Crafting a successful marketing strategy can be quite challenging for a startup or entrepreneur. The goal is to reach as many people within your target market as possible without breaking the bank. Since small businesses don’t have the same resources as major corporations, every marketing dollar must be used carefully.
Today, we find ourselves in an era where multiple generations, each with their unique preferences and behaviors, coexist in the marketplace. For some brands, this presents a significant challenge for marketers who must navigate an increasingly fragmented landscape to reach their target audience.
There are seven primary generations that exist in the marketplace today — The Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, Generation Z and Generation Alpha. Considering these generations span roughly a century, it should come as no surprise that the marketing practices to reach each generation will vary. The good news is that there are some consistent practices that can be leveraged to reach the majority of these audiences simultaneously without significant effort. It’s critical for entrepreneurs and small business marketers to understand how to build a unified marketing strategy.
Related: 3 Ways to Market Effectively to Different Generations
Why is each generation so different?
Each generation is completely different when it comes to finding products, interacting with brands and making purchases. The major driver is the influence that technology has had on each of these groups. It’s important to remember that older generations didn’t have the same access to technology as younger generations do today, resulting in varying levels of trust, receptiveness and access to information and advertising.
The Silent Generation (born 1928 to 1945) and Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964) grew up in an era before the internet. Most of the advertising they were exposed to and still respond to today includes traditional media like television commercials and print advertisements. This group is most likely to trust recommendations from close friends and family.
The earliest to have some exposure to technology include Generation X (born 1965 to 1980) and Millennials (born 1981 to 1996). These two generations had access to the early phases of the internet as children or young adults. These groups tend to be more tech-savvy and are comfortable with both digital and traditional advertising messages. Generation X tends to be a bit more skeptical of marketing, while Millennials are most likely to be attracted to brands that align with their personal values.
The youngest generations, Generation Z (born 1997 to 2012) and Alpha (born 2013 to 2025) never experienced a pre-internet world. They are often referred to as “digital natives” who rely heavily on social media, mobile devices and video content.
Crafting a unified marketing strategy
To effectively reach a multi-generational audience, entrepreneurs need to carefully craft a marketing strategy that incorporates a number of various techniques. There are three key elements that every multi-generational marketing strategy should include to be successful — data-driven insights, personalization and multi-channel reach.
Related: 4 Unconventional Ways to Better Market to Generation Z
1. Data-driven insights
Marketing to a wide range of demographics can create challenges when it comes to measuring the performance of your campaigns. By leveraging data analytic tools, marketers gain valuable insights into consumer behavior and identify which generations are responding to their marketing messages. This information can help business owners track the effectiveness of campaigns and modify their strategy over time if one or more groups aren’t responding well to the campaign.
2. Personalized marketing
Marketing tools today have a wide range of personalization options that allow companies to craft unique marketing messages for individuals based on their behaviors and online activity, preferences and recent interaction with the brand. According to one McKinsey study, three-quarters of all consumers admit they are more likely to purchase from a brand after receiving personalized marketing. Many of these tools are powered by AI, which allows the business to create campaigns customized for each generation without the need for a massive marketing or content creation team.
3. Multi-channel marketing
Each generation seems to congregate in consistent corners of the internet. For example, Baby Boomers are more likely to spend their time on Facebook while Gen Z prefers platforms like TikTok. Creating compelling content is a good first step to any digital marketing strategy. However, to reach multiple generational audiences, you may need to make your content multi-channel-friendly.
The good news is that most content can be recycled across multiple platforms with little effort. For example, a full podcast video can be posted to YouTube while short clips of the same recording can be uploaded to TikTok. To take things further, the video content can quickly be converted into a formal article and uploaded to Facebook. Using strategies like this is the best way to create multi-channel content without having to create brand-new content for each platform individually.
Related: Boomers: The Wealthy Client Group You Can’t Ignore — Here’s the Best Way to Market to Them.
Whether you are looking to maximize sales or expand into new target audiences, understanding the unique characteristics of each generation and implementing a well-rounded marketing strategy is the key to success. Entrepreneurs and small businesses who can reach across generational lines will be most likely to avoid limiting their marketing reach.
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