Don’t Forget About the Youth Market

Today’s Guest Post was written by Greg Rollett from Endagon Innovations. Greg is a dedicated Gen-Y and Youth marketer.  Feel free to Tweet him or shoot him an email.

Many times when small businesses are looking to put together an affiliate strategy, they focus on who they feel is their target audience. They look at their average consumer and slap their program together based on who “he” might look like. Often times businesses overlook the power that the younger generation has to offer. Sure they like their “free stuff,” but they are also likely responsible for helping your videos reach new target audiences, obtain credibility and cross over into mainstream offers.

They are also responsible for major market explosions in entertainment, electronics, mobile, sports and educational products. Some even say that Gen-Y was responsible for saving Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with their generous spending on others (as well as themselves).

Facebook reports that their largest growing demographic is in the 35+ demographic. While this may look optimistic to start promoting products to that demographic, all statistics have 2 sides. Did you ever think to consider that most of Gen-Y is already on the service and thus the growth rate would be lower?

When you are looking to target the youth audience in your affiliate and marketing campaigns, take a look at these 4 Gen-Y traits that may help you win them over and gt a piece of their disposable income.

1. You don’t need to talk like them if in real life you don’t. Gen-Y was brought up with slang being a common part of their pop culture, where text messages many contain little to no words that Webster tells us is proper for the English language. However, if you are selling something professional, keep it professional. You can loosen up, but beware that the young generation can spot out phony advertising; fake campaigns and read through your non-authenticity. Gen-Y will respect your honestly vs. your attempt to be cool.
2. Use video. YouTube continues phenomenal growth, with billions of views every month. 12 Seconds is one of the fastest growing start-ups in the valley. What these sites do, is plays off of Gen-Y’s short attention span. 3 minute shorts and 12 second clips are dominating our society. Put a face to your offer, talk about it genuinely and have it thrown into the mix of messages that Gen-Y checks out in between segments of Family Guy and Guitar Hero.
3. Gen-Y loves them some video games. Find a cheap flash programmer and make a video to attract attention. Have them sign up to receive your offers as well as bonus levels and free updates. It’s a great way to get them talking about your company, interacting with your product and passing it along with hands off marketing.
4. Offer products in deeply segmented groups. With your Gen-Y prospects, it is extremely important to segment your lists into deep, drilled down lists. The more targeted you get the better. They are so accustomed to seeing thousands, upon thousands of ads, product offers, etc that if you are not in the right place at the right time, you can bet they have their blinders on full blast. Word.

Gen-Y, teens and tweens are a lucrative market, one that is spending in upwards of $150 billion every year and have an even greater amount of influence on household purchasing decisions. Get into their mind frame and start seeing some cool checks hit your bank account.

Photo by milena mihaylova (Creative Commons)

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