Across many sectors, the age group, 15—25 years old, today’s Generation Z, is one of the most coveted. In this article we outline marketing strategies and tactics geared towards that cohort.

 

Every so often, a business has to take stock and revisit the key factors upon which it is aligned. Over time, it can be easy for focus to drift, but more importantly, it is critical to ensure that those considerations are still relevant, or whether they need to evolve. One of the areas that many businesses, including those in the Caribbean, ought to be revisiting, is their customer base.

As has been observed over the years, and thanks to the impact of technology, consumer behaviour has been changing over the years. More importantly, and among major demographics, trends in attitudes and behaviour have been observed, which can be crucial and strategic inputs into how a business not only positions, but also markets, itself.

An emerging and powerful cohort that Caribbean businesses might not yet be giving attention, is Generation Z (Gen Z). Much is known about the preceding cohort, the Millennials, or Generation Y, which were individuals born between about 1980/1981 and 1996, and so would be between the ages of 25—40 years old. The Gen Z age group, also called ‘Gen Zers’, tend to comprise those who  are re-teens to young adults (as at 2019), and would have been born between about 1996 and the early 2010s,.

Currently, Gen Zers may not yet have the spending power of their parents, the Generation X, or even of Millennials, but they are already shaping today’s popular culture. As a result, it is vital that organisations begin to understand how this cohort ticks, in order to get their attention, have meaningful engagement, and depending on the business, secure lifelong customers. Below, we outline five key marketing strategies to gain traction with Gen Zers.

 

1.  Digital… absolutely!

Gen Zers are the first demographic cohort for which computers were a mass market product, and technology, including the Internet, would be have been accessible at a young age. Essentially, this an age group of digital natives. More importantly, their perception of life and of the world has been shaped by technology, and it is a basic channel through which they not only communicate, but also view the world.

From a marketing perspective, the more Gen Zers can be engaged via technology, the better. The Internet, social media, smartphones, etc., are not seen as novelties, but are the norm in their lives. Moreover, they tend to be more comfortable in engaging online than perhaps in person, and so tend to have well developed online behaviour and digital personas.

Finally, Gen Zers tend to be very attached to their mobile/cellular phones, and to smartphones in particular. Typically they spend hours on their phones, and conduct a broad range of activities and transactions there. Hence, businesses ought to not only ensure that their websites and other digital platforms are mobile-friendly, but also that particular care is given to enhancing the user experience on mobile/cellular phones.

 

2. Authenticity is important

With the deluge of content that comes at us on a daily, or even hourly basis, Gen Zers have become proficient – or perhaps ruthless – in distilling what they want to give their attention. As a result, they tend not to be impressed by slick advertising and aggressive promotion. In other words, the hard sell is likely to find a limited audience in that cohort. Instead, they tend to prefer to be engaged in ways that seem genuine, and using a lighter touch.

To that end, and instead of touting the benefits of a particular product or service, among Gen Zers, it is important that they can see themselves using the product or service. In other words, what is the experience they could (or should be) having? And how does having this product (or service) benefit them? These just a few of the questions that marketing campaigns ought to be answered.

Finally, although the use of influencers may still be a good way through which to engage Gen Zers, the increasingly commercialised nature of the influencer space is also undermining the authentic character of that approach. As a result, some experts are recommending the use of micro-influencers – individuals who a (relatively) modest number of followers – instead of perhaps more popular or big-ticket influencers. Micro-influencers may still have a more intimate connection, and higher engagement, with their followers, which in turn can lead to higher sales conversions.

 

3.  Alignment of values is crucial

Continuing in the vein of authenticity, and among Gen Zers, an organisation’s values is an important consideration. Businesses can no longer be faceless or nameless entities that are just pushing the products and/or services they sell. Gen Zers are more inclined to gravitate to organisations whose values are aligned with theirs. Hence, initial questions that are important to Gen Zers and ought to be answered include:

  • Who are the people behind the business?
  • What does the company believe in?
  • Are those beliefs aligned with Gen Zers’?
  • How are those beliefs demonstrated?

 

4. Ease the friction

In being digital natives, Gen Zers tend expect convenience and seamlessness in their digital engagement. Many of them, even in the Caribbean, have had a bank account from a young age, or access to some kind of digital wallet, and consequently, have had some degree of financial independence. As a result, Gen Zers may not have the patience for overly bureaucratic processes, or processes that seemingly demand too much time and effort from them.

Hence, to the degree that organisations can ease the friction in their engagement, the better. The underpinning principles here would be to be efficient and effective – remove roadblocks, simplify processes, make them as pain-free as possible – especially on a mobile device.

 

5.  Re-think the social media strategy

Finally, and as mentioned earlier, in being digital natives, Gen Zers tend to have sophisticated online personas, and are particularly versed in social media. However, it must be emphasised that they may not necessarily be as sympathetic or as loyal to specific social media platforms as other demographic cohorts. They are more prepared to embrace the ‘next big thing’, and abandon it, if it is not living up to expectations, or if there is another ‘next big thing’ they believe it would be better to leverage.

It therefore means that organisations cannot sit on their laurels and expect that the strategy that worked well this year, will do the same in next year. The emphasis and nuances of Gen Zers’ thoughts and approach to social media is continually changing. Hence organisations need to be prepared to stay attuned, by regularly researching the changes occurring in that space, and adjusting their strategies accordingly.

 

 

Image credit:  natureaddict (Pixabay)