials or even contribute content.
This is an effective way of marketing because according to a study, 84 percent of Millennials helped them convince to purchase. One way to approach this is by asking one of your youthful customers to post a testimonial on how your product or service brought benefits to them, which will then convince others to follow suit.
3. Offer Some Customisation
Customisation is big because as we’ve mentioned, they want something unique, something personal, something they can truly call “theirs.”
They all want to feel special so why not let them? Do this by offering customisation with your product. Let’s say you’re selling shoes. Instead of selling the usual palette of colours, why not allow them to choose the colour of the laces or even the whole shoes themselves.
It’s all about personalisation, customisation and being unique. If your small business can offer this to a Millennial, then there’s a great chance they’ll patronise what you give.
