The millennial generation is becoming a force to be reckoned with as they are important customers for small business owners. As their buying power rises, small business owners need to develop creative ways to market to millennials to tap into this lucrative demographic. Millennials range in age from 26 to 41 years old. Propelled by the addition of young immigrants, the millennial generation surpassed baby boomers as the largest population in 2019. Growing up during the Great Recession helped define their character. The millennial generation learned to cope with stagnant wages, high student loan debt, expensive medical bills, and skyrocketing home prices. Although millennials are achievement-oriented and tech savvy, current events initially prevented them from achieving the financial gains of older generations. However, older millennials are now the most financially confident generation, according to research conducted by Investopedia. They have significant buying power, and many of them are buying homes and supporting local businesses. As the spending power of millennials continues to rise, marketers are learning how to capture this unique demographic. Marketing to millennials requires creativity and skill. They prefer a personalized approach from a person or brand they trust. Digitalization drives the behavior and habits of millennials, who are unable to recall a time before the internet. More than 93% of millennials have a smartphone, and at least 48% reported being online “almost constantly.” To capture this digital demographic, here are a few creative ways to market to millennials. Get Optimized. Millennials unlock their smartphones an average of 63 times per day, according to Statista. At the very least, small businesses need to make sure their website is optimized for mobile users. It needs to be easy to navigate on a smartphone or tablet and download quickly. Highlight Your Values. Millennials are socially conscious and environmentally aware. They want to support businesses that share their values. Small businesses can look at the success of socially responsible companies such as Toms or Warby Parker. Toms donates a pair of shoes with every purchase, and Warby Parker donates a pair of glasses. While in-kind donations might not be part of your business model, local businesses can attract millennial customers by supporting valuable causes in their community and highlighting the charitable efforts of employees. Focus on Content. Content marketing is a great tool for small businesses to engage customers and tell them about their products. One of the advantages of social media marketing is the ability to engage customers and receive real-time feedback. Small businesses can benefit by having their customers review their products and tell users about their experience at their business. Small businesses can create brand hashtags, run special contests, and encourage customers to post pictures with their products on social media. Market to New Movers. Millennials make up 42% of homebuyers in the United States, up 37% from the prior year, according to the National Association of Realtors. Following the outbreak the pandemic, many young Americans plumped up their savings accounts and paid down debt, which enabled them to buy their first home. Nearly 48% of older millennials bought their first home in 2020. In addition, nearly 27.1 million people moved in 2021. Small businesses can use New Mover Marketing to capture new homeowners before they form loyalties with competitors. Our Town America has 50 years of experience welcoming new residents to their community by sending them a unique welcome package filled with proven offers to local businesses. To deliver results, Our Town America combines superior services with seamless technology to make each campaign a success. Accurate Lists. Our Town America compiles clean New Mover Lists featuring accurate and timely names of people who have filed some sort of address change in the past month. We make sure to remove any redundancies to keep mailing costs low, increase accuracy and decrease wasted advertising dollars. Proven Offer. Our proven offers allow businesses to make a great first impression. Our Town America’s Welcome Package is a sign of hospitality – it is not perceived by recipients as an advertisement. We encourage all local businesses to offer a housewarming gift certificate in our Welcome Package to stand out from the competition. Tracking Tools. Our Town America’s TruTrak® app can be downloaded to a smartphone or mobile device to accurately track redemptions to determine return on investment in a timely manner. The app allows you to scan redemptions at the point of sale or at your leisure. It can also trigger a second mailing to encourage repeat visits and keep your business top-of-mind with the new resident. Getting creative to attract millennial customers by engaging them online and giving them tangible offers will help your local business flourish. If you’re ready to begin adding millennial customers, visit Our Town America today. Brittany N. JohnsonBrittany is the head of Our Town America’s corporate marketing department. She specializes in digital and print media, social media, and public relations. […]