Image Credit: dumbledad

Traditionally, the ‘youth’ is defined as a demographic that spans from between 12 and 18 years and goes all the way up to 34 or 35. While that may be true, it is worth pointing out that targeting this breadth of audience with the same products or services, in the same way is likely to be fruitless. I haven’t met many people over 20 (or even 17) infected with Bieber-fever and those people who  grew up in the era of the Wonder Years, MacGyver and the A Team are undoubtedly different to the Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles generation. Most of them have never heard of Miley Cyrus, except that (in the case of the A Team lot, they probably have daughters who worship her.)  For this reason, today, while discussing the things you need to keep in mind when marketing to the youth, we are going to focus specially on the younger end of the scale – roughly the 12 – 18 year olds. They are of course; tomorrow’s consumers and getting their attention while they are young and impressionable could well guarantee brand loyalty in the future.

1.    Understand their motivations

This is marketing101. If you don’t understand your target audience, you are going to have trouble marketing a product or service to them.  Young people are make decisions and develop brand loyalty based on an entirely different set of parameters. Most of these factors are subconscious. Marketing Vox made some great observations around this in a recent article. They argued that the youth are motivated by:

• The need to belong.
• The need for  independence and power
• The need for approval from their parents
• A desire to have fun

These are all elements that you need to consider before launching a mobile strategy aimed at this age group. In meeting one or more of these needs, you are talking a language that teenagers understand. 

2.    Instant gratification = Attention

The youth of today has grown up in the era of technology. Many of them were born after the mass adoption of mobile phones and a large proportion have grown up with the internet available to them, whether at school , at home or on their own mobile phones.  Instant gratification has always been an expectation of the youth. In an era where information, resources and socialising all yield an immediate response, this I-want-it-now-or-not-at-all-attitude has only become more prevalent. Consider this when planning your campaign – offer instant rewards for attention and provided these are relevant to their interests, you should get the response you are hoping for.

3.    Simplicity is the Key

Marketing messages delivered on mobile are competing with a variety of other stimuli. Depending on the capabilities of the handset in question, you might be competing with web browsing or social networking, with MXIT, with personal texts or MMS as well as with the other marketing messages being sent to your targets. All of this media is being delivered to a small screen which further limits the attention it is given. Ensuring that your message is simple will help it to cut through the noise and make it more likely to have an impact.

4.    It is ALL about the cost

Young people are concerned about cost and they prioritise spending based on what motivates them. While they might spend a few hundred (or more) bucks on a pair of trendy shoes, they are unlikely to want to use their precious airtime or even free minutes on communicating with a company, especially if the benefit that they derive is not immediate and tangible. The exception of course is cases where the reward exceeds the cost in terms of the value it offers or the needs that it fulfils. Keep the costs of your campaign low and you will more successfully reach a wider audience.

5.    Keep the message in line with current trends

Youth culture changes almost as fast as technology. The line between hip and so-last-week is a fine one and companies who are not intimately in the know when it comes to what’s currently capturing their audiences’ attention will find themselves on the wrong side of the ‘cool’ continuum. It’s critical to make sure that there are people in your organisation whose job it is to keep up with this. Ideally, they need to be young and hip too so as not to interpret ironic popularity (Rebecca Black) with the real deal (The Jonas Brothers).
 

Also check out:

• Mobile Marketing - Sifting the Hype, Finding the Value
• Feature Phone vs. Smart Phone: Does it affect brand interaction amongst the youth?
• A Look at the Mobile Youth