This segment of “5 Minutes with Felica,” is one of CEO and Founder of Ad4! Group, Felica Sparks,’ favorite topics: Generational Marketing.
She has clear-cut convictions that come from years of studying trends, relying on strategic plans and successfully creating and buying media for clients.
That’s right. She’s an expert on this topic, and we can all learn a thing or two about the language, tone, and content we push to specific generations through her five minutes of wisdom.
Baby Boomers, once the largest generational group, are being replaced by Millennials (Gen Y).
“Generational marketing is something I notice,” said Felica “and I have strong opinions about it. I see the mistakes made mostly locally but also on regional and national stages and that’s people improperly communicating with their desired generational audiences.”
Here’s the breakdown of the marketing techniques for each main age demographic.
Marketing to Baby Boomers:
Style: To-the-point; benefit-centered; immediate selling points.
Language: Down to earth.
Content: quick, snack-sized selling points.
“You have about five seconds to tell them why they should pay attention to your service or product. What’s their immediate benefit. Be very direct. Don’t dance around the subject. Don’t use frilly language. Just talk very directly to them. You’ve only got about five seconds, but once you have them, they’re loyal and they won’t change.”
Marketing to The X’s and the Y’s:
Style: Appreciate more creative marketing, but still focusing on highlighting the value of the product.
Language: Again, you can be a little more creative with them.
Content: Convenience and savings centered.
“The X’s and the Y’s are raising families so convenience and sales are very important to them because they are running a household. One or two of the parents are working and if it’s a single-parent household they are working. You’ve got to speak to them where they are in life. At this stage, it’s saving money and convenience.”
Marketing to Millennials:
Style: Appreciate humor, storytelling, and anything flashy or tech-savvy.
Language: You can talk like a pirate and win them over. Use conversational language and have some fun.
Content: Focus on what’s new and why your brand or company understands them. Brand loyalty is forming in this stage of many peoples’ lives. If you can get groups of millennials to all make the same purchase in community, you’re in.
“Then you’ve got Millennials and that is a whole different type of marketing. They have money and even if they don’t have money they are still going to spend it if you can attract them with what’s the latest and greatest and cool. And you better go after them online because that’s where they are at. They don’t listen to the radio; they don’t watch TV; they’re online.”
Pro Tip:
Marketing to Business Owners
What is one thing that I can change today in the way I am doing marketing as a small business owner in a B2C market in the Huntsville area? What’s my number one move?
“Tell me the benefit of buying your service or product in 5 seconds or less. Then tell me another benefit. Send me to your website to understand your features and your greatness, but when you’ve only got 15 to 30 seconds to advertise or marketing with TV, radio, or an online digital ad – you’ve only got 15 seconds to grab me; so grab me. The way you are going to do that is by giving me a benefit.
What’s in it for me? Why should I care about you and why should I pay attention to this ad 20 more seconds?”
It’s so much better to win big with one generation than to miss them all through a broad message.
As always, thank you to the Lovely Felica Sparks for sharing her insight with us. We at Ad4! are not afraid to share marketing knowledge and techniques, because we believe that what we do helps businesses and those businesses help people.
At Ad4! Group, we’re one of the top advertising agencies in the Huntsville, Alabama area. Put our team of marketing experts to work for you.
Contact us today to see how our branding experts can help you better communicate your business brand message today!